Hey, most people aren't for animal cruelty, and I honestly don't know of those that are. Sometimes animals are skinned as a means of survival, but not always. The fur is valuable because it's warm. You'll find that most people are not like Michael Vick and are taking the life of an animal for a good reason, not just some sick entertainment.
For balanced facts, avoid information from the likes of PETA or other extreme animal-rights activists. The reason here is that they have a stance of mankind is evil and is here to screw over everything else.
Anybody with a lick of sense won't want to obliterate animals. We like having companions both human and animal. Additionally, man is an omnivore, and having no animals to eat would put a major kink in the works, so exterminating them would be suicidal.
As far as animals killing out of a need to live, that's not true. Cats like to catch things, and not necessarily to eat it. One cat at my parents house like to catch birds, mice, etc and drop them off when she's out at night. She usually doesn't eat them, just kills them and drops them off. We feed her, so she doesn't need to kill anything, yet she does. If you haven't owned a cat, they are vastly different than dogs, which I'm guessing is where you've had much of your experience.
