Animals - One silly hypothesis

So thousands of years back, there was this country. Well, technically it wasn't a country yet. There were natives spread across the landmass, living off the land... And there were these migrants, who had just started coming... As expected, there was constant friction going on between the natives and outsiders - cultural differences, land, women, animals. Usual stuff, you get the picture...

The natives had their own systems and laws and way of life. It was an easy going, lets live thru the day sort of stuff. The migrants too loved to drink and eat and be merry, as at the core they were travellers who lived for the day. 

Over the next hundred years or so, there was some peace between the two sides and there was co-existence. The peace was as good as the terms of the last skirmish / battle / war. But with longer periods of peace, the natives moved to deeper jungles, and migrants settled down in areas they occupied. Agriculture happened. Animal rearing started. Cattle was used for farming. The outsiders developed a superiority complex in addition to formulating their own laws. They now had holy books and knowledge was passed down the generations. 

As part of sacrifices required as per the law, some of these animals were killed, and offerings were made to the gods, after which the outsiders would feast on the flesh of these animals. Over a period of time, they grew fond of one particular type of meat! They just loved it so much that they started eating it regularly, without waiting for ritualistic sacrifices. They killed so many of that one particular animal that its population fell drastically. They killed more than they could eat... And the natives actually came of out of jungles and started dragging carcasses for their own consumption. 

The greedy outsiders got so lusty for the meat of this particular animal that the religious heads had to intervene! They issued a diktat that his animal is holy and cannot be eaten. It was a very normal thing those days to use religion / culture / way of life as a tool to enforce certain beheviour from the migrants who were still struggling with this whole settlement gig. 

This religious enforcement took a good 20-30 years to actually get implemented. Lot of stories were spread about the metaphysical qualities of this Animal. Stories were planted about what made this Animal sacred. Fear was used to ensure no harm comes to this Animal in your watch. Eventually, the word had reached to all settlements that this Animal was not to be harmed, killed or sacrificed. Changes were made in religious texts to remove all ambiguity. Everyone now worshiped this Animal, as god. 

This Animal was removed from list of animals of sacrifice. It was a holy move to cover up for unholy acts of man. 

The unholiness continues. Blindly.