Tue 14 Jul 2009
Who cares for small creatures?
Posted by USA / poldo under Balkers
[11] Comments
I am always surprised that with all the killings of humans we never consider how war destroys small creatures.
So who will speak for them?
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Balkingpoints.com, that’s who… ;^)
Welcome aboard poldo. With this most unusual Balk let it be known, that B/P is indeed the people’s podium…
…and what could be more global, than animals?
I have no feeling for how this Balk will play… ;^)
Animals are always the vicitms if it’s war or pollution or melting glaciers!
Reposted from bNet.com
The winds of war – Animals Talk – effect of war on wildlife
Spring, 2003 by Paula Abend
War, as the saying goes, is not good for children and other living things. When it comes to wildlife, Wendy Williams’s “Out on Maneuvers” (page 16) demonstrates that without special care, even training for war has serious negative impacts. With tensions building, the United States may well be at war with Iraq by the time this magazine reaches readers. Besides the servicemen and -women and the innocent civilians in harm’s way are the often forgotten victims of war–animals.
Snow leopards prowled the Afghan mountains long before Osama bin Laden built his network of caves there. Only 3,500 of these highly endangered cats are left in the world, and no one knows for sure how many in Afghanistan survived more than two decades of bombing. The experts estimate less than 100. For thousands of migrating birds that depend on rest and feeding areas in Afghanistan, the timing of the heaviest American bombing in fall 2001 could not have been worse. The effects of drought and environmental devastation will challenge the country for years to come.
In Africa’s Virunga Mountains, 15 mountain gorillas died in the past several years as a direct result of the fighting between warring factions. Despite these losses, this closely monitored population has increased its numbers since 1989. But their lowland cousins in the Democratic Repubic of Congo are taking heavy losses along with other endangered species, as soldiers hunt them for bushmeat to eat and to sell. Thousands of elephants have been slaughtered so that their meat and ivory could be used to finance the fighting.
The starving, terrified animals of the Kabul Zoo had literally been on the front lines: bullet marks riddled cage bars, a tank was posed next to the monkey house, and in the elephants house, a rocket tore a huge hole in the wall. Rescue teams sent by our international affiliate, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), and aided by the MSPCA’s contributions of veterinary supplies and funds helped alleviate the survivors’ suffering.
In Kosovo, WPSA was able to assist pets injured and displaced by “ethnic cleansing” by establishing an emergency dog shelter and clinic. Sari, a dog shot while guarding his owner’s farmhouse during the war, was one of WSPA’s first patients. WSPA was also at work in Kuwait after Saddam Hussein deliberately dumped oil into the sea during the last Gulf conflict, killing more than 30,000 birds and destroying coral reefs and other marine animals. A new term slipped into the military lexicon: “ecocide.” Such deeds, however, are not entirely original–just look back to the dumping of napalm on Vietnam’s rainforests.
If humankind could learn to see animals as more than tolerable collateral damage, a commodity to be traded for arms, or experimental objects to test weapons on, then maybe we would come to respect all life and save ourselves.
© 2009 Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. All rights reserved. Don’t repost on Balkingpoints…
Take the concept further. Think of all wildlife that’s being destroyed and natural resources depleted to destroy one another. Of course there must be a good reason or master plan being we are an intelligent species.
I recall Pluto saying something to the effect that only the dead see the end of war.
Simpleman America, snark ? please define.. Pluto ?.Are you discussing a small planetoid orbiting our star?Do you mean “Blutto” the rival to Olive Oil that Popeye courted.Or do you quote from the Pantheon of Greco-Roman Gods?
If you accept the Gaiaa(sp?) theary of James Lovelock you may consider that the planet is acting to remove Homo Sapiens Sapiens because it has become a parasite on the planet.
The “War against Terror”is a continuation of the war on Terra.Think of the greenhouse gasses released .And maintaining a thousand or more bases globally ..make the U.S. complicit in the largest extintion causing pollution in the world!And i am not mentioning chemical and radiological pollution lasting thousands of years.
There is no good reason, and Homo Sapiens is an ignorant spiecies! peace p.s. just sayin’ it’s still a good quote!
I want to thank you for considering the least of God’s creatures. I work on free roaming feral and domestic cats issues. Cats are devastating our ecology with birds suffering the very most. Avian species make up 20% of a feral diet. Cats kill for 2 reasons and only one is hunger. The rest is to keep their skll sharp. They are the #1 killer on the earth today. Althoug birds get the bears share of the press many other creatures are falling victim to our most popular pet.
Welcome aboard ronking.
…could they be trained to take out my neighbor’s dog? ;^)
I’m glad someone is speaking animals that are harmed or killed in war.
When we refuse to face the serious environmental issues that are impacting the planet, it also devastates and decimates animal populations.
While many people are responsible and loving with animals, I’m also struck by those who seem animals as ‘inferior’ to humans and therefore expendable. A family member in Kentucky, lived next door to a family that chained their dog outside, even in cold and excessive heat. He was left out during the worst days of summer, had no water, and died. When people no longer want to care for animals or pay for their care, there are those who think nothing of dropping “pets” off in the woods to fend for themselves.
If they want to abuse animals, they better keep their rotten activities hidden from me. I am an animal-loving busybody old lady. I’ve already turned in a few airheads who thought it was ok to leave their dog in a hot car in the parking lot while they shopped (and not just for a few minutes either-I timed them)
I may not be able to change the world, but if enough people stand up against cruelty in their own neck of the woods, maybe we can make a small start.
ronking, you sound like a real cat hater. Cats are also victims of war. My son’s unit in Somalia adopted some strays and cared for them. This balk is about war’s effect on animals and the environment not a forum for your belief that “cats are the number one killer on earth today”. Can you back up that statement with factual data to prove it?
Welcome Nightwind to Balkingpoints.