Everything is consciousness.

So, why include animals and exclude vegetables?

Do you believe that it is better for an animal to end up road-kill rotting corpse, or to be consumed by a human?

One is a pure waste, the other is far more beneficial than most can ever think.

What is the difference between a dog and a wolf? A dog has a much bigger and more expansive experience. And the answer is humans. Dogs think more, do more and experience more because of their involvement with humans.

"You are what you eat"
Is more true than most can ever think.
That meat that you ate; a part of that animal is now sharing a human experience. Meaning its reincarnation path is altered.

Sorry this world is at a stage where life eats other life to survive.
Even the plants eat other life.