No Simba, if they were all allowed to die naturally, there would be too many of them to share the grass. They would die fighting themselves for food, a miserable existence. Only a truley dumb species would ignore the natural order and allow their own to die of hunger.
There is that aspect though. Unless the Antelope are good at looking out for each other and taking turns, they will mindlessly degreen the entire area.
I’ve seen an arthritic goat hobbling around in agony.
With nature, you don’t generally peacefully breathe out your dying breath, even if there are no predators. You live until life as it is is torturous enough that you no longer live.
There is no alternative to life, and death is compulsory and often painful. We, as humans, are lucky enough to be capable to, at times, make that process quick, and, at times, painless.
Predation is not wrong. The quality of life is what matters - and because of that, death is necessary.
Life offers joy, but can dish out misery just as deeply. If life gives you joy, it lasts as long as it can. If life gives you misery, the depth of it is limited by death.
read a long time ago about how the deer population got out of control in this one forest, and within a few years the place was practically a desert. everything just fuckin died
It’s morally better they die fighting us for food, while we right each other for food. Trust me.