Ask HN: Why is nature so brutal
A fairly decent team could have designed a more empathetic circle of life. Maybe lack of designers and outsourced/finished hurriedly?
The fact of the matter is that all creatures have to kill to eat. That's true whether what's being eaten is plants or animals.
Having said that, humans are perhaps the only animals on the planet that can recognize a higher purpose in that fact. Like nurturing and protecting what we love. Humans can feel and express gratitude for that fact that other entities sacrificed their lives so that we can live.
Perhaps you could re-frame the question to something like this: Why do people take it for granted that brutality is inevitable but compassion is optional?
It wasn't always like that - predators appeared at some point of evolution about 500mln years ago (or at least first evidence of that is that old). Before that it was all happy coexistence, but ... this system can't last long.
> Like nurturing and protecting what we love. Humans can feel and express gratitude for that fact that other entities sacrificed their lives so that we can live.
This is not limited to humans (and most of them don't have much of it anyway). Every animal will protect their offspring and I am pretty sure every lion is grateful for the meal provided by its prey.