7 SEPTEMBER 2023 AN EYE FOR AN EYE

I hope the day will come when zoos are no longer legal enterprises and people are no longer drawn to visit them, with their children in tow. I pray the day will come when our human race has enough empathy in their hearts to no longer allow the unethical treatment of animals, or the exploitation of them for their own selfish amusement. Taking large animals from their natural habitat, putting them in cages, transporting them across oceans to large cities, and then locking them into concrete cages where they are put on display, is too abhorrent to put into words.

The ignorance of our ancestors, and even many people today, who believe that other species cannot feel pain or that they do not feel emotion, is deplorable. An infant orangutan is torn away from its mother, or a baby elephant looks on while its mother is murdered and her tusks taken – these horrific acts are carried out on a daily basis by poachers. The moral compass of the poachers has been broken by the greedy few who promise them money to feed their starving families. Hundreds of tropical birds and other species are taken prisoner every day to satisfy a market for “exotic pets.”

Why do we allow this? Are human beings so bored with their own lives that they find fun in creating and watching the suffering of other beings? Of all the many wrongs and injustices in the world, poaching is the one thing that disturbs me the most. I believe that all poachers should be caught in traps of their own making and placed in concrete cages for the remainder of their lives. Moreover, the wealthy millionaires and billionaires, who pay the poachers to commit these evil deeds, should be placed in “human” zoos to be put on display behind bars. When it comes to the illegal pet trade, I believe in “an eye for an eye” – suffering endured for suffering caused.

Children can learn to appreciate other species by watching the many excellent animal programs that are now available on television. It is only in this way that animals can be seen as they truly are, struggling to survive in a world that is now overrun with human beings. When they see animals in their natural settings and also see the damage that humans have done, it is then – and only then – that they will begin to care about them.