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2. Animals aren't intelligent like we are/Animals aren't capable of reason.
But young infants aren't intelligent. Can we treat them in whatever manner we please? What about the mentally retarded?
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Practical lines must be drawn. Using a taboo that overly restricts behaviour, and making the mentally retarted and young infants out of bounds, is far more practical than actually measuring this. And the benefit to eating babies and mentally retarded people is small, so the taboo is low in costs.
There are other reasons not to kill/experiment/eat retarded people and infants, but I believe the above is sufficient.
As an aside, I suspect that a number of animals deserve protection. Some sea mammals (Dolphins, Whales), as well as some of our closer kin on dry land.
As a second aside, I am aware my decision to value intelligence and reason is arbitrary.