Pain is not "bad" in and of itself. It is not "negative". It is not "immoral" or "unethical".

It is "bad", "negative", "immoral" and "unethical" when it is inflicted upon one individual by another. And that is the only reason it is any of the aforementioned.

Humans profess separation from those they "love" as painful. In one way or another, it is painful for both beings that are separated. As well, it is usually one of the beings that has initiated the separation. Perceived inequality or lack of commitment, one to the other, is often the reason for the initiation of the separation. Other beings can be a nuisance wherever ego exists. Ego says, "I am separate from all other individuals." Further, "I am better than all other individuals." And to cap it all off, "I will come out on top in all conflictual situations with others."

Two points here: our first personal pronoun, "I", comes from the Latin, first personal pronoun, "ego". Secondly, Darwin's proclamation of the "survival of the fittest" is a misinterpretation, if it is seen to be indicative of anything to do with this ego. It has only to do with survival. With this misinterpretation seeming to say to ego that I must survive at all costs comes the ideation of superiority. We humans think that we are superior to all others and, not only as a species, but as individuals of that species. The world and its inhabitants become very small and totally insignificant in a world dominated by I's. It becomes an impossible world, a world that cannot and does not, in reality, exist. And yet, most often, I operate with this impossibility as my chief motivation for action. I do it unconsciously and habitually. And so do you. It is a world where the sociopath and the psychopath are the highest apogee of development. And, thereby, the fallacy is exposed. The sociopath and the psychopath are, as well, the pinnacles of any morality that indicates I am spearate from you and every other being of any marginal existence.

When an individual becomes involved with any other individual, a commitment ensues, that commitment being nothing other than the realization that, no matter what happens, we are in this together. I will not cause any pain. If I am pained, I will not see it as a need to be separate. Commitment is simply the embodiment of interdependance with all its seeming corollaries. It is the negation of the ego. It is the acceptance that pain unites us. We all know it.

Pounds are places of separation. Shelters are places of interdependance and, thereby, commitment. Pain need not separate. Death is not separation. Killing for convenience is sociopathic and psychopathic in every way shape and form. Giving up on any individual for convenience or due to lack of comfort or because one has to move or because of nuisance or because of lack of space (according to this tenet, we are all on death row) or any other trite form of perceived pain, which is really an interference with ego supremacy, is the action of a sociopath and/or a psychopath in the making.

So Darwin's "survival of the fittest" has nothing to do with strength or gene pool or morality. At this point, it is the realization that whatever is done to the "least" of these is done to you and me and, most importantly and probably only, to us.

Pain is indicative that evolution has more to offer. PETA and The HSUS obviously are moving counter to that evolution in the profession of killing for convenience. They are arbitors of a morality that Hitler utilized very effectively. They deny their existence as animals. That is the foulest denial of all.