I'm more, shall we say, tactful than Kromo, but I sympathize with some of his points.
Let me first say that there are no excuses for torturing animals, it's disgusting, it demonstrates an acute lack of empathy and should be royally punished.
However, it's not as bad as the loss of a human life. I know that if I'm called into some nightmarish hypothetical situation where I have to flick the switch on a human baby or a chicken, there's really not going to be great deal of though involved as to what choice I'm going to make. And I doubt any of you would. I'd obviously not be happy with the situation, but I'm happy and comfortable in placing human life above other organic life-forms.
Secondly, I hate the way that people value certain animals over others. In my mind there is no difference between the death of a rat and the death of a dog. I wouldn't kill either, and perhaps a dog is too personal an example to use. How about a fox? Both considered vermin, but one has a fanclub and the other doesn't.
Thirdly, Kromo's right about the torturing of animals not leading down the line to serial killing and other violent crime. I don't know many little boys who didn't torture insects. My favourite game used to be collecting caterpillars to put on the bonfire to watch them explode with giggling glee, (and I'm not a psycho, by the way).