User blog comment:JoxFox2109/PE Removal: Shere Khan (2016)/@comment-5484310-20190914224656

I vote keep. Just because Shere Khan didn't kill the cubs at that particular moment, doesn't mean he wouldn't have done so later on. If Raksha had charged at Shere Khan at that moment, I have no doubt he would have thrown them off the cliff anyway.

The reason he spared them wasn't out of kindness, it was to intimidate Raksha and show her that he could kill them if they wanted to. He wants the Jungle to fear him, to never deny his wishes. And more importantly he wants order. If he had killed the cubs right then and there, it would have made all the wolves attack him because they thought, "If he's gonna kill us for petty reasons then I'd rather die fighting." Being Pure Evil isn't the same as not being pragmatic.

And what he told them about the cuckoo bird was a method of turning them against their mother. And in my opinion, corrupting the youth is far worse than outright murdering them.

P.S. They're wolves, not coyotes. There's a difference.