Our World and Everything in It

It wasn’t all that long ago I blogged about the bush meat trade. Since apes are our closest DNA relatives this seems not only barbaric, but I wanted to know if cannibalism was next.

While watching BBC news late last night, I heard something worse if there can be such a thing. People are hunting people, but not for food or because of starvation, but because of religious beliefs.

In this country we may denigrate voodoo, shaman, and tribal religions of other countries, but to many these occult beliefs are as legitimate as ours.  This is not about religion vs religion though. This is hunting for wealth and prosperity, like bringing in an exotic animal skin in exchange for prosperity, or so the albino hunter believes.

In Tanzania, Africa there happens to be a disproportionate number of albino citizens. Albino’s have no melanin or dark pigment in their skin so they are white; their hair is white, eyelashes, etc. Witchdoctor’s in Tanzania believe albino body parts will bring wealth to a person.

Twenty-five albino’s have been killed, children included, the latest was a seven month old baby.  One woman watched as three people approached her albino husband sitting outside and hacked at him with a machete.  By time she returned with help, he was dead.

Another albino women pleaded with anybody listening to get her out of the country or to a safer urban area. There is a big denial that this religious belief is being propagated but BBC news is still investigating. Many Tanzanian’s say occult like religious beliefs infiltrate the government also. So everyone is slow to help the albino population.

Protected mountain gorilla’s have been poached for their hands. Their bodies left lying without them. Now people are found lying without body parts, body parts that supposedly bring wealth to someone else.

I don’t even know how to tag this blog. I’ve got categories for blogs for saving animals, marine life, trees, even insects, and habitat, air, water, parks, and human health, but humans as actual prey by other humans is a new one on me.  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7518049.stm

Currently, I’m getting all kinds of e-mail about slaughtering animals our country took careful issue to propagate not long ago. First wolves, now buffalo/bison. USFWS wants to kill off buffalo because of a bison disease that could spread to cattle. Here we have the cattle issue again. Except there are no cattle nearby. What is with all the slaughter lately?  I don’t recall such an unleashed fury to kill wildlife like we’re seeing lately. We’re moving so slowly on environmental issues relative to animals that we’re soon to kill them off anyway.

Then I saw this comment that is well worth printing here about wolves from Dr. Dr D. Vreugdenhil . He says: “Wolves most certainly are not dangerous and finally they are on the increase again worldwide, expanding their territories in Europe and in some countries in the middle east. However, to fully integrate them into society, we must deal with the most pressing issue in nature conservation:
The most limiting factor in conservation world wide is the shortage of rangers: estimated at over 100,000 in developing countries. Currently no government or conservation organization in the world addresses this problem. That is why the Adopt A Ranger Foundation has been created:  http://www.adopt-a-ranger.org/.

I didn’t know there was a shortage of rangers anywhere but Asia or Africa? Adopt-a-ranger website says there is a need for 140,000 rangers worldwide, but evidently not enough funding. You know this looks like one of those places where funding is also cut to the bone.  It is also a very good lead as to why all the slaughter of wildlife is taking place, at least in this country. With no one to watch over our parks, it’s economical to just get rid of the critters.

I’m looking into adopting a ranger. Now I know the reason the mountain gorillas are disappearing, there is a large bushmeat trade, and all types of illegal use of animals is happening. It’s due to this shortage. Even elephants are being shot out of their sanctuary over coffee plants because no one watches over them. 

If you like nature websites, Dr. Vreugdenhil offered this one with a very dire outlook that says with a good scenario only 40% of all species on earth will disappear in this century, worst scenario we will see 70% of all species DIE.   http://naturalplaces.blogspot.com/2007/02/earths-largest-upcoming-species.html#links.  Yet we’re aerial hunting wolves, killing bison, cyanide poisoning coyotes, and fox in this most civilized country. There’s something horribly wrong with this picture.

To quote from “Sunday Morning,” a poem by Wallace Stevens: “Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her, alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams.”  It means death enhances the beauty of life.  We’ll cherish it all when it’s gone.

The three countries of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Republic of the Congo have come together to beef up the security of Virunga National Park home to half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas, which is down to a dismal 700 in number. The parks habitat is being destroyed looking for coal, lumber, and even things like bee keeping.

