It's more care than he would have given. It is an animal. Better to put one innocent animal down than to risk harm coming to people. But he's aware to say so would seem callous, to this man who puts such stock in the preservation of life.

"You must have had some certainty," he merely replies, cocking an eyebrow. "Or you are more foolish than you seem to be."

Because otherwise, the man seems fairly level-headed and reasonable.