कल्पान्तरे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

Emotional benefits

The emotional benefits of animal sacrifice are many.
At the end of an elaborate animal sacrifice, the many participants experience a great feeling of peace, at the cosmic order having been restored. [DrdakFB15]
They get to ingest the rare serving of nutritious animal meat. Rest of the time, the diet used to be mostly ovo-lacto-vegetarian. (This is true even in the Mediterranean region, where the word “carnival” implied the consumption of carne/ flesh.)
The special emotional benefits of such animal sacrifices probably involve maintaining the virility and a certain ruthlessness required of the guardians of our society.

Other justification

True to the word “carnival”, many hindu families traditionally eat meat only after festivals. Hence, per capita meat consumption is very low compared to, say, USA (fusa, img).

“The sacrifice of animals in Yajnas, etc. is not considered an injury because the animals derive great benefit out of it. The ritual helps them to attain heaven or get higher birth in the future (Manu Smriti 5.40, 41). … Even if one were to reject these spiritual benefits as metaphors and superstitions, even then it is easy to see that conducting Yajnas are not contradictory to practicing Ahimsa. Ahimsa is an ideal, but except for renunciates, no person even nears ninety percent adherence to it.” [NG15]