These countries are impoverished and war torn, which doesn’t help the matter any. Educating the people about extinction when they look to stay alive themselves is troubling. The African nations near the park suffer from political turmoil also, making matters worse for those that seek to preserve the gorillas. An article at BBC.com said that “rebel forces loyal to the dissident Congolese general Laurent Nkunda, took over large areas of the park, forcing out the rangers and leaving the gorillas vulnerable to poachers.” And poachers will move in quickly. Just last summer 5 gorillas were shot dead like the article said: “execution style.” What would possess someone to look at something that majestic and shoot it dead? But then again humans suffering in those countries don’t fare much better. 

The article went on to say that the “10-year conservation project, which was launched in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, is to focus on greater security and ways of discouraging local communities from destroying the region’s forests.” It also said that the Dutch government is funding the first 4 years at a cost of 6 million dollars.

I think it’s smart to get other governments involved since there is so much unrest in African nations, and many times so little value for life.  The moral issues are great. Save people, or save the animals. This is a choice that we’re going to have to make more and more in the future if we don’t stop human sprawl and the resulting pollution, and don’t do something about ignorance and poverty in nations with some of the world’s most diverse wildlife.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7254357.stm
  

Just yesterday I watched on ABC News as chimpanzees outmaneuvered college students in a test for short-term memory. A touch screen displayed boxed numbers up to 10–I think.  I can’t remember, LOL, so the monkeys have bested me already. Touching the numbers in sequence erased them one by one. I’ve got to tell you, the monkeys were fast. The numbers appeared over and over. Mind you, I thought it was fantastic that the monkeys could push the numbers in sequence so quickly. That’s only the beginning of the test though. After pushing the numbers in sequence a few times the last 4 or five numbers would disappear.  Whoever, monkey or student, had to remember where those numbers were positioned on the screen, and still push them in sequence. The students failed, but the chimps just kept pushing the darn numbers like they were still there! The humans who thought up this test want to try the same thing on very young children. Oh that says a lot!

While I was watching this one-up-man-ship, monkey vs. human, college students no less, I was reminded of endangered primates, and all endangered animals throughout the world. The news that showed this test flashed back to the remarkable predecessors of these monkeys like KoKo and Lucy who learned language to communicate with humans. If we’re smarter, why aren’t we learning their languages? Anyway, something this close to us in intelligence being threatened in the wild for a trophy or meat is a sad statement about humanity. They already have the environment to contend with. Intelligence doesn’t seem to mean a hill of beans in this instance. Then again, look what we do to animals in circuses, road side zoos, and research. But hopefully we’re progressing.

PETA announced in its November 07 newsletter that the “National Academy of Sciences, NAS, the U.S. government’s chief scientific advisory body released a long awaited report that explodes the myth of the usefulness of animals in toxicity testing, one of the cruelest and painful types of experiments, in which animals are poisoned to death. The report concludes that these tests are ineffective and wasteful and that they should largely be replaced by better, faster non-animal tests.” Yay. Finally, after all the petitions, contributions, arguments…a break is happening for lab animals.

The newsletter also related that for the first time the National Institutes of Health, NIH, requested the University of Washington return grant money after Albert Fuchs used unauthorized procedures on monkeys. He implanted metal chambers in their heads and metal coils in the eyeballs. Lovely. Taking back funds for heinous acts of unnecessary cruelty on animals, and violating the animal welfare act hits em where it hurts, in the pocket. It’s a good attention getter anyway.  

Recently, the American Medical Student Assoc. sent PETA a letter of support to stop the military’s use of animals in trauma and surgical training and chemical casualties. There is also a big battle over sonar use in the ocean. Imagine what that sonar does to dolphins, whales, and other things that have a rightful claim to a home in the ocean. We protest the seal hunts, dolphin hunts, and bushmeat trade from other parts of the world and look what we do to animals. 

Research is a very big lobby, and most of us have been fed trite little explanations like “We have to do incredibly cruel research on intelligent animals, and/or someone’s lost pet that got sold to the system or some little kid will die.” That seems a little outmoded. I hope the latest discovery in stem cell research stops animal research altogether. Besides there have been recalls of drugs that tested OK on animals but caused serious problems, even death for humans taking a much lesser dose. There are also risks for viruses jumping species and becoming more virulent. Hopefully, this new awareness for endangered animals will lead to a renewed appreciation for all living things in the world, maybe for each other. 

