False kindness: Never help a chick to hatch, a pupa to become a butterfly

Dr Abe V Rotor

And never touch animal babies before they are weaned, otherwise they will be devoured or abandoned by their mothers.

Don't help a flower bud to open. Don't help a chich get out of its shell,  Paintings by AVR.

But curious kids we were, we would surreptitiously smuggle puppies from their mother while she is away. They are simply irresistibly cute. So with kittens and rabbits. But the smell of humans is enough cause for nursing animals to kill and even devour their newly born offspring as in the case of rats. A mother cat simply transfers her young to another place difficult to discover. Dogs refuse to nurse their puppies if disturbed.

And beware. Nursing animals are by instinct ferocious, and even turn against their own masters, as in the case of the dog, and more so in the wild. A brooding cobra will surely strike at any intruder. Nursing cows and horses chase man or animal that threatens their young. A brooding hen is ill-tempered, ready to attack, so with hawks, eagles and other birds. Among lower animals the paper wasp or putakti is a classical example of collective assault. Just keep away at bay.

What happens to the chick assisted to hatch from its shell instead of leaving it to struggle on its own?  It will be sickly and most likely lame.  And how about the butterfly helped to metamorphose from its chrysalis?  It will never be able to fly.~