Kill or be killed. That’s the type of world we live in, and, unfortunately, 150 to 200 plant, insect, bird and mammal species go extinct every day, according to the UN Environment Programme. We are experiencing Earth’s sixth mass extinction.
Extinctions are caused by many factors, among them global warming, a human cause, and natural or “background” extinctions that would happen even without people around. Even though these are a sad reality, there’s not much we can really do to stop them right this second; however, hunting and poaching, especially of exotic and noninvasive species, are the direct result of human indifference to the murder of innocent life forms.
Humans are the most destructive force on the planet, ahead of natural disasters, and are the ultimate predators. Just ask the West African Black Rhinoceros, the Caribbean Monk Seal and the Javan Tiger. Oh, wait. You can’t. They’re extinct.
Humans like to call themselves the most intelligent and advanced species, yet they take pleasure in senseless killing for the sake of their selfish pride. The latest instance that’s been plastered all over the news is Rebecca Francis’ selfie with a dead giraffe. Yes, a dead giraffe.
Although giraffes are not threatened by extinction, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, their population is estimated to be less than 80,000, across all subspecies, and is steadily declining. The Rothschild’s giraffe and West African giraffe subspecies are listed as endangered.
In the photo, Francis is smiling next to the giraffe’s dead body. It has raised the attention of several prominent individuals, among them Ricky Gervais, who tweeted, “What must’ve happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal & then lie next to it smiling?” Indeed, what must’ve happened to make people like Francis OK with hunting innocent animals?
I don’t have to endorse PETA to know that hunting is not OK, that abusing animals and killing them for no logical reason is not OK. We can’t condemn the Japanese for killing whales and dolphins (watch the documentary “The Cove” and the Animal Planet series “Whale Wars”) while condoning people who kill animals and have the indecency to take photos with their dead bodies.
If something is in the way, the human tendency is to eradicate it. If we view something as beneath us, how we treat it isn’t important. We treat animals like they are our playthings that are there for us to do whatever we wish with them, regardless of the wrongness of killing out of pleasure. Killing, even of animals, is still killing, and the Earth’s biodiversity is hurting because of it.
At least when animals kill other animals, it’s so they can eat or protect themselves and/or their young. When we’re not killing to appease our appetite for burgers, steaks and wings, not to mention bacon, ribs and fish fillets, hunting and poaching do not belong on our to-do list.
If the animal poses a threat, then, yes, if you must kill them, by all means do so. But, your humanity does not include the right to take non-human lives into your own hands without a rational justification. Yes, we get it; you are a superior human belonging to the master race. There is no need to demonstrate that you’re dominant over nature by killing animals just to stroke your own ego.
And, if we’re so superior to animals, where’s our higher moral reasoning? Where’s the little angels on our shoulders that should tell us, “Hey, that animal didn’t do anything to you! You’re not a hunter-gatherer who must hunt to survive! Let it live.” Because, yes, along with the power to kill, you also have the power to let live.
To make matters worse, hunting contradicts conservation efforts, rendering them pointless. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, champion of endangered species, committed to conservation of habits and resources, issued sport-hunting permits for the critically endangered black rhino for the purpose of letting wealthy Americans bring their trophies home in exchange for about $550,000 for “wildlife conservation, anti-poaching efforts, and community development programs in Namibia.” Because the 5,000 rhinos in Namibia are regulated, and their population is deemed sustainable, it’s perfectly fine to hunt them. Seems pretty hypocritical and inconsistent.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has followed suit with a unanimous vote to proceed with a black bear hunt in October. According to FWC biologists, there are between 2,500 and 3,000 Florida black bears. But, it’s OK to let hunters kill 275 of them because they are a nuisance, and their population needs to be curbed. We take over their habitat, and they get into our garbage, so killing them is the perfect solution. It isn’t.
On a brighter note, the Indiana senate shot down a bill, H.B. 1453, that would have legalized inhumane captive hunting of deer, elk and other members of the deer family. It would have legalized privately owned facilities that would stock up on the animals and allow hunters to pay to shoot and bring home guaranteed prizes. We could all learn a thing or two from the Indiana Senate.
All of this makes it kind of difficult to sympathize with people when nature finds ways to repay them for their selfishness. A hunter named Ian Gibson was recently trampled by the elephant he was stalking and preparing to kill in Africa. A man shot at an armadillo, and the bullet ended up hitting his mother-in-law. And, a deer, shot in the leg by a Wisconsin bow hunter, leaped after the hunter, head-butting his leg and sending him to the hospital. Talk about irony and poetic justice.
Instead of taking on this attitude that, because we’re human and above animals, we can do whatever we want with them, which includes killing them by the thousands, we should become their protectors and guardians. They can’t speak, so we should be their voices. There is enough death in the world without this massacring of species that puts us in a period of mass extinction greater than what the dinosaurs saw.
Realistically, we’re the animals. We’re the haughty, self-serving, immoral species that has turned to hunting as a means of pleasure and a pastime instead of survival and subsistence. When we’re the only ones left on the planet, I guess we’ll learn then.
