[23] Diseases, combined with parasitism, "may induce listlessness, shivering, ulcers, pneumonia, starvation, violent behavior, or other gruesome symptoms over the course of days or weeks leading up to death.
[73] 2nd-century church fathers, particularly Irenaeus of Lyons and Theophilus of Antioch, hold that animals are originally created as peaceful vegetarians, only becoming carnivorous as a result of human sin and the Fall.
"[75] In his 1779 posthumous work Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, the philosopher David Hume describes the antagonism inflicted by animals upon each other and the psychological impact experienced by the victims, observing: "The stronger prey upon the weaker, and keep them in perpetual terror and anxiety.
[82] Writing in 1860, to Asa Gray, Darwin asserts that he could not reconcile an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God with the intentional existence of the Ichneumonidae, a parasitoid wasp family, the larvae of which feed internally on the living bodies of caterpillars.
[83] In his autobiography, published in 1887, Darwin described a feeling of revolt at the idea that God's benevolence is limited, stating that "for what advantage can there be in the sufferings of millions of the lower animals throughout almost endless time?
It states: "There are those [animals] who—[though] fearful of predation, of threats, beatings, cold, heat, and bad weather—if capable, disregard their trembling and, just for a moment, arouse a mind of faith towards the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha.
Patrul Rinpoche, a 19th-century Tibetan Buddhist teacher, describes animals in the ocean as experiencing "immense suffering", as a result of predation, as well as parasites burrowing inside them and eating them alive.
They highlight how Hindu beliefs, particularly ahimsa and the transformative power of moral growth, suggest that human sanctity can lead to peace even among hostile species, as reflected in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.
For Morris and Thornhill, Hinduism offers a hopeful perspective that spiritual development can mitigate non-anthropogenic suffering, aligning religious values with the protection and care of wild animals.
[95] In Histoire Naturelle, published in 1753, the naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon describes wild animals as suffering much want in the winter, focusing specifically on the plight of stags who are exhausted by the rutting season, which in turn leads to the breeding of parasites under their skin, further adding to their misery.
[96]: 53 Later in the book, he describes predation as necessary to prevent the superabundance of animals who produce vast numbers of offspring, who if not killed would have their fecundity diminished due to a lack of food and would die as a result of disease and starvation.
[6] Gompertz asserts that humans and animals in their natural state both suffer similarly:[98]: 47 [B]oth of them being miserably subject to almost every evil, destitute of the means of palliating them; living in the continual apprehension of immediate starvation, of destruction by their enemies, which swarm around them; of receiving dreadful injuries from the revengeful and malicious feelings of their associates, uncontrolled by laws or by education, and acting as their strength alone dictates; without proper shelter from the inclemencies of the weather; without proper attention and medical or surgical aid in sickness; destitute frequently of fire, of candle-light, and (in man) also of clothing; without amusements or occupations, excepting a few, the chief of which are immediately necessary for their existence, and subject to all the ill consequences arising from the want of them.Gompertz argues that as much as animals suffer in the wild, they suffer much more at the hands of humans because, in their natural state, they have the capacity to also experience periods of much enjoyment.
No one, either religious or irreligious, believes that the hurtful agencies of nature, considered as a whole, promote good purposes, in any other way than by inciting human rational creatures to rise up and struggle against them.
It has all come about as a result of the mindless and inhuman manner in which life has been developed on the earth ... one cannot help thinking sometimes, when, in his more daring and vivid moments, he comes to comprehend the real character and condition of the world ... and cannot help wondering whether an ordinary human being with only common-sense and insight and an average concern for the welfare of the world would not make a great improvement in terrestrial affairs if he only had the opportunity for a while.In Ethics and Education, published in 1912, Moore critiques the human conception of animals in the wild.
[150] Stijn Bruers argues that even long-term animal rights activists sometimes hold speciesist views when it comes to this specific topic, which he calls a "moral blind spot".
[16] Similarly, philosopher Steven Nadler argues that climate change means that "the scope of actions that are proscribed – and, especially, prescribed – by a consideration of animal suffering should be broadened".
[124] Catia Faria argues that gender identity deeply influences how humans perceive and respond to wild animals, with a male-centered worldview playing a key role in fostering harm and indifference.
[4] Horta has also proposed that courses of action aiming at helping wild animals should be carried out and adequately monitored first in urban, suburban, industrial, or agricultural areas.
Horta also contends that a romantic conception of nature has significant implications for attitudes people have towards animals in the wild, as holders of the view may oppose interventions to reduce suffering.
[12] Critics of this position, such as Beril Sözmen, argue that human negative impacts are not inevitable and that, until recently, interventions were not undertaken with the goal of improving the well-being of individual animals in the wild.
[154]: 377 A laissez-faire view, which holds that humans should not harm animals in the wild, but do not have an obligation to aid these individuals when in need, has been defended by Tom Regan, Elisa Aaltola, Clare Palmer, and Ned Hettinger.
[180] Thomas Lepeltier, a historian and writer on animal ethics, argues that "if colonization is to be criticized, it is because, beyond the rhetoric, it was an enterprise of spoliation and exaction exercised with great cruelty".
[229] Herman Melville, in Moby-Dick, published in 1851, describes the sea as a place of "universal cannibalism", where "creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began"; this is illustrated by a later scene depicting sharks consuming their own entrails.
[234] The 1942 Disney adaptation of Bambi has been criticized for inaccurately portraying a world where predation and death are no longer emphasized, creating a "fantasy of nature cleansed of the traumas and difficulties that may trouble children and that adults prefer to avoid".
[220] John Wyndham's character Zelby, in the 1957 book The Midwich Cuckoos, describes nature as "ruthless, hideous, and cruel beyond belief" and observes that the lives of insects are "sustained only by intricate processes of fantastic horror".
This perspective challenges the concept of a benevolent deity existing independently of nature's harsh realities, inviting readers to consider the possibility of a divine presence within an indifferent universe.
"[245] In "On Poetry: A Rhapsody", written in 1733, Jonathan Swift argues that Hobbes proved that all creatures exist in a state of eternal war and uses predation by different animals as evidence of this.
"[248] In William Blake's Vala, or The Four Zoas, the character Enion laments the cruelty of nature,[249] observing how ravens cry out but do not receive pity, and how sparrows and robins starve to death in the winter.
Enion also mourns how wolves and lions reproduce in a state of love, then abandon their young to the wilds and how a spider labours to create a web, awaiting a fly, but then is consumed by a bird.
[259] American poet Robinson Jeffers' poems contain depictions of violence in nature, such as "The Bloody Sire": "What but the wolf's tooth whittled so fine / The fleet limbs of the antelope?