My grandparents had a farm & animals were killed because they ate them. I eat deer. I like meat & have friends who don't & tell me how wrong it is. I ask them if a carrot screams silently when it is yanked from the earth. That shuts them up. If my Uncle had a dog that was old & it was going to die if need be he took it into the woods & shot it. They wasn't happy about it but back then thats what they did. Maybe this man didn't have the money for the shelter fee to pay. More & more people are giving animals up because they can't afford the vet & food bills. Living here in NJ I know all too well how things work. I would have tried to find a home for the rabbit. I don't have pets that live in cages. I think that is cruel.
I share many of your feelings... I prefer to be caring and do the ‘right thing’ with all God's creatures. (Have you ever gone out of your way to avoid stepping on an ant or other insect?)
In the final analysis though, a pet is property. You're right, when a person must choose between the pet and meeting obligations to their family or other people, the priorities are obvious.
Such a choice from the narrow perspective of the animal may be considered cruel by ‘animal rights’ activists, but they're operating on their emotions without consideration of the larger personal context. They are (intentionally or not) trying to take our rights away.
Government should protect our property rights and not be dictating how you and I must act based on someone else’s (oligarch's/bureaucrat’s/activist's) feelings.
They can't be trusted to do the right things in their own lives, how is it better that they dictate how you and I live?