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Billions of invertebrates and other small animals are killed during tilling before planting, with pest/weed control during the growing season (even with “organic” or “natural” compounds), and of course during harvest.
This is inevitable, farming requires controlling soil and plants, and this will inevitably kill animals that you don’t even see. Do you really think you can flood a rice paddy without killing countless mesofauna?
Fishing/hunting also kills animals, but you can catch a fish or hunt a deer without restructuring an entire ecosystem. Which means you can feed yourself without killing quite so many animals.
It goes beyond that. Some of the statements were made while in office, but the judge ruled that those particular statements weren’t protected either.