I think animals 'feel' far more than we give them credit for sometimes. I live on a huge pond, and it's a daily occurrence a little after 5pm every day to see a line of cars on the busy main road, all stopped to let the geese (and baby geese in the spring!) cross the road. One day someone went around the stopped line of cars and plowed down 4 of them. I saw this from my kitchen window and started crying. Other drivers blared their horns at the horrible excuse for the human being, and the rest of the geese looked frantic. There's a special place in hell for people like that driver.

Also, I rarely see my dad (retired homicide investigator) cry, but one night he accidentally hit a bird with his truck and came home all sniffly. It almost never bothers him when dealing with the deaths of humans, but the death of an innocent animal ALWAYS upsets him. I'm the same way.