To much of anything including meat is bad for us so a balance must be maintained. It is important to remember that when Hadrath Ibrahim(as) were about to sacrifice their son Allah sent him a ram not any fruit or vegetable. This tells us that certain animals are edible, it is the nature of all forms of life that they want to live hence we struggle when faced with death.
Plants could very well have family as well, we know that they multiply on tree's and feel pain as well. No doubt that their is wisdom in Hinduism, I very much agree with their theory that one should not marry amongst blood relations.
Many animal's do surrender when about to be slaughtered, it depends on the nature of the one involved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n3NGN5zM5Q as Zakir Naik says our teeth are made to chew hard stuff seeing how sharp they are.