'If Nature had rights' - A wonderful article I read today. It starts with the following African story.
IT WAS THE SUDDEN RUSH of the goats’ bodies against the side of the boma that woke him. Picking up a spear and stick, the Kenyan farmer slipped out into the warm night and crept toward the pen. All he could see was the spotted, sloping hindquarters of the animal trying to force itself between the poles to get at the goats—but it was enough. He drove his spear deep into the hyena.
The elders who gathered under the meeting tree to deliberate on the matter were clearly unhappy with the farmer’s explanation. A man appointed by the traditional court to represent the interests of the hyena had testified that his careful examination of the body had revealed that the deceased was a female who was still suckling pups. He argued that given the prevailing drought and the hyena’s need to nourish her young, her behavior in attempting to scavenge food from human settlements was reasonable and that it was wrong to have killed her. The elders then cross-examined the farmer carefully. Did he appreciate, they asked, that such killings were contrary to customary law? Had he considered the hyena’s situation and whether or not she had caused harm? Could he not have simply driven her away? Eventually the elders ordered the man’s clan to pay compensation for the harm done by driving more than one hundred of their goats (a fortune in that community) into the bush, where they could be eaten by the hyenas and other wild carnivores.
This story made my day today :)
PS: Wish you all a fantastic 2008!!!
2 comments:
stupid judgement
100s of goats
how many of them females ?
how many kids which had not yet kived their lives
how many solre bread winners of the goat family
how many old [fit for nothing as per the hyenas]
now, who will take the side of the poor goats and sue the 'elders' ?
no point talking sympathy for beasts when they harm the helpless
[beasts here can mean 4 legged and the 2 legged erect ones also]
I guess you have missed the point.. no animal asks humans to protect them from their predators.. they have evolved their own strategies of survival.. otherwise they would'nt be here in the first place... so you don't need to worry about the protection of the goats from their predators.. the punishment is for the human who considers possessing so many goats important..
secondly, it is'nt smart to combine the hyena attacking the goat and a '2legged erect beast' attacking the helpless... hyena attacking the goat for dinner is the way of nature.. both goats and hyenas have evolved to this behavior... there is nothing despicable and violent about that...
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