They might have died anyway, really. Drowning might be considered a more humane death than other bad stuf, y'know. And I think it used to be a common practice, now that I remember an old Tom & Jerry cartoon where Tom died and was in front of Heaven's gate and the other cats in front of him were run over or something, and there was a wet sack of kittens
I wouldn't drown kittens, though.
[edit]GW, hurting someone in war is a hell of alot different than hurting someone in everyday life.