Money Talks With A Corrupt Message
And The Animals Always Pay
Money Talks With A Corrupt Message – Linda Park has written an important piece that needs to be read and shared and then shared again. The Earth is indeed weeping at our crass ignorance – the animals pity us – thinking people are ashamed that our cowardly and un-awakened brethren conduct themselves in orgies of abuse – savagery and cruelty against our beautiful planet and our animal brothers and sisters.
“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things, natural, wild and free” … Aldo Leopold – A Sand Country Almanac.
Linda Park
Guest Writer
In days gone by man had reverence for all of nature – for the animals, the plants and the earth. As man has “progressed” this has changed and the thinking now is that man and his needs take precedence over all other forms of life. Mother Earth is crying out – take note of the weather patterns and the destructive forces of the oceans. Global warming is happening – it is no longer a vague idea. The blame for all of this rests solely at the feet of mankind.
Entire forests have been destroyed in the name of progress. There are probably many plant species that we will never see again. Have a look around you at the building that is taking place. Developers are not concerned with the long-term effects of their building. Money is king. How many birds and small animals have been affected by all this development?
Fishing quotas have been put in place in our South African waters. A bit like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It’s not the small time fisherman, basically eking out a living for his family, who has decimated the waters but the giants of the fishing industry and yet the small timer is the one being penalized and having to face severe financial hardship.
In the Far East the horrendous practice of whaling, bear bile farming and tiger farming continues – because money talks. In the Antarctic seal clubbing continues – because money talks. In South Africa hunting, especially canned hunting, continues – because money talks.
Humanity has become so spiritually impoverished and so disconnected from anything other than money that the ramifications of what is being done in order to generate this money are not even considered.
Wars are carried out in the name of religion or because both sides are steadfast in their rightness. The ramifications of these wars will be felt for many generations but no thought is given to that – the only thing that matters is being right. One of the conversations I had with the animals happened unexpectedly with a young male hyena who had been placed with some lion cubs after he was nearly killed by his own kind. The lesson to be learned from this communication is immense. Lions and hyenas are natural enemies. When I asked him if he was happy where he was, he replied “my contract is to bring light into the darkness. My being with the lions therefore is not about my happiness but about the greater good. The lesson for humanity is that even old enemies can live in harmony and that light and dark are two sides of the same coin. Dark can be light and light can be dark. In the end we are the same”. Watching the interaction between him and the lions was so profound and one could only wish for this message to spread further.
The ancient tribes only hunted for food and there was tremendous reverence and appreciation for the prey. In our “progress” as a species we now hunt for sport. What reverence and appreciation – and furthermore, necessity – can there be in this? What right have we to kill for sport and what a huge indictment on humanity that this is condoned as acceptable behaviour. Money is the supreme god again – an animal is worth more dead than alive. However, the bankruptcy in our human psyche is immense.
George Schaller, an American biologist who did a three year study of Africa’s large predators in the Serengeti in 1969 wrote: “Every hunter who feels the need to prove himself by obliterating a lion, who strives to have his name in the obituary column of a trophy book, should contemplate his intended victim for a while. There hopefully will come a time when, possessed by a feeling of friendship, he can no longer kill for pleasure”.
Have we, as a species, become so hardened that it is pleasurable to kill? The sight of trophy heads and skins adorning walls is quite nauseating to many people. Why then do we not press for changes to the hunting laws? Why do we pander to fragile egos in allowing this dreadful practice to continue?
When canned hunting was first brought to the attention of the public there was a loud response of disgust, both from South Africa and overseas. However, it is well known that this still continues, in fact is thriving today. Money is again the reason. Those people who are still conducting canned hunting operations should be investigated and shut down. The vast amounts of money they have charged the hunters should also be tracked. It is so easy to set up an enclosure, fill it with lions for instance, and then charge in “dollars” for people to come in and kill. How much of that income is declared I wonder?
South Africa has one of the finest constitutions in the world but the animals are not protected. As any SPCA will tell you, they really have no teeth when it comes to prosecuting anyone for animal cruelty. When it comes to big money-making operations, there are even less teeth.
The words “sustainable development” and “community upliftment” get bandied about ad nauseum and yet there are no signs of anything being sustained or developed nor any community being uplifted. The very people that hunting is supposed to uplift are still living in poverty. If it pays, it stays is the “conservation” mantra. Oh yes, these animals are paying – with their lives.
Most overseas tourists want to see (as opposed to kill) the Big 5. There are huge opportunities for tourism development involving the communities but these will take some work in education and setting up the infrastructures so it is a quicker monetary return to push the hunting. The reality of this is that the animals suffer, the communities do not benefit and we are losing out on an enormous amount of tourism revenue which would be exponential.
The Big 5
Kenya banned trophy hunting in 1977 when it was seen to be having a negative impact on the animals. This ban has never been lifted. The Kenyans see tourism as the best way to benefit from the wildlife resources.
The large predators have now reached the twilight of their existence. Shot for so-called sport, in demand by the fur industry, trapped and poisoned because they kill both wild and domestic animals in which man has a vested interest, the tiger, cheetah, wolf and others will probably not survive except in large reserves. In the future only national parks may remain as samples of wilderness where man can renew his ancient ties with the predators that were once his competitors and with the prey that provided him with sustenance. George Schaller – Serengeti: A Kingdom of Predators
The question of captive breeding also needs to be examined. Why is this permitted? Taking lions as an example, there are vast numbers of cubs being born in captivity. Cubs are taken away from their mothers quite soon after birth so that the mothers come into estrus again and more cubs can be produced – leaving the cubs to grow up with their mothers is a natural form of birth control. These cubs lose out on a vital part of their development – there are life lessons that they learn from both their mothers and the pride.
None of these cubs are released into the wild and most, if not all, have been human-imprinted. In many captive breeding facilities female cubs are culled by having their necks broken, left to starve to death or being hit over the head with a hammer. The hunters are not interested in them – they want male lions with their big manes. The cubs are sold on with no consideration of what is going to happen to them. Again, money is king – whoever pays the price can have the animal – and the animal pays the price at the end of the deal.
There is huge money to be made in these breeding facilities (cub petting, walking, weddings, lion bone trade) and all the big cats are being affected. Tigers, which do not come from Africa, are also being bred in captive facilities. Obviously, they cannot be released here so why are they being bred? There is a big price to be paid for them by hunters. The tigers are now so inter-bred that the sub-species are blurred and they are suffering motor-neural and physical problems. They are also being inter-bred with lions under forced conditions as there is a demand for the off-spring (ligers and tigrons) by hunters. No longer content to kill naturally occurring animals, they now want “exotic” animals. Where will this end?
When did animals become no more than a commodity to be used for man’s pleasure? Heart does not feature in the equation. In our superiority as a species we have no respect for animals and this translates into no respect for each other – our needless wars and conflicts speak volumes to that.
