Natural hierarchies

Just earlier I harshly pulled a leaf from a tree and immediately felt sorry about my act. In the meanwhile wondering how it came that my consciousness played up? Can't a man pull a leaf from a tree and not feel sorry about it? While studying the leaf I noticed a green fluorescent insect of the sort I guess is as globally spread as human-kind itself. I felt sorry for that insect as well I neatly placed the leaf on a grass field. But I shouldn't should I? There is a hierarchy in nature, with human beings on top.