Yes. And yes. Mass starvation and famine aren’t any more fun for animals than they are for humans.

Arguments like the author makes often ignore the fact that most populations exist in cycles of boom and bust on a logarithmic scale once predators are removed from the equation.

They argue against cruelty, which is understandable. But which is worse? Having your neck quickly snapped or long, slow starvation. Sometimes death is a mercy and an end to suffering.

That was as true of farming as it is the natural world until the shift from family farms to Big Ag and monoculture.