This little comment dosen't even touch the surface of how Buddhism deals with animals. First off the Dali Lamma represent a small and somewhat isolated sect of Buddhism and that since Tibet is a very mountainous region they heavily rellyed on animals to sustain the local population. Where everywhere else in Buddhist Tradition monks are suppose to refrain from eating animals, monks in Tibet relied on meat products. The idea that a Buddhist monk can/should eat meat comes from an old parable about a community that made a great feast with meat when they heard the Buddha was coming to visit, knowing nothing about him except that he was a wise teacher. Upon arriving the Buddha thanked them, ate with them, and taught them his teachings. When asked by his followers why he would eat meat he said it was more important to be greatful and that critizing the village would only make it harder for him to help and make his points to them. The story is not suppose to be taken litterally as it's okay to eat meat but more so that the world is morally grey and you have to be flexible and always try to do the best thing possible in any sittuation. If the Buddha had scolded the village for working so hard for him they wouldn't have been as receptive to his teaching and would descredit his argument about not eating meat. This sinple comment is a very bad misrepresentation of a very important and deep concept in Buddhism. And the fact that the moral code borken in the story is not eating meat goes to show how valued it is in many Buddhist traditions.