Is is "world animal day" today. One day to "To celebrate humankind’s relationship with the animal kingdom". The WAD is out there visualising what 'animals' means, namely dogs. In Sydney it is spelled out as: "...dogs, cats, ferrets, birds and mice" which are to be brought by pet owners to be given a blessing. Animals requiring their own habitat seem to be excluded. Only 'pets', degenerated lineages, richly bestowed with resources are to be 'blessed'.The rest, not at our command, are pushed off the degraded planet. Mostly robbed of a habitat and resources, 'wild'-life is being made extinct by our actions on this planet.
Tolerated 'wild-life' in captivity, generating revenues, is frequently violated by young human be
ings. In the latest case, a seven-year-old boy illegally entered a N.T. zoo, " bludgeoned some of the animals to death with stones and hurled others over the two fences surrounding the crocodile enclosure...A turtle, four Western blue-tongued lizards, two bearded dragons, two thorny devil lizards and the zoo's 20-year-old goanna were among those killed....The fact a seven-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable," said the zoo director. They are looking at suing the parents.Going wild in the wild
Many formally protected native animals get violated in their remaining fragmented habitat. Just some of the recent hate crimes:
The Koala
- A group of young humans at a park in Kallangur:"It had a crushed skull, a punctured left eye, big trauma to the left side of its body, it had a broken right arm and when I asked the vet is this consistent with clubbing or bashing or whatever they said, yes," Brisbane, 0808
- Koala bashed to death, mutilated (leg removed), Clear Mountain property, south-east Queensland.0808
- An adult firing a slingshot at a protected Koala, Adelaide, 0908
- A 19-year-old rammed his ute into a tree at the Barmah State Park, north-east of Echuca, trying to dislodge a koala from a branch.Victoria 0908
- "Five western grey kangaroos have been found shot and dumped at a rubbish tip in Adelaide's south."near a National Park, Adelaide, 1008
- A youth using a young kangaroo as a punching bag, knocking it unconscious, Western Australia, 0908
- Cruelty against seabirds, pelicans are being deliberately snared with nylon fishing line and hooks.: "Local children who have been throwing rocks and trying to actually catch the pelicans with hooks."These birds have a lot of hooks in them, but one of the things that have really stuck out are the number of injuries to their pouch and head from ... local children we understand, from people around the area" Eurobodalla, 0808 It is not just an unintentional 'accident' of 'recreational' fishing.
- "We've had a number of bird poisonings and possum poisonings and that horrific case where a crow had its wing sawn off at the shoulder and was left to hop around a shopping centre in Sinnamon Park - I mean you just have to wonder what's going through the minds of these people" SE Queensland 08
These are just a few examples of hate crimes committed by individuals/ groups against iconic and 'protected' creatures of Australia. There is also the systemic culling, shooting, sterilising, poisoning (baiting) etc of wild-life as a form of 'management'. It is a mystery why Australians seem to have so much hate for their iconic native animals and pamper foreign animals. But often, they too get sadistically abused, dogs get burnt, horses raced to death.
Cruelty against pets is also right up. "Animal cruelty by children is correlated with exposure to domestic violence". Working on the mental health of young human beings prevents not only cruelty against pets and Australian animals, but also is a good strategy to prevent violence between human beings.Still, the ever expanding sprawl of industrialised human society is pushing the animal kingdom off the planet. Animals that are commercialisable or are obedient to our whimsical wills may stay for a while longer. The next round is for humankind’s relationship with the animal within themselves and others.
Images:
1. Bruegel d. Ä., Jan: Paradise 1620, via Zeno
2. Haeckel, Ernst: Plate 79: Lacertilia. Lizards via Zeno
3. Blake, William,1819, Tate Gallery,via Zeno
Links:
World Conservation Union
The Encyclopedia of Life
The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi
Updates:
- Almost one in four mammals are at risk of disappearing forever, according to the latest comprehensive assessment. IUCN 061008
- "Australia a key culprit. One in five Australian mammal species is in danger of dying out, the highest proportion of any developed country, the global survey of more than 44,000 animal and plant species found." SMH 061008
- "We've seen over 30 extinctions in Queensland since records were kept, we've got 151 endangered plants, 51 endangered animals, we've got 220 endangered regional ecosystems, so Queensland has really got to get going to stop a tidal wave of extinctions.They'll go extinct on massive scales, many times above the natural level of extinction...The current rates of extinction that are caused by people are 20 or more times the natural rate of extinction." abc 071008
- Dolphins are being lured with fish, then attacked by local youths in Whyalla in South Australia. The dolphins were tame because of human feeding. Youths dropped rocks on the marine mammals. abc 151008
- A killed platypus, an endangered lungfish and other fish were found dead in an illegal net...along Obi Obi Creek near Kenilworth. Maroochidore.The EPA is calling on the public for help. abc 171008
- "Sickening" attacks on endangered birds on South Australia's west coast:
"Two white-bellied sea eagles and a juvenile coastal raptor have been found with bullet wounds near Searcy Bay, Ceduna and Port Fowler in the past three weeks. In the case of the white-bellied sea eagle, we know that there are only about 50 breeding pairs left in South Australia so they're a very endangered species " abc 171008
- An 80 years old, blind flamingo in a zoo has been bashed by a 17 yo ,18 yo and 19 yo persons in the middle of the day. The animal is in a critical condition. Adelaide. Do we need to cage animals to protect them from human beings ? abc 301008 >The flamingo has survived, but is so traumatised that all food is refused. The Adelaide Zoo is considering higher fences to protect the animals from violent human beings. abc 021108
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