These threads are annoying because you get a ton of idiot edge kids who want to show off how nihilistic and tough they are, but I'll take the bait and say why in this film at least, there is a reason.
The animals are killed to make you believe that what is happening is actually happening. Same with the footage shown from "The Last Road to Hell" which we are told is faked footage of actual human deaths, but is in fact real documentary footage. It's meant to confuse you and think that what you're seeing is real.
I've seen people, to this day, go on at length about the girl impaled on the pole and how that has to be real. Well, no. It's a really simple special effect, beyond simple, when you think about it, but your brain is already overloaded with shock imagery and there's a part of you that becomes a lot more willing to suspend disbelief.
Deodato is making a film that calls his countrymen's (Jacopetti and Prosperi) intent and methodology into question, among other things. Whether or not you think it works is up to you, but I would argue that the film has merit regardless of the animal killings.
I'm also a person who hates animal killing in film because I think when it's done now, it's the easiest way for a director to get a rise out of the audience, because so very little is taboo any longer.
Cannibal Holocaust is a good film, and while I may find the killing of animals disturbing, I understand that this was the point, and also a means to an end to get the viewer to suspend disbelief.
I also think that a person who saw this movie back in the day was a lot more affected by it than a kid would be now. What that says about the world we live in is up for debate.
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"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch
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