I was always under the impression that Pidgey at least, was quite dumb. I would eat roast Pidgey for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rattata, on the other hand, looked no more intelligent than a real-life rat or mouse, so if you ate those already, you'd probably be able to eat them no probs.

I never felt as though they had a level of self-consciousness peculiar to human beings. To me, they seemed like well-tamed animals that could perform tricks, bark out their own names, and if need be...be eaten.