Perhaps we are already a civilization of brutes and in calling animals so we are doing them a dis-service. Maybe collectively animals treat each other better than we do. The bird tolerates the badger, and vice versa. Imagine if the fox in the woods shipped all the rabbits off to Rwanda. Would birds, for example, fuck another nest over, steal the food and part of its home, or would it just try to find its own. Maybe some species do this.
I suppose the big difference is currency and they have none. Food, water, shelter, above that, they need nothing. People will do desperate things if they do not have those necessities. Would the elephant being the largest, take over the entire savannah or jungle just because it could, because of its power? Force the lions or tigers into its armies and rule the area as it chooses, distributing resources as it saw fit.
The more the things that keep us human close, art centres, children’s play areas, music venues, whatever it is, the more the animals win, and I’m not talking about the elephants here, I mean the animal in man. The greed the individual or the corporation has over any future generation’s well-being or the shortsightedness of what it does to our population. Where would we be if these things were not the norm and rampant capitalism did not rule entirely?