Jim Caroll, Thank you for your reply to my question. Whilst I agree that wanton killers of wildlife are savages, they are not necessarily thugs or morons. Wanton being the operative verb.
It was the brevity and vehemence of your post that spurred me to ask for a definition.
It is, of course, hypocritical to abhor the killing of animals if you eat fish or meat, or wear leather, because almost all fish are taken from the wild by barberic methods which destroy other ecosystems, and farming for slaughter takes a mindset that I don't share. Though I do happily eat the end products of it.
I could advance arguments against the unnatural lives forced on creatures to produce eggs and milk, if I felt inclined to play Devil's Advocate. Or even against vegetable farming, and the harm that that does to the environment.
Morality is only a single view from a single perspective, and everyone has their own. Even someone who holds to the strictest Buddhist principles, arguably the most moral current, is allowed to eat meat provided someone gives it to them!   Chris Marden.