I really enjoyed this post. Excellent narrative. I've often been perturbed by how humans deal with unwanted animals and pests. Everything affects everything.
Slightly off topic, but your post made me think about it. Often bears are shot simply because one was spotted near a camp. I think it's the WORST THING EVER. first of all if you're going to" camp" maybe actually camp so you aren't attracting bears to your area. Bears don't Just come up trying to kill you for no reason... and they eat more plants Than i think most people realize.
Same thing with snakes. Especially in the south, lots of people are just killing snakes because they "might be poisonous "
Again they're not in your environment they're a part of it. They don't go around biting humans unless provoked
Right, bull snakes actually out-compete rattlers, so killing them is counterproductive. As for the bears... who's invading whose territory anyway? So sad! Reminds me of that meme with the shark and diver: the deadliest creature ever... next to a great white shark. Thanks for the great comment.
So true about the sharks too.