Tuesday 8 March 2011

Topsy turvy

Humans have caused damage of every kind to this planet and to every species that lives on it including ourselves. We are terrible at living in harmony with the environment. I think about this all the time, but seeing news of a tiger killing a lion really made me want to say it out loud.

In the wild I am quite sure a lion would beat a tiger or kill it in a fight. I am not exactly sure if it would let a wounded tiger go. I am also not sure if these cats eat one another's kill. What I mean by that is would a lion eat a tiger? Must go off and find out.

But this story is about a tiger getting through a break in the fence and killing a lion in the next pen in a Turkish zoo. Apparently it went for the lion's jugular! What would make a tiger want to do that? Would it be the frustration of being caged? I want to know more about how these cats interacted before the killing. I am sure some folks are thinking, "yeah right, whatever woman, get a life. There are bigger issues to worry about." But I think when species that only kill for food or mates (and perhaps a pride in the case of lions) just randomly kills another we must be concerned. It has something to do with what we are doing as humans.

I have always loved visiting zoos. But I have lost interest lately. The older I get the harder it is for me to see animals caged. Zoos do have their place on this planet, they help rehabilitate, protect endangered species, etc. But even that doesn't seem necessary. If an animal is endangered there is a reason behind it. If dinosaurs existed today the planet would be a very different place. All this protecting of species I am sure has someone (frightfully crazy) thinking about how humans could be 'protected' beyond all odds, to come back and wreak havoc over and over again!

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