Thank You for all the excellent responses on my story, as I can relate to much of them. What it is, is an Ethical standard that we should live by. Too often, we know very little about the other life forms we share this planet with. Even the best informed and most well intentioned of us do things like this every day.
We need to ask ourselves, what is the proper Ethical Decision?
In the case of the Mouse or the Fly, it is okay to control them ( kill ) where they become a pest since they can spread disease.
In the case of the Moth, sometimes they can be a pest ( eat clothing or be destructive plant pests ), but how was I to know? I'm not an Entomologist and I can't spend the rest of my life identifying every plant and animal specie around me. Perhaps, I could have asked someone or researched it myself, time allowing.
A reasonable solution to this dilemma is to keep a 'top ten' list of both beneficial and harmful plants and animals. We should all take better care, so as we do not introduce further exotic and invasive species into the Environment around us, and try to be more respectful of the ones that belong here.
Is it normal that I killed the Moth?
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Thank You for all the excellent responses on my story, as I can relate to much of them. What it is, is an Ethical standard that we should live by. Too often, we know very little about the other life forms we share this planet with. Even the best informed and most well intentioned of us do things like this every day.
We need to ask ourselves, what is the proper Ethical Decision?
In the case of the Mouse or the Fly, it is okay to control them ( kill ) where they become a pest since they can spread disease.
In the case of the Moth, sometimes they can be a pest ( eat clothing or be destructive plant pests ), but how was I to know? I'm not an Entomologist and I can't spend the rest of my life identifying every plant and animal specie around me. Perhaps, I could have asked someone or researched it myself, time allowing.
A reasonable solution to this dilemma is to keep a 'top ten' list of both beneficial and harmful plants and animals. We should all take better care, so as we do not introduce further exotic and invasive species into the Environment around us, and try to be more respectful of the ones that belong here.