balak

The posuk says that when בלעם was riding his donkey with the elders from Moav to go curse the jews, his donkey stopped & wouldn't move. He hit it 3 times to get it to move, & 3 times the donkey wouldn't move.
Unbeknownst to him, there was a מלאך with his sword drawn, blocking the path. Then the donkey starts talking to him, saying,what did I do to you that you are hitting me? Did I ever do such a thing to you before? בלעם had to answer, no, you never did. The posuk goes on to say that 'ה opened the eyes of בלעם & he saw the מלאך who chastised him saying, why did you hit your donkey these three times? It was me who was blocking your path. The רמב"ם in מורה נבוכים says that from the reprimand of the מלאך who said למה הכית את אתונך why are you hitting the donkey, we learn that the דין of צער בעלי חיים is דאורייתא.
Then the מלאך says to בלעם, had the donkey not turned away, I would have killed you & let her live.
Rashi says that we learn from ואותה החייתי, and I would have let her live ,that being that he didn't kill בלעם, he killed the donkey. Why did he kill the donkey? Because says Rashi, of כבוד הבריות. Hashem takes pity on peoples' dignity. He didn't want people to be able to point to the donkey and say, that's the donkey that bested בלעם.
We just said that צער בעלי חיים is דאורייתא, so how could the מלאך go & kill the donkey? Especially for the kovod of בלעם who was a rasha & was on his way to try & curse the jewish people to obliterate them. Is this whose kavod we're worried about? ר' אברהם גרודזינסקי says, the Torah is teaching us a powerful lesson. One can't begin to comprehend the honor that's due every person if for the kovod of a mushchis & a rasha we're willing to transgress the torah & kill an animal for no other reason than to protect his dignity. How much more so for our friends, who are called בנים למקום, do we have to be so careful to treat them with the ultimate respect!