Not the OP but it should be (and generally /is/) illegal to be cruel to animals even if you're going to end up eating them. Pain is much more morally questionab

Not the OP but it should be (and generally /is/) illegal to be cruel to animals even if you're going to end up eating them. Pain is much more morally questionable than death; I'd vastly rather simply cease being alive than have some horrible suffering inflicted on me. That we don't seem to care about enforcing those laws is one thing but simply saying "cruelty is illegal and rape is cruelty" doesn't sound inherently incompatible with eating meat.