[lost_my_pwd]

Funny that you mention rationalizing; something these non-human predator can not do. They are simply doing what their instincts drive them to do: hunt and survive.

That is nowhere near the same thing as a human killer that does it for non-survival reasons; anger, entertainment, sexual excitement, etc. Even if we say that human killers are driven by instinct, as animals are, they also have the ability to reason about the motivations, impact, and eventual consequences of those actions.

[mod]

Plenty of animals hunt and/or kill not to survive, but because they enjoy it.

You should see my dog go after camel crickets, and how it plays with the dead bodies. It prefers them to tennis balls, for certain.

I wouldn't be surprised if other predators feel similarly about their prey, even if they also eat it.