We kill more animals than any other species, but we’re also the only species that feels bad for killing.

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We kill more animals than any other species, but we’re also the only species that feels bad for killing.

Comments

  1. Showerthoughts_Mod Avatar

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  2. HighRiskLowReward Avatar

    I think other animal feel bad occasionally when they accidentally kill another animal that’s not their prey. Also many humans kill animals without feeling bad at all

  3. crow1992 Avatar

    Because we humanize the animals and apply human logic to the animals.

    Because we’re sentient and are capable of critical thinking, complex emotions and empathy.

    Animals are not capable of doing the same thing.

    A lion doesn’t ask itself “hey, if the gazelle i was killing was a lion, would i be killing it”?

    It kills because the kill has simple motives behind it, food or getting rid of competition.

  4. Brandoncarsonart Avatar

    We’re also the only species that medically treats other species.

  5. derpferd Avatar

    But not so bad that it will supercede our notions of wealth and power and the need to exploit other creatures for that.

  6. ivthreadp110 Avatar

    I think domesticated cats probably kill more animals than any other species… But they’re also unapologetic about it.

  7. Lightcronno Avatar

    To be fair we don’t know how any other animal “feels”
    We can only guess

  8. dharmaraj108 Avatar

    How would you know what other species “feel”? Especially considering there are almost 9 million varieties.

  9. DenizSaintJuke Avatar

    Do we know no other animal feels bad for killing? They’re not exactly writing tumblr blogs. And most humans who actively do don’t feel bad and haven’t for the extend of human history.

    I think the anomaly is mostly that we created a world where most of us can live completely alienated from the process of killing, without stopping to eat animals. That’s where we start feeling bad, because we aren’t habituated to having an unemotional work/pragmatically food based relationship with animals.

  10. Tuffleslol Avatar

    Did the other animals tell you that?

  11. yearsofpractice Avatar

    Also, frighteningly, we’re the only species that specifically targets adults of the prey we hunt – every other predator targets the smaller members of the their prey. This – as you can imagine – royally fucks up ecosystems.

  12. metalconscript Avatar

    I think part of the is also about how the animals are treated. Also do you want to be killed? I don’t think so.

  13. jbahill75 Avatar

    Well, feeling bad about it makes a us feel better about doing it.