It's true, we didn't have the same theory of other minds for those animals in those times. For a long time, bears in particular were so feared that their modern

It's true, we didn't have the same theory of other minds for those animals in those times. For a long time, bears in particular were so feared that their modern names actually come from ways to avoid referring to them directly [0]: > This terminology for the animal originated as a taboo avoidance term: proto-Germanic tribes replaced their original word for bear—arkto—with this euphemistic expression out of fear that speaking the animal's true name might cause it to appear. According to author Ralph Keyes, this is the oldest known euphemism. And it's well-known that housecats have been distrusted in various ways throughout the years [1], although not all societies have been abusive towards them. It is only very recently in our history that we have seen them not just as divine harbingers or adorable pets, but also as sapient intelligences with their own desires and goals. Indeed, it is only just now, in our lifetimes, that we have moved from a theory of us taming housecats to a theory of self-domestication [2]. What I'm getting at is that these folks in the past did not have the same empathy for animals that we do, and so they had not just different cultural values, but also different mental attitudes towards their (mis)treatment. When people say phrases like, "tigers are wild animals," or "dogs are unclean," they are not just indicating a cultural value but also how they personally empathize (or don't!) with different species. None of this is to especially contradict your point. Their norms then were not our norms today. I merely would suggest that different norms lead to different abilities to empathize. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear#Etymology [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_cats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_cats [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-domestication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-domestication