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| Rhinoceros |
Will there ever be a time when wild
animals won’t need us? The unnatural
treatment, abuse and outright cruelty just keep coming.
To start with, what’s wrong with this
picture: A rhinoceros walks along a grassy area as two vehicles drive by a few
yards behind him. To one side, four or
five molded tubs look to be filled with grasses.
Life in the jungle? No way.
This is Six Flags Great Adventure Wild Safari Drive-Thru Adventure (please
don’t ask me to repeat all that!), where 1,200 exotic animals, including
ostriches and baboons, from six continents live on a 350-acre (no, not mile)
preserve in Jackson, NJ.
Unlucky them. They’re “on display,” according to the May 31
front-page story in the Times of Trenton that Sunday. Reportedly phased out in 2012 after 38 years --
do we know where those resident animals went? -- the attraction’s back now,
with visitors driving through on their own instead of being taxied in trucks
with tour guides.
 |
| Lion |
Photos on the story’s spill page showed
(1) animals grazing in the foreground, with a roller coaster behind them and a
string of vehicles in between; (2)
fenced-in lions; (3) zebras ignoring the car right next to them; (4) an
enclosed elephant standing under a strange umbrella-like structure, with cars
in the near background; (5) a baboon atop a jungle gym – the closest thing to a
jungle to be seen here – with the roller coaster visible nearby.
Life in the jungle? No way.
Try “trapped in New Jersey.” The
reporter behind this promo story said that because he loves animals, he enjoyed
“just sitting back and taking it all in.” Did he wonder about these animals’ real-life
habitats? How many miles elephants
travel in a day? What baboons do in
their natural home?
“There they were,” he wrote, of the
animals, “seemingly with no worries in the world, surrounded by what I assume are
their friends and families.” (OMG!)
And “The only thing new about their life
being a stream of strange cars.” (Seriously?)
With those naïve or just plain dopey views
of wild animal life (including capture, separation, training-under-duress
and life in constricting, artificial settings), this guy must have just landed
on earth from another planet. He didn’t recognize
captive animals’ resignation and apathy. Or, I think -- aware of their inability to
change anything -- their despair.
Straining credulity
 |
| Brown bear feeding |
Claiming a desire to “align federal and
state law,” the National Park Service and the US Fish & Wildlife Service have
taken steps to “support extreme measures to kill predators and their young in Alaska’s
national preserves,” conservation groups have argued in response.
For instance, one proposed rule change
would allow brown bear baiting in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge for the
first time. (Shades of New Jersey’s Stone
Age-level approval of such “hunting” practices.)
These changes appear to be a continuing
attempt to roll back President Barack Obama’s 1015 prohibitions affecting
hunting and trapping in national preserves.
They’re only the last instance of the weakening or elimination of humane rules
for treating wildlife.
Going batty
If you’ve started to feel “enough on
bats already!” please know I’m there too. The article linked below will be the last word
on the subject for the indefinite future.
But please do take a look at its
surprising opening summary on bats; you might just keep on reading!
Till next time
Back again either next weekend or after
July 4. Meanwhile, here’s a delightful story
about an animal mom and her son.
#
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