There's also the fact that I've volunteered in wildlife rehab, and had to deal with wild predators that someone took a shot at just for fun.
While deer always have the same blank, bland, stupid expression at all times...something like a wolf or coyote, if hurt, has the same eyes and depth of expression as your family dog.
You can see that they're in pain as they're recovering from an injury, you can see them try to figure out the recovery cage latches with an inquisitive paw, you can see fear, and you can see that they're actually thinking. Everything you can see in a domestic dog's expressions and body language, it's all there, expressive ears to tail wagging or tucked to a wet nose. And with wolves, there's a fascinating, focused clarity of expression that even dogs lack.
(And when there was a litter of grey fox kits that had been washed down a drain and rescued, one kept "killing" leaves, bringing them to me and looking all tail-wagging happy and proud about that, which was a need-insulin level of cute.)
So I really can't understand someone deliberately wanting to hurt or kill one that's not a threat, not rabid, not endangering anyone or anything. They're just going about their business, otherwise, being a rather smarter sort of dog that can live on its own in the wild. I'd rather leave them there and feel lucky to catch a glimpse when I can.
