I am also a big fan of animals. In fact I generally like animals more than I do humans, and so I truly hate to see animals treated with needless cruelty. However I also do not believe there is any hypocrisy in eating and using animal products, so long as the animals are treated ethically/humanely.

The nature of life is such that every organism will eventually die, and other organisms live off them once they do. Humans are no exceptions to the rule. To somehow say humans are above this simply on account of (for the most part) greater intelligence, is deeply flawed logic.

The best that any living thing can ask for is that it lives with as little needless suffering as possible. But even in nature, that is not always possible.