I'm thinking of posting a sign for anyone who wants to come visit on the land I'm looking after.
One of the premiere rules will be No intentional killing of the wildlife.
Really, I don't care that Indian Minahs are 'invaders' and 'non-indigenous'. That doesn't give you a right or reason to kill them with a pellet gun. For that matter, you and I are Invaders and Non Indigenous on this land. My grandparents weren't born here - and you, can you say your direct antecedents have been here for thousands of years?
Those Minahs you killed were every bit as indigenous (or not) as you.
I'm only sorry I didn't wrest the gun from your grip and that of your son and invite you to go kill your own relatives with it - who are far more damaging to the land than those birds could ever be.
Yes, and I'm deeply ashamed of myself for not throwing you off right than and there.
The worst of it is, you don't think you did anything wrong. You probably don't think much.
It comes home in a thousand ways of which this is just one: that this civilisation is not, and has never been, redeemable.
Hi there how are you? I was looking through your blog and found it interesting and wanted to leave you a comment.
ReplyDeleteI have an invitation for you to come and visit my art blog here in San Diego, and comment if you will.
I think that you may enjoy the various labels and music videos I design for my art blog, hope to see you here soon and take care :)
I've never quite wrapped my head around the foreign species thing. Animals have always migrated from place to place. Sometimes they displace others species and I don't necessarily think that's justification for killing them. Sounds more like survival of the species to me. I guess the trickiness enters the situation when animals migrate via human intervention, but that's been happening for millennia too. If the sanctity of the life of one species is so important why is it okay to snuff out the life another? Doesn't make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteHi Livia,
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with you - I don't understand it in logical terms either.
I think that some people just like killing things.
Love,
Terri in Joburg
It's interesting how some species seem to flourish and others seem to disappear.
ReplyDeleteHadedas and Crowned Plovers (kiewetjies) seem to have become quite urbanised over the last 20 years or so, and Mynahs have invaded from Natal (was that because of the end of apartheid?). The hadedas have reduced the cricket population quite drastically.