What are fifteen reasons why animal cruelty is bad?

There is one reason. Animals feel pain and pain is bad.

Our observation of animal behavior leads us to conclude that they are sentient creatures, capable of feeling and suffering from pain. This is the premise upon which condemnations are animal cruelty are based. This premise does not simply rely on human empathy, but can be supported also by both operant conditioning and the theory of evolution. When people encounter a painful stimuli, they learn to avoid that stimuli. Since animal behavior can be shaped by punishment and negative reinforcement, we can make an analogy to human experience. Pain in humans is probably a result of evolution; a strong negative qualia keeps us from damaging ourselves, allowing the propagation of the species. Since animals undergo evolution, it is reasonable to conclude they too have a sensation of pain. This may lead you to wonder whether plants feel pain - a legitimate concern since they too evolve. But there is one further parallel between animals and humans not shared with plants. This is the nervous system. Our current understanding of pain in humans points to activity of the nervous system. Since many animals have nervous systems too, we have one more point of support for the animals-are-sentient premise.

Another reason why animal cruelty is bad is because it frequently leads to human abuse, and may be an indicator of sociopathy. Several famous killers, such as Luka Magnotta and Jeffrey Dhamer started out with animals before they did it on other humans

.