Netting the trees

is not something I can do so our friend S... did it yesterday. 
I am torn two ways about this process. 
We do it to prevent the birds and the possums and the fruit rats getting the entire crop of apples, apricots and peaches. It is not possible to net the avocado tree. It is simply too big and too high. The animals get the avocados which are only ever tiny anyway. The tree is a seedling that came up by itself. 
Our peach tree is a seedling that came up by itself too. Years ago my mother said, "That's a tree. Let's leave it and see what sort it is." A few  years later it was, "I think it might be a peach tree." It was. We watered it. We watered the avocado. We planted an apricot tree and watered that. My aunt gave my mother a cumquat tree in a pot and said, "I don't think it's very happy but perhaps you can do something with it." We planted it. The Senior Cat was still able to dig holes back then.
About six years ago a friend brought two apple trees around and said, "I think they might be happier down the side of your house. There's too much shade in our yard."
He dug holes and planted them. I watered them and told them there were no large gum trees to be afraid of any more. (The friend's house is overlooked by a rather ferocious gum tree of gigantic proportions.)
The street tree did not come up by itself. It was planted by the council. It looked miserable when it arrived. The man overseeing the planting told me, "If it doesn't survive you'll get another one."
I asked him how often I needed to water it. He shrugged and said, "Someone will be along to do that."
I ignored that and watered the tree and talked to it. It's a very nice tree now - and I tell it that by watering it. 
And I know that the street tree and the other trees are home to birds and possums. It makes me feel guilty about netting them. I am wondering how the trees feel about being netted. Do they like it? Does it hurt when we pick the fruit or the possums and birds nibble and peck at it?  
Do they know when I talk to them?