I see what you mean now, thanks for clarifying
This matter relates to the concept of degrees of existence. It seems clear that as complexity increases in the material world, different laws of nature have more and more applicability. In a like manner, as complexity increases, spiritual attributions become fortified.
What I am essentially trying to say is that compassion has many meanings and expressions in the various degrees of creation. It is there in the mineral kingdom, the vegetable kingdom and the animal kingdom, and finds prominence in the human kingdom (where we can observe it according to the meaning we have attributed to it), but the degrees to which it is manifested is in accord with the complexity of the kingdom.
We don't really know what compassion means unless it is defined for our own kingdom. For example, a rose bush does not understand the compassion a gardener is giving it by doing the "destructive act of pruning" and may not even associate is vibrant blooming to the seemingly destructive act of the gardener, but the higher degree of existence was still practicing compassion towards the plant.
We do not know how many "higher kingdoms" there may be to our human kingdom, just as a plant is oblivious of knowing about the human kingdom, but the higher realities always impact on the lower realities in ways which are beyond the capacity of the lower kingdom to understand.
Kam
