While I don't subscribe to it, I respect your view of nature, but I fear that the youth may confuse it with Druidism. I would guess that you aren't an animist, and your beliefs protect you from the depredations of paganism and other similar superstitions.
No, it is the Descartes view that animals are soulless machines who do not feel the pain which is a superstition.
Anyone who owns a dog and is not a psychopath, knows that animals have psyche/soul. One knows it through the direct perception and empathy. Descartes was a learned fool!
The cruelty toward animals is a criminal offence in USA.