Nature broadly comprises the physical world or universe. Aside from the physical world, nature also includes the living creatures that inhabit this world. These life forms vary in terms of looks and habitation, such as marine creatures, land animals, air inhabitants, and under-the-earth organisms.
I am a lover of nature, no question about that. I spent my childhood within close range of nature, enjoying it, and loving it. But there are aspects of nature that I also dislike and even detest. It might sound contradictory and inconsistent, but that’s what I am. I like most animals, but there are some that I find scary or loathsome.
One thing that I find offensive about nature is the presence of predators. I dislike the idea that they prey on other animals that simply want to live like them. I know it is part of nature’s cycle, but I find it sad that some helpless animals live in fear and suffer terrible pain and death when captured by predators.
How I love it when animals are just feasting on fruits from fruit-bearing trees, plant leaves, and grasses. For me, these are the ideal foods for them to eat. How I wish all animals were just eating plants or the like. Yes, plants also possess life, but they are too different. They do not have consciousness, do not breathe, don’t have blood, no eyes, and ears, no mouths, no feelings, no sensations, not moving on their own. Truly suitable for eating!
But animals possess the senses that give them consciousness. Generally, they have the sense of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. They feel pain, and they also have emotions. Many of them have blood in their veins that resemble human blood. They have brains, hearts, and other physical faculties that enable them to be even closer to humans. Unlike plants, they are fully aware of what happens around them.
So when a lion, crocodile, tiger, hyena, eagle, leopard, jaguar, or other predators approach a pathetic, helpless antelope, the latter can be terrorized with fear, then with pain as fangs and claws tear its body apart. It may struggle to free itself, but the simultaneous bites and claws penetrating its body are too painful to bear. Amid the pain, anguish, and horror, the prey has no choice but to die in agony.
What have they done to deserve such fate? They cannot fight back, try as they do. And the most agonizing of all is the doom of being eaten alive. The sight of a deer lying on its side while a komodo dragon is pulling its internal organs out is too much for me to see, especially if the pitiful deer is still alive and conscious, howling in terrible pain. I hate such a sight. I feel like picking up a weapon and killing the predator, too.
Yes, I love nature, but not all the way. I hate predators and pity their prey. I love to see when the prey learn to fight back and the predators are harmed. But it seldom happens. Nevertheless, nature is nature and will flow through its natural course.
