What makes birds and fish lesser than other animals?!

What makes birds and fish lesser than other animals?

I used to be a waitress nad wanted to know the answer to this for a long time:

So, I've had a vegitarian tell me they can't eat the soup because there's beef/pork in it, but they'd like to order the main dish of chicken/fish. Isn't it still meat? It used to be alive, think, breathe and feel pain just like any other animal, right?

I remember being told it's because birds and fish aren't as smart as a cow--but then found out that ravens are as smart as some chimps. Not only do they use tools to get food, but are also observed making tools. Only humans, ravens, and simians do this, it's part of higher intelligence.

So is eating fish and bird but claiming to be a vegitarian legitimate? Or am I missing something, maybe there are two types of vegitarians?

1 day ago
pSyche--interesting, I knew there had to be some kind of basis.

For psyche there is only one type of vegetarian - a person who doesn't eat meat. Birds are meat, fish is meat.

People trying to be different, and stand out, may call themselves vegetarian, but still eat meat (whether it be chicken or trout). They are not vegetarians, they are posers.

Why do people consider them lesser beings, because religion, the original "science" deemed it so many hundreds of years ago. Look at Thomas Aquinas, who stole his writings from Aristotle, who both believed animals could feel no pain. Real Science has proven differently.

Crows, simians and humans are the only beings that have been scientifically witnessed making tools, my guess is that other animals do it also (maybe not all of them, but I believe some others do).