[VMG]

The antiquity argument has its problems. There has been a long history of many things that we don't do anymore.

A better argument would be that the animal doesn't care (because it is an animal).

[Falling3]

I'm sure the animal doesn't care about specifically being a prize. I'm sure he/she cares about the care that follows being treated as an object.

[mamoswined]

Have you thought about the average factory-farmed animal gracing the average piece of pepperoni or sausage pizza at most hackathons? I don't see how this is worse. If anything, it forces people to think about how meat comes from animals far more than the kind of meat usually served at hackathons, which really doesn't even resemble an animal.

[VMG]

It most certainly isn't treated like an object, but as an animal. Probably better than most animals.