This. Thiiiiis. I hate when people hurt and abuse animals so much it makes me sick, but guess what? ANIMALS HURT OTHER ANIMALS IN THE WILD, AND JUST AS BADLY. And from what you listed above, even worse. Sure, that cute little baby kitten in the commercials looking at you with those sad eyes may be the embodiment of innocent, but guess what? If that baby kitten were in the wild it'd be learning to kill other wide-eyed baby animals smaller than it. Or, guess what-it could end up being slaughtered as an adult by a species bigger than it even if it never encounters a human in its life!

Humans can be dicks, but so can animals. End of story.