No question that this is a terrible, terrible tragedy, and that the animals paid with their lives for something they had no control over. I think what is lost here, though, is that the human that took his life, and subjecting these innocent animals to the loss of theirs, was, obviously, not in his right frame of mind. His love of the animals wasn't probably 'registering', any more than that ingrained self preservation 'instinct'.

It is a tragic situation, all the way around.