Without natural predators like wolves, bears, or bobcats, the deer population in certain areas of the United States has exploded(1). This negatively impacts overall biodiversity(2). I doubt deer like being eaten, but that's the process of life, and its vital to maintain the existing biodiversity we enjoy today.

So why would you feel guilt for the cycle of nature? Without deer, buffalo, or other herbivores in suburbia or urban environments, there has to be something to check plant growth.

(1)https://blog.nature.org/science/2013/08/22/too-many-deer/ (2)https://sciencing.com/purpose-deer-ecosystem-8659608.html

Really? What about when you purchase a bouquet of flowers? You’re essentially prizing the most asthetically pleasing plant sexual organs and giving them to your loved ones.

Equating plant behavior/parts with their animal equivalent would mean you live in a constant state of guilt and horror.

In the same way that there's a vast moral gap between causing a creature to panic and causing a kernel to panic, I feel like the word "distress" is acting more evocatively than is necessarily intended here. (But I'm no botanist!)