Meditation on the banality of animal murder
(ADAM FOSTER, CC/FLCKR)
By Rowan Wolf
CROSSPOSTED WITH ANIMAL PEOPLE FORUM
How does it feel to be the man (and yes we can be 99.99% sure it was a man) to kill the last of a species rhinoceros? Never again will the West African Black Rhino step upon the earth.
How does it feel to be the man (and yes we can be 99.99% sure that it is a man) to ingest the powdered horn of that last rhino so that he may have a (purported) heightened sexual encounter? Does it have a special kick because he knows that never again will there be powdered black rhino horn?
How does it feel to be the man who kills the last shark in the sea? And how does it feel to eat that final bowl of shark fin soup? Do visions of that shark dying a gruesome death intensify the flavor of the soup?
How will it feel to be the man who kills the last tiger? (It will likely happen soon) Killed so that the precious skin can be a rug. How does it feel to own that remnant of a magnificent and now extinct species so you can walk across it like any nylon shag?
…
Watch out all creatures great and small
Please know that we shall kill you all.
The fewer, the dearer, the higher the price.
Thank greed and capitalism for your demise.
Meanwhile a few will shed a tear
To watch the last of you disappear.
***************
Dashiell Bennett. Black Rhinos Are Now Extinct in Western Africa. The Atlantic Wire.
The pursuit of rhino horn — which is prized for its supposed medical value and as ornamental trophies — has decimated populations and reportedly pushed the price per ounce above gold in some places.
We must dig deeper… It is an over simplification to attribute the destruction of wildlife to an economic system… The commodification of animals is a function of a moral ethic which devalues animal lives. The view which relegates animals as human property is rooted in the judeo.christian ethic of dominion… A view which appreciates the value of animal lives and therefore their intrinsic worth, rather than their value to man is ahimsa. While it is tragic when we lose a magnificent species and it is appropriate to contemplate and mourn the loss, this emphasis is somewhat misplaced. Whether we get… Read more »
Ruth, I think you misunderstand what I was trying to say. This is not about “special” animals, as they are all special. It is about the mentality that derives something positive in removing an entire species from existence. I was not trying to offer a simplistic explanation, and in fact was trying to get people to think more broadly about a phenomenon that is becoming all too common. You state that it is not about capitalism, and I would agree that is not the only thing that is involved. However, there is a “value cluster” interlinked with capitalism. For creatures… Read more »
Rowan, As I have said in the past, capitalism is the symptom, but the root cause which allows animals to be so ruthlessly violated in judeo.christian nations is their commodification in genesis, as a legitimate source of food and exploitation by man. I did not mean to imply that you do not consider all animals important, but wanted to clarify that within the dominion construct, it is the notion of ‘special’ animals, of hierarchies where some lives are worth more than others that drives the use of animals as products and as trophies. Consider the case of India, which for… Read more »