Today the news stated that all primates are in jeopardy for extinction due to Africans and Asians, either eating them as in the bushmeat trade, or for really stupid reasons, like killing an entire gorilla for their hands. Someone thinks it’s nifty to have a pair of gorilla hands around? I have to add that the U.S. military is no better using great apes for experiments, and our use of monkeys in research is sickening.

Consider this, some apes like the famous “Lucy” have been taught to use sign language and could speak with humans, and actually understood what the words meant. And no it wasn’t repetitious behavior, or mimicking Lucy learned. Lucy was a scientific model. From that we should have immediately backed off from abusing these creatures.

My next question is that if Africans are eating apes out of hunger, and they become extinct what’s next,
a return to cannibalism? Our neglect for acknowledging the value of animals is disgusting enough, but eating a primate that is 1½  DNA genes away from a human being is cannibalism as far as I’m concerned.

For some really thought provoking issues read Carl Sagan’s essay, “The Abstraction of Beasts.” I agree that sometimes we humans are in grave error assuming everything is inferior to us based on language. Animals cannot communicate with us because basically they’ve never had a need to. When given the opportunity to bridge that gap they do indeed communicate with us, and we eat them?
 

I have to say I did not catch all of last night’s CNN “Planet in Peril.” I was into animal rights before the entire environment needed help too. So I was too squeamish to watch the abuse of beautiful creatures, especially those close to extinction. I’ve seen enough. I belong to all types of animal rights groups and read their mail. I don’t sleep well when I see something too extreme, and I mean for a long, long time. Even years later I can picture something horrid I forgot about. Memory is a funny thing. It doesn’t go away easily.

I just got through watching Jack Hanna’s Animal Kingdom like I pretty much do every Saturday morning, 7:00 am, channel 7.  Yes I’m a baby boomer but learning about and watching animals is a passion that has no age limit. I found out about Hanna’s program from my 84-year-old mother who wakes up to it every Saturday also.

His program is a great humane education learning tool for children, and endorsed by the National Education Association. Every age group could use a dose of this type of reality.  Unlike other programs, this one connects the dots for people. He flat out tells the audience that mankind is the cause and that we can turn it around. I’ve watched other morning news programs showcase endangered species without specifically pinpointing why they are disappearing. If I have the time, I quickly email them for missing the opportunity to really hit home. Everyone ooo’s and ahhh’s over the critters, but there is rarely any statement made to the audience that mankind either directly or indirectly is the reason for their demise.  Have you ever read why many of these beautiful animals are endangered? Poaching, cutting down their habitat, and changes in weather patterns are the leading causes. Species like the gorilla are being poached out of existence for their hands. That’s right, the whole animal is killed to cut off their hands. Just like the whole elephant is killed to cut off its tusks. And yes our neighbor to the North, Canada, has just begun its annual baby seal-clubbing event.

If you want to help, e-mail or call your MI congressional representatives to support Carl Levin’s Senate Resolution 33 condemning Canada’s seal hunt.

After this past election, if you still think your voice doesn’t make a difference, then I have to ask where have you been? Hopefully with a new congress, we can get back on track as a nation to being a model for conservation and cleaning up our act. Unfortunately many people still think what I’m saying can’t be so. That although the U.S. represents .05 % of the world’s population, we produce 25% of its pollution. And although we probably have the biggest proliferation of animal rights and conservation organizations, (of which I probably belong to half, my latest being the NRDC), our pleas have fallen on deaf ears with the administration of the past 6 years. More on that scorecard tomorrow, because I think it’s important to know where we were, how we’ve back-tracked, and how much we need to catch up before we truly understand the precarious position into which we’ve plunged ourselves and all living things so quickly. You have been wondering that haven’t you? How the environment seemingly got so bad so fast?

Meanwhile, are there any other young bloggers out there that watch Jack Hanna on Saturdays? If you have something you’ve viewed about anything in particular that is endangered let us know what you watched. I try to take in everything I can, but even my mother comes up with documentaries I’ve missed. Trouble is, at 84 she can’t ever seem to remember what station, or what time, or what program she saw it on. And my recall is slowly catching up to hers that’s why this is posted right after watching Hanna’s Animal Adventures.