I grew up on a ranch and have handled firearms since I was about 4. I slaughtered my first Spanish Meat Goat at about 9. The Mexican foreman in charge of my dad’s ranch showed me a method more humane of killing those goats than slitting their throats. It was letting them stand as you held them in place between your legs, then stabbing them in the chest right below the neck, then slicing down. It would cleave their heart in two and they would be dead before the knife was even extracted.
I have shot hundreds of ground squirrels with my Mini-14, bag my limit of deer every year. Have shot coyotes that have tried to get our chickens. There is a very big difference in killing animals to eat, for sport or culling and doing it humanely and doing it just to be cruel.
I completely agree with everything you said.
Maybe the difference is that I see all of these events in the context of why Jesus had to die on the cross for every single one of us. We all have our personal “demons” and are quick to condemn the demons of others while ignoring or minimizing our own.
Torturing animals is bad behavior. And the biggest problem I have with it is what it says about the person doing it. They obviously have some issues, be they with the world or the owner of the animal they tortured. It is, after all, a VERY effective way to “get back” at a person.
IOW, this is ALL about the damage done to, or being done to, the person torturing the animal. That is where my compassion is directed. I could not care less about the animal itself. It is a natural resource.