Animal Cruelty in Britain

Consider this:

"A worrying rise in animal cruelty occurred last year with an increase in convictions and cases including a cat boiled to death in a washing machine and an owner sawing off his dog's leg, the RSPCA said on Wednesday."
Animal cruelty on the rise (reuters)

And then, from last week:

Animal testing hits a 14-year high
"The number of scientific experiments on animals has risen to a 14-year high, the Home Office will announce tomorrow. Scientists carried out thousands more tests on animals last year, with the total reaching 2.91 million laboratory experiments, the highest since 1992. Despite bitter opposition from animal rights protesters, almost 60,000 more experiments were carried out during 2005 compared with the previous year."

So... what qualifies as animal cruelty? If you hurt an animal for no 'greater' purpose, then it's cruelty - but killing for food is fine, apparently, and using for 'testing' is ok too - or so it would seem.

And I'm writing this as a meat eater who loves animals. Oh, the tribulations of modern life...