I just wrote out a whole response and lost it. Ugh that's frustrating. Damn poker screens.

Anyhoo, to sum up my point:

I took a class called "philosophy of animals" which addressed many issues you mentioned. It forced us to think about the ethical consideration animals deserve. I came to the following conclusions:

1) Animals are not totally in our moral sphere, because they are incapable of reciprocity, but

2) they are deserving of due consideration and should not be harmed, unless harming them fulfills a basic human need.

Some of the things we do to our fellow inhabitants on this planet are truly disturbing, and I wish more people would be exposed to some of these realities.