It is only humans, with an exaggerated sense of self (importance), who have such a fear of death.
For insects, for example, the re-absorption into the hive or swarm, is a relative release.
Many creatures tantalise or mesmerise their prey, not as an act of savagery but as a way of allowing the soul within to release the body. This is not cruelty but the very opposite.
Sadly human scientists, with limited experience, have chosen to identify negative human emotions with animal behaviour.
It is the same Biblical misreading of Nature, a patriarchal outlook, as something cruel and a punishment, not as other cultures recognising that Nature is Mother and like all mothers loves all her young.