I think the Old Testament has interesting things to say on this topic: "Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority. "
In a lot of ways Judaism and what it evolved into is the unreligion religion. Events in it, like the plagues of Egypt, are digs at the asinine nature of contemporary customs. E.g. the frogs were a plague because the frogs were sacred and could not be killed. In general the Abrahamic God doesn't want you fettering your wealth away on complicated rituals.
In the West, you can usually see a split between people who view animals largely as property and those that don't. The latter concern me, because although I can oppose wanton cruelty -- when it comes down to it, there are people, and not people. And if I need to get rid of property because I can't maintain it, I should be able to do so.