I had to kill a nest full of hornets, and a couple small wasp nests. I hate it when I do that.
They are extremely noble creatures, Gods creatures. They are all willing to die to protect their colony, family, queen. Always at the ready to fly into battle with giants like us and our nasty chemical weapons.
The hornets were especially sad. They had dug out a big chunk of a bench leg and built a neat little city in it. I only found it when I tried to drag the bench around. I've been attacked by hornets before and it hurt like hell for a day or so. These guys were little, and the sting was more like a sweat bee, just itched. But I couldn't just leave them in there, and harm somebody else.
So there are just 2 little guys left, wondering what happened. When I peer into the hole, one guy just peeks out at me as if to say "I'm all that's left, what should I do ?"
Wish there was a different way, but you can't just hand your house over to the bugs.
The wasps were just as sad. Miraculously, one tough old bugger survived at each nest. Each one is perched right on top of the cells with the little baby wasps / larvae. They are ready to launch right into the horrors of war a second time, to protect their little guys. I don't even want to bother these 2 fellers again. Let them have a well deserved military retirement. I hope that one wasp each isn't going to attack any people. I hope all the rest are at peace, in bee heaven.
I had a wasps nest inside my house once. Kept seeing them in our living room every morning for about a week before I realized they weren't being let into the house, they were living in it. Never did find the nest but managed to seal them inside of wherever they were coming from and they never managed to enter from anywhere else. Was a bit scary knowing these were around you the whole time as you slept.
I don't see how you can assign human emotions to insects. Now they are important don't get me wrong but I will kill hornets and wasps at the drop of a hat and won't 'feel' bad about doing it.
Yeah, they probably don't feel anything like human emotions, but I do wonder what they think or perceive when there were dozens or hundreds of them, and then all of a sudden there are only a couple left.
Or that they were all engaged in various specific jobs, working in concert with everybody else. Then that whole system / effort doesn't even exist. Are they confused ? Do they miss everybody that's gone and the system that's suddenly stopped ?
They may just be programmed to take off and look for another group. But it apparently takes a while for them to decide this.
There have been some very interesting observations of animals exhibiting very human-like behaviors. Elephants will all get together and basically have a wake for the body or bones of a dead family member. Crows will bring presents to people who have been nice to them, like feeding them. The crows will find shiny pieces of stuff that they think have value, and deliver them to their favorite people. While attacking people who are mean or threatening. Supposedly this can also be passed on generationally. 2 or 3 generations removed will know to like or hate certain people, without having had the interactions themselves. Strange but interesting stuff.