The fate of
animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous;
it is
indissolubly connected with the fate of men. --Emile Zola (1840-1902)
So the condition of our troubled, climate-changing world appears to
have come down to this: A whale weighing
1,100-pounds died of bowel obstruction caused by ingesting 88 pounds of
plastic. Does it get any worse (or
needless or cruel or maddening . . .) than that?
That whale didn’t have to die of unnatural
causes. The plastic that clogs the
Pacific Ocean doesn’t have to be there.
But . . . it’s all happening, and inexorably getting worse.
Here’s the comparison I’ve seen a few times: Each year, between
8-12 metric tons of plastic waste are dumped into the sea. That’s the equivalent of a garbage truck full
of plastic being dumped into the ocean every minute.
Sickening, disgusting
and criminal, right? Imagine, then, how
it is for sea creatures who must live in and navigate through that mess. Humans are killing marine life just as they’re
killing terrestrial life -- through carelessness, cruelty, laziness, greed,
indifference, stupidity!
Will plastic, in
all its malign forms, be humanity’s most comprehensive legacy?
Back to animal-killers on land, the two Lacey Township teens who beat a
captive raccoon to death have still not been charged for their act of heinous
cruelty. This despite numerous contacts
to New Jersey’s attorney general. Those
two murderers need to face justice for their cruel and mindless act. At this point, you have to wonder whether they
will.
Ah, but then in
the “restoring-faith-in-humankind” column, position two other boys who saved a drowning dog, somewhat to their own
surprise. Their act was shown on The Dodo. And heard there too: these kids had boyish
vocabularies but kind hearts -- all that really mattered as far as the dog was
concerned.
Equines in extremis
Suspiciously high
numbers of race horses are dying at California’s famous Santa Anita track -- 22
since late December ’18 -- and an investigation is finally underway, thanks to PETA
(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). That’s coupled with new track rules reportedly
not liked at all by the people who live off this so-called “sport of kings” (never
horse kings, of course).
Just imagine: the
new rules ban administering drugs to horses on race days and forbid jockeys to use the whip. (In practice, these rules would put US tracks in
line with the rest of the world, but US horse racing, a multibillion dollar
industry, “has resisted meaningful oversight for decades.”)
California boasts
a strong animal rights movement, and it’s reasonable to think that if the new
rules are not complied with, the next step could be 600,000 signatures on a
ballot initiative to decide whether horse racing should exist in the state.
The familiar platitude
goes, “Those 22 horses should not have died in vain!” -- but it could come true
this time if the current furor over equine deaths and humane rules results in a
vote to end horse racing in California.
That’s not the
worst thing that could happen now, is it?
Think of it as parallel to Florida’s recent vote to end grayhound
racing there. Neither animal was born to
be raced, and only humans profit from the “sport.”
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