We have an incredibly simplistic, mechanical, 1+1 type understanding of karma which is good as a means of social order control and order. Personally, I think this reality is far more complex and random and we far more subject to other and greater forces.
Yes, I think it is all too complex, so prefer to simplify it without adding to it. Let's assume that day 1 when the drama wheel began, there was no positive or negative karma. Everything was nice and peaceful. Karma in the world begins to accumulate (karma in the sense there are the sum of imbalances due to all our impurities, the ying-yang begins to get lopsided). Now fast forward 5000 years later, the permutations of karma are infinite. My karma is with human beings, but maybe we've also had past karma with animal souls too, throw in a few cockroaches and mosquitos that we've squished. There is enough to deal with with human souls, without the rest of the "nature". Some souls have obviously had more interactions with animal souls than others. So do you also want to carry that too, the animal had nothing to do with me in the first place, but man did. Now if the cow had asked me, hey mum, point the other way to the guy chasing me, then that event would have taken place first.
My answer is that the karma with the cow is beyond our means, okay, it would be nice to save the animal, but the butcher goes home crying because the cow's escaped and jumped over the moon, the man's family starves because he loses his job and has no money, and it's all your fault. And all you were doing was waiting for the bus, and it was pouring rain, without an umbrella. What miserable luck
I would have stopped the butcher and engaged him in a discussion of Godly virtues and Knowledge, and given him a leaflet to attend the local centre for a free Self Management Leadership
This is a nice answer. But if this butcher did not catch the cow, another probably would.
I just feel we are never taught how to deal with nature, because we haven't learnt to deal with humans first.
So what exactly is karma ? I would say simply it is just actions that you have done that gets accumulated in your account, the banking section of the soul. When you die, you bring this bag to God at the pearly gates and see if He checks you in for the flight to Paramdham. Or you going to have to walk up theose stairs all the way. Yes, it is a simplistic view, but as no-one can prove it, and all it seems to be is simply action<-->reaction / cause<-->effect, then do good actions, good causes, or don't do anything at all.
Humans have no rights over animals but we sure like to interfere with their karma.