I don't think so. You are correct that the "kindest" thing to do is to not kill something. But if you've already made the decision to kill something it's kind t

I don't think so. You are correct that the "kindest" thing to do is to not kill something. But if you've already made the decision to kill something it's kind to pick the least painful method to kill it. For example if someone has been sentenced to death it's kind to do so with a lethal injection, but unkind to do so by crucifixion as the Romans used to love to do. The killing method can't justify the killing but the assumption here is that you've already made your piece with eating the animal. So the only thing left is to try not make is suffer more than required for you to eat it. Nature is generally not so kind. Many predators eat their pray alive, it'd be a rather horrific way to go. I suspect you may not agree with eating animals at all, if so I think that is a separate argument.