Joseph, let me amend my statement: I would never do something that all ORTHODOX poskim unanimously prohibit.
Of course, there are many people in the world with the title of “Rabbi” who permit actions that I feel are wrong. I am referring here to rabbis of more liberal movements, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. I have a great deal of respect for these rabbis, but I lead a different lifestyle than they do and would never pasken according to their teshuvot. So, no, I don’t do “whatever I want”.
torahls1, you ask “Since when does a human being get to mandate how animals should be treated?”
Since it says in Bereshit that we should “fill the earth and dominate it.” With this dominance comes a responsibility to ensure that when we use animals for our own purposes, we treat them humanely. This does not mean treating them as if they are human; if that were the case, we certainly would not be permitted to eat meat! Rather, it means remembering that WE are human, and as such are capable of feeling compassion. We need to exercise our compassionate natures in our dealings with animals.
For reasons that I hope are obvious to you, I’m not going to respond to the rest of your illogical rant.