even bigger A-hole

[ROCKFISH]

Not ignoring your point at all. You say he killed out of greed, I say thats irrelevent. Whatever his reasoning, and I'm sure it was more complicated than described in the article. He destroyed his own property. God gave man dominion over the animal world. He comands us not to kill each other. Animals have no such protection, and that was clearly understood until modern times. The ancient temples were like slaughterhouses, where animals and birds were sacrificed daily. We kill animals by the millions for food clothing etc.
Uncounted thousands of dogs and cats are put to death because nobody wants them. Zillions of fish are killed for food, recreation, or accidental bycatch. You seem to have no problem with that. And rightly so, as god created man in his own likeness and image and gave him dominion over the animal world.
There is in modern times, as we approach the end of time, a mindset that we know more than god and can change the rules. Because we live in a wealthy country and have so much free time we can spend time with and become friends with our animals. We even imagine that they can think like us and have rights. Thats perfectly alright if you want to treat you pets like people, and love them like your children. You are free to do that.
However when you tell a man he does not have the right to destroy his own animal, for any reason at all, it is a perversion. Just as perverted as trying to stop fisherman from fishing, because fishing hurts. Just as perverted as trying to stop people from eating meat because animals have rights. Just as perverted as trying to stop people from wearing fur or leather. I do believe it is wrong to torture or prolong the agony of an animal unneccesarily, and I personally would never do that myself. But as I read the article, it seemed to me that people were so horrified by the dead carcasses in the dumpster that they went to extreme means to build a case against this person, and frankly I believe the details have been exaggerated.
They actually performed necropsies on these animals as if investigating a murder, and that to me is perverted. Do any of you think this could have happened 200 years ago even in this country, or 2000 years ago in any country.