>My argument for a long time was that animals have no ego

I think the problem with a train of thought like this one is that it assume there are certain fixed properties that makes a human "special". That is perhaps not so considering how we build abstractions on base instincts[1]

> So apparently whales are off the table, but cows are fine?

I hate how people do this for dogs and not pigs either, literally makes no sense how morals are peddled sometimes

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_in_the_Machine