The Rhino is in danger of extinction, owing
to illegal poaching, for its horn, which is believed to have medicinal value,
in Chinese medicine. Indeed, so strong is this belief that Rhino horn is now
selling at 65,000 USD per kilogram – and all for nothing more than a pile of
keratin (found in fingernails everywhere).
Leaving aside the undoubted fact that, in
truth there is NO medicinal value to Rhino horn, in any way at all...just a
tradition of stupidity surrounding it...I am left startled that scientists
assaying the problem of what to do about the illegal Rhino trade have suggested
legalizing it. This way, they argue, cheaper, legal Rhino horn can be provided
from farms, without killing the animals, and this would somehow, magically, end
the illegal trade. Of course, it is likely to just make illegal Rhino
harvesting (along with the killing of the Rhinos) easier to pursue, for now it
would have no consequences.
Let us examine what a Rhino poacher does
when he kills a Rhino. There are just 5,000 Black Rhinos and 20,000 White
Rhinos left in the world. So, when a poacher kills a White Rhino he (as the
poacher is probably male), he will have killed one twenty thousandth of a species.
So, too, if he kills a Black Rhino