A fox or raccoon makes off with one of your chickens and what do you do? You reinforce the coop and the fence around it to make sure you don’t lose another.
Should you feel sort of sorry for the fuzzy wee fox or cute little ‘coon that now has to work a lot harder, or go elsewhere, to snag an easy meal?
Certainly not. You won’t lose a minute of sleep worrying about the greedy pest that murdered your bird and diminished your daily egg production. Unless your conscience has been formed watching anthropomorphic animated Disney movies, you’re not likely to feel sorry for predatory animals.
Maybe you live in town and you don’t own chickens, but you come home from work one day to find your home burglarized. Do you feel good knowing that some presumably needy person has improved his lot at your expense? No, you file a police report, repair the damage, replace the things you’ve lost, and install a more sophisticated security system.
Imagine if predators could lobby legislators. Small furry carnivores would rally in support of legislation to prevent chicken owners from housing their fowl in predator-proof enclosures, all the while insisting that what most concerned them was the psychological damage done to poultry temporarily denied freedom of movement.
The Home Invaders Association would back gun-control bills to prevent firearm-related accidents, zoning regulations to outlaw unsightly burglar bars, and sound ordinances to prohibit the auditory pollution caused by alarm systems. All for the greater good.
It’s kind of like these Texas trial attorneys who want to go back to the good old days before tort reform when pickings were easy and lawsuits, however dubious, led to fabulous wealth for them.
For the rest of us, those “good old days” weren’t so good, we’re glad they’re gone, and we don’t feel sorry for the predators who’ve been inconvenienced.