It's completely unethical for us to say that something with severe mental retardation has less rights unless they are doing some harm, so I don't know why you guys are using intelligence as a factor on how important any given animal is.

It follows the kind of pseudo-vegetarianism I have seen too much of "omg chickens can feel pain, I will never eat chicken again". Yet they'll happily consume a yoghurt coloured with crushed insects.

Most people are very afraid to look into animal rights for fear that they're wrong. My personal stance is that any justification put forward for hurting animals is flawed.