Home › Curiosities Respecting Animals › Destruction of Animals

Destruction of Animals

there is not an animal in existence, which has not an enemy to contend with.

Among quadrupeds, wild beasts are most remarkably pernicious and dangerous to others. But that they may not, by their cruelty, destroy a whole species, these are circumscribed within certain bounds: as to the fiercest of them, they are few in number, when compared with other animals; sometimes they fall upon and destroy each other; and it is remarked also, that they seldom live to a great age, for they are subject, from the nature of their diet, to various diseases, which bring them sooner to an end than those animals which live on vegetables. It has been asked, why has the Supreme Being constituted such an order in nature, that, it should seem, some animals are created only to be destroyed by others? To this it has been answered, that Providence not only aimed at sustaining, but also keeping a just proportion amongst all the species, and so preventing any one of them from increasing too much, to the detriment of men and other animals. For if it be true, as it assuredly is, that the surface of the earth can support only a certain number of creatures, they must all perish, if the same number were doubled or trebled.

There are many kinds of flies, which bring forth so abundantly, that they would soon fill the air, and, like clouds, intercept the light of the sun, unless they were devoured by birds, spiders, and other animals.