[ReignOfError]

I donate to the RNZSPCA fairly frequently. I would expect them to be able to prosecute somebody for killing, cooking and eating their pet dog or pet cat. Commonsense says so.

Please explain the "commonsense" moral principle by which killing and eating a pig is perfectly acceptable but killing and eating a dog should be a crime, assuming both are killed humanely.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Please explain the “commonsense” moral principle by which killing and eating a pig is perfectly acceptable but killing and eating a dog should be a crime, assuming both are killed humanely.

Pigs are agricultural livestock. Dogs are working animals and pets. In the West — predominantly the United Kingdom from whence New Zealand culture and Common laws and Parliamentary processes originate — that is how it has always been.

Dogs are more equal than pigs. That is how it is, and that is how it should be.