Perhaps that comes from personal experiences killing dangerous animals like rattlesnakes, where I had to decide that death was the only [but regretable] option.
Offthread, but I am curious as to the frequency and circumstances for this. I grew up in the desert, and have spent a great deal of time roaming around environments where rattlesnakes exist. Only once have I actively engaged in ending a rattlesnake's life, and that was because of a very stupid act by a person in my party. Three of us were fishing off a boat in Lake Mead. The one who had no experience with the desert noticed a rattlesnake in the water and pulled it out thinking it was dead, and not knowing that rattlesnakes can swim, very inefficiently. At Lake Mead rattlesnakes are occasionally seen swimming in water between two close islands as a part of their hunting areas. Having a coiled rattlesnake on a relatively small bass boat and three humans is a bit unnerving, and I aided in its demise with the use of a handy oar. There were also a couple of times while on horseback where I would have killed a snake if I had a sure and effective means of doing so without dismounting, because it was a clear and present threat to the horse. These encounters have always fortunately ended without anything more dire than than fear among the three animals directly involved, as the rattlesnakes beat a hasty retreat without striking.
From your sig can be discerned that you live in the So. California Hills. If you lived on certain hills there when it was going through a building surge, you probably have experienced rattlesnakes that had been forced to attempt a migration not of their own choice. An unfortunate event for all concerned, indeed.
