They don’t have to run errands, cook, clean or fret over PC problems, but most animals have one big, all-important job: staying alive. Oh, sure, we may worry about getting Covid-19 vaccine and try to avoid other health hazards . . . but we’re not actively fleeing poachers and hunters aiming to kill us or being live-captured for “wet markets” or seeing our habitats being “developed” right out of existence.
Over the last four years, our federal government has done colossal harm to birds and wildlife with “a Migratory Bird Treaty Act that no longer protects birds, a watered-down Endangered Species Act, and a policy that allows hunters in Alaska to crawl into bear and wolf dens to shoot mothers and their babies.”
And
those are only some of the worst offenses of the former administration. Estimates vary for how long it will take the
current administration to restore wildlife protections in America. This Washington Post article details further
egregious attempts to cut back on animal welfare.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/22/biden-wildlife-protections-trump/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2dc9411%2F5fe21f279d2fda0efb90c282%2F5b2db69bae7e8a6f6d31c7c9%2F56%2F68%2F5fe21f279d2fda0efb90c282
Of course, that’s not all, either. There’s the matter of the infamous border wall partially erected during the last four years, every day destroying more animal habitat for hundreds of now-ugly miles along the US-Mexican border. This ego-trip-wall has caused all sorts of destruction along its path.
The only good news we’ve heard about it so far is that further construction will stop. But that step can’t bring back wildlife habitat, nor can it rid the area of people installing sensors, lighting and other surveillance technologies, and maintaining the 30-foot high barrier.
Endangered jaguars are among the animals to lose habitat because crews have dug and blasted their way through mountainous terrain, leaving gouged-out sections that will remain unfinished – and as one person observed, “You can never un-dynamite a mountain and piece back together wilderness that has been blown apart.” Check out this link.
Back
to Covid-19
Yes, coronavirus hospitalization and death numbers
are coming down, and yes, the vaccines offer hope for an eventual escape from
this horror. But, as often indicated,
other such horrors will continue to happen and spread and kill.
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| Chinese wet market Alamy pic |
The Humane Society of the US (HSUS) has spoken out in favor of protecting wildlife and public health alike by passing an “important bill that will ban the import, export and sale for human consumption of certain live wildlife in the U.S. and will bolster resources to end the trade globally and eliminate wildlife trafficking.”
The bill
that we and our legislators should support – early and often! -- is H.R. 151 and S. 37, the
“Preventing Future Pandemics Act,” because “Despite the immense cruelty and inherent spread of disease,
wildlife markets continue to operate around the world.”
As this “deadly coronavirus continues to devastate the globe, it is more important now than ever to address the dire public health threats posed by the sale and trade of live wildlife. Innocent wild animals and the American public deserve better,” the HSUS argues.
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| Selling grilled rats in Indonesia Getty image |
And we agree! So, please, readers, urge your Congressional representatives and senators to support H. R. 151 and S. 37. Now!
Good news (so far)
I’ve referred to the growing pet (and people) food-insecurity and home-insecurity I’ve read about, assuming it’s happening here too. Well, maybe not yet, anyway. A local shelter manager says it really hasn’t hit there (yet?) and a statewide animal advocacy organization reports the same. So there’s time to plan how to help when the time comes . . . !
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