Animals of Fluffy Death

So, today I saw a roadrunner randomly skipping across the sidewalk.
For those of you who watched Loony Tunes as a kid, like me:

No, the roadrunner's legs do not run in complete circles.
It's really just like a less feathery peacock-looking thing with long legs. It has cute, long tailfeathers.
ANYWAYS.

This got me thinking.
Why aren't people afraid of animals anymore?

Like, sure, if a giant herd of angry things with teeth were rushing at us, we would be likely to feel a twinge of fear or two, but for the most part, in our thought lives, we have no great woes in regards to animals.
Originally, especially according to the evolutionist's perspective, mankind was completely weak and inferior to animals. We have no great muscle strength, no natural weapons like poison or horns, and no good ways of hiding ourselves. The only thing we had that made us superior to animals was our minds and our ability to innovate. So, eventually, we got sticks and made them pointy, as if we had those natural defenses that animals have. This put us on even ground more than it gave us a huge advantage. Surprisingly, we had strength in numbers in most cases, because the only animals we had to fear, predators, who were also typically mammals, don't reproduce as often as humans and tend to live in smaller societies. But somehow, eventually, we overcame them, and now, somehow, we are completely desensitized to the fear of animals we had in ages past.
When you go to the zoo, are you even impressed by sights such as a wild boar or an alligator? For the vast majority of human history, these were considered the things of fear. Now, the things we fear are the unknown: darkness, freaky unknown monsters, disease. Take the movie Jurassic Park, for example. This movie scared the Spiderman undies right off of my pre-pubescent bottom. The reason behind this is not because I thought that dinosaurs were really going to eat me, it was because they were more powerful than technology. You remember when the kid finds the night vision goggles, well all they do is show him the thing that's about to eat him. The hunter guy who eventually gets gobbled like a turkey in a Puritan cornfield, he has the most sophisticated rifle thing ever and all this high-tech stuff. When the technology was less powerful, suddenly the people were seen as weak. This is what creates the fear.
So, society today doesn't fear animals because we don't realize that we are weak anymore. We have so separated ourselves from nature that 99% of us don't even know how bad it is when wolves get into the sheep any more. I don't even know if I've ever seen a wolf up close. But I know that if I did, it would be a sedated, tame wolf in some zoo behind a glass window that gets fed bunny rabbits every morning. I think that if I was stuck in the gladiator's ring with a lion, it wouldn't even hit me how much trouble I was in until he started eating my face. I just don't even think about it.
The funny thing about our technology making us superior to animals is that the vast majority of our technology has nothing to do with overcoming animals. Do you think my iPod would deter a rhino from charging? The only thing my electric guitar does to animals is tick off my fat housecat.
So, is this good or bad?
Well, on the whole, honestly, I'd say it's good. Sure, we aren't afraid of animals anymore, but I don't necessarily think that that's a requirement. I'd say it's necessary that we respect them, because God put us in charge of them. He didn't say to do whatever we wanted with them, he said to be master over them. Science, while it has kind of stolen a bit of their thunder, does allow us to observe them and see their glory and magnificence in ways that weren't possible when our only concern was survival.
This, of course, is a choice.
I've been reading through the Chronicles of Narnia lately, as part of my homework for one of my classes, and I think it's interesting that Aslan is a lion. Why should the lion be the king of the jungle?
It's not because humans are afraid of lions automatically, or ever really were, because lions don't particularly like to hunt humans. It's because, due to our observation and study of lions, we recognize the respect that the rest of creation pays to them. They look magnificent and command respect.
Why should we, then be leader over the animals, if they are more diverse and powerful and grand than we ever will be?
I think it's because we have the potential, through use of our reason and innovation and intellect, to be wise and powerful and grand, which is the reflection of God that mankind was naturally endowed with. Keep in mind though, that this is just potential. When I look at the rest of creation, I feel weak and insignificant, and honestly, I should. I am weak, even among men, and I am not cunning as the serpent nor graceful as a horse nor as firm and unrelenting as a great oak nor as powerful as a flowing river, which can break a mountain, but I also have potential to destroy all of these things. Man's capacity to choose in combination with his intelligence makes him the only creature that can choose to keep creation alive. But I also have the potential to cultivate it and admire it's magnificence.
Now, this is not me advocating environmentalism.
The earth is here to be used.
Just not wasted. Not ignored.
I'm rambling now, so I'll close with this:
God didn't intend for mankind to be some great powerful creature who forces all to submit to his great will and awesome power, He set up a weak creature to choose either wise rulership or disdain. So, maybe we should fear the animals a little bit, because humanity is fragile. We're just too proud to recognize it.