> 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.
Some animals are food. Some animals are not food. What about this is so hard for these people to understand?
:-)