Indeed, the threat from men is a much greater one than that of any other predators. The Threarah's reasoning, however sound, cannot possibly prepare for something like what the men do to the rabbits. It is not in the nature of rabbits to comprehend something like this sort of destruction. Holly has trouble explaining what happened, but all of the rabbits understand in the end that the things that men do are far worse than what any other animals could ever do. Throughout Watership Down there are many instances in which comparisons between rabbits and humans can easily be drawn. In this case, however, it is clear that humanity has set itself apart. Only humans have the power to completely annihilate animals in such a way. Furthermore, only humans kill for sport in such a way. Other animals kill to eat and to survive, but humans kill when they want to. If the men who kill the rabbits had thought about them as thinking creatures with a culture of their own, they might have acted differently. Destroying a civilization of creatures who feel pain and think for themselves is entirely different from killing a bunch of creatures who do not even know what life is. The story teaches these rabbits a terrible lesson, for they know that humans can do worse things to them than they could possibly imagine, without even considering the consequences. Sadly, this callousness is what sets the human race apart from the other animals.

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