This image comes from a website poking fun at internet trolls. This is meant as an image to troll on the internet. Yet this is a truth in this image that is hard to ignore.
Humans ... the sign most successful predator on this planet. And we don't even have sharp claws or sharp teeth or thick skin and we aren't particularly speedy. In fact in the animal kingdom if we strip away all our technology we would be far from the top of the food chain. A lion would be able to over power one of us with little effort. Yet we humans are the most destructive force on this planet.
Sharks have lived on this planet relatively unchanged for around 350 million years. Mother nature more or less got it right when she dreamed up this killing machine. Sharks serve many purposes in the oceans, not just the killing machines that the movie industry would have you believe. Yet we humans have pushed many species of shark to the brink of extinction.
Mostly this has been caused by the unprecedented demand for a dish called shark fin soup. A dish that is a very expensive delicacy in Asian countries. The fins of a shark are dried out then boiled in chicken broth to make the soup. That's right, the flavourless fins have flavour added to them in the form of chicken broth.
To get these fins sharks are often hauled out of the water and, while still alive, their fins are sliced off and then the shark is tossed back into the ocean. You would think loss of blood or something would kill these animals. Nope. They actually drown. Without their fins they are unable to swim. Without the ability to swim they cannot pass oxygen rich water over their gills. So they drown effectively. Millions of sharks suffer this fate so their fins can be in soup. A soup that has no shark taste because shark fins are tasteless. But you know as long as you look good for your friends, who cares.
Across the world, many many species of animals are paying the price for our greed. The blue fin tuna is a species on the brink of collapse. Yet the demand for its flesh has never been higher. And instead of placing a fishing ban on it for a few years to let the species recover, powerful corporations who prize money over sustainability keep the fishing industry going, thus making sure there is nothing left for future generations.
The rhinoceros is another collection of species that is facing extinction for greed. The horns, so prized across the world for their "medicinal" properties are creating a market where a man can get exceedingly rich off one horn alone. The so called medicinal properties of the horn has been tested and found that there is no medicinal properties as the horn is comprised of keratin, the same protein that forms the hair on your head. So you could get the same treatment from eating your own hair. Yet there are those out there that would rather see an animal species destroyed and extinct to line their pockets.
This is just a couple of the horrific examples that can be named. Whaling comes to mind. I admire the crew of the Sea Sheppard, at least they are standing up for the bio diversity of this world rather than an imaginary figure. They are protecting creatures that cannot fight back against our technology, a tangible result rather than hoping their actions get them a rewarding afterlife.
It makes me sad to think that we humans are so cruel to those we share the planet with. We place our own needs and greeds before those of the other creatures in this world. We destroy their habitat so we can house our growing population rather than controlling said population, we kill animals for reasons no better than we want their skin to look pretty on a wall or our clothes, we kill when there is no need to kill. We have many sources of animal protein in this world ... why should a creature as big as a whale, which takes a very long time to die, be killed when we have a suitable alternative. Why should a shark die for soup when if you didn't put the fin in you probably wouldn't know the difference?
It makes me angry to think of how we punish this world for simply letting use evolve. Humans as a species have so much to answer for. We will have our karmic payback one day and we will wonder why. Maybe we are already starting to feel the karma ... maybe that is what these extreme weather events around the world are starting to do. Give the human race as a whole the karmic payback it deserves for the disgusting treatment of the other creatures on this planet.
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