Society/Culture Snake eats Wallaby - outrage ensues

[mantis]

What are you kidding? I love watching a friends pet snake eat rats. It is the best part of him keeping the snake. He is a bit cruel though, he sometimes throws live mice in, and that is very exciting. And it is nature.

Yes it is nature, but I can't get pleasure seeing any animal die, because I love all animals.

When I had my pet python, it wasn't wrong to feed live rats, hence why I went away, I couldn't stand hearing them cry as my snake killed them.

 

[Thrawn]

I'm going to have to disagree with you both. It's not nature at all. You're putting a domesticated animal in an artificial enclosure - hell the very fact that it's all controlled is what makes it unnatural. There's no actual hunt, no chance for the critter to escape. And IMO, no different than throwing a living dog to a cage of a hungry lion.

This video pretty much sums up my thoughts.

What are you kidding? I love watching a friends pet snake eat rats. It is the best part of him keeping the snake. He is a bit cruel though, he sometimes throws live mice in, and that is very exciting. And it is nature.

Your friend is an idiot. What he is doing (live feeding a vertebrate) is actually illegal here. And very irresponsible. Why put the snake through unnecessary risk, and the mice through needless pain? With prekilled feed, it is a win-win.

 

[Thrawn]

As for the actual story, I would let nature be. It happened in the wild - in a situation that is out of our control and doesn't follow our views of morality. A waste of time, really...

It all depends on context, really. I have no problem with animals eating other animals, it's fascinating when observing it in the wild as it is a part of a beautiful chain. Nature can be a cruel place, but it is amoral. What crosses the line for me is when people induce it in captivity when it is not really necessary. Something like a rat does not have to suffer to feed a snake in captivity. Were it a dog, people would want the snake owner's head - yet I see no difference in principle.