Depending upon what nature channels you watch and the content of the shows, you may be somewhat under the misimpression that there are some sort of harmonious relations between different animal species, and a sort of beauty contained within the animal kingdom. There is a small amount of truth in this observation, but animals especially and particularly carnivorous animals, out in nature, without the interference of man, are no agents of mercy, but instead most definitely follow the adage of survival of the fittest, so that the strong devour the weak, and live that out on a daily basis. This is the nature of the beast within animals, which utilizes its instinct, strength, and force to prey upon primarily the weak, the defenseless, the unfortunate, and the injured.
In this world that so often views itself as secular; man has consciously thrown off the cloak of spirituality to embrace the "fact" that man is the measure of all things. So too, it then follows logically, that mankind now sees itself as just another animal, even believing, that its brotherhood is not one of spiritual brotherhood, having in common thereby the divine spark of our Creator, but instead, that we have evolved from apes, and therefore are, no better and no worst, than mere animals in this material world.
When you believe that you are just a sophisticated beast, than quite naturally, you will behave as one, which is what we see so often in the politics and play of today's society, to which, mankind has thrown out the book of justice, peace, equality and liberty, and instead replaced these with the simplicity that the strong will vanquish the weak, the strong will control the defenseless, and the strong will exploit the impoverished. We see examples of this in how America rather than risking its own personnel and soldiers, drops "smart bombs" on target after target, acting as judge, jury, and executioner, to those countries of illicit rebels which do not have the air defense mechanisms to properly defend themselves, or the collateral damage done to its innocent civilians and infrastructure. We see this as well in the financial exploitation of third world nations, in which the ever "generous" America and its cohorts, eviscerate local economies and thereby dump their own goods onto these peoples, so that they are perpetually dependent, and thereby forced to borrow from western nations sums of money that they will never have the means to repay, and be therefore perpetually indebted to us. Then too we also see it in our criminal justice system in which the poor, uneducated, and indigent are rounded up and selectively prosecuted to sweep them off of our public roads and streets so as to be tough on the crime of being poor, whereas our feudal overlords milk the rest of our population for tribute leaving them little but a hollowed-out American dream of a car, a home, two children, and a job that never lets them get too far ahead of their household debt.
The difference between an animal and what a man at his best represents is self-restraint. An animal has no compunction about tearing another animal limb by limb, because that is its nature, and neither will it have any guilt, because that is its instinct. A man to actually really be a man, demonstrates this attribute by exercising self-restraint, which can be exhibited by love, by mercy, by self-sacrifice, by teamwork, and by caring for the other as if the other is as worthy as thy self. Unfortunately, way too often, America demonstrates again and again its material belief that might makes right, which is a throwback to the time of cavemen and pure brutality, while in actual fact, man only does right when he is able to see the divine spark within each man, and lives by the credo of turning swords into plowshares, and enemies into friends.