Tuesday 13 January 2009

Top of the foodchain

Those living in Australia will surely have noticed the increase in news reports on shark sightings/attacks over the last few days.

Then there's the story about how dogs have killed a child and mauled her younger sister.

Now, I agree that it's horrific and terrible that people should be attacked/killed that way.

However, I also cannot help but ponder the arrogance of the human race, simply because we're at the top of the food chain.

What I'm talking about are the typical cries that we need to "put the rouge animal down" after it attacks someone.

Shark bites human? Kill the shark!

Dog mauls children? Kill the dog!

Snake attacks locals? Kill the snake!

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill anything that harms us!

I just have a simple question - do humans get the death penalty when they abuse an animal, maim it, starve it, hurt it, kill it?

I'm just not quite sure it's fair...just because we have the power to decide an animal's life and death doesn't mean we should use it so frivolously.


1 comment:

kris said...

as an animal lover, i hate the idea of putting animals down. It pains me when humans put themselves in situations that cause animals to react instinctively and harm or kill people. Yet once that has happened it is dangerous to let the animal live. You don't want sharks who hunt humans who are not endangering them. You can't have domestic dogs who have killed because you can't trust that they won't do it again.

It isn't fair. There should be more education about how to interact with the animal world. There should be harsher punishments for those who violet the animal world code.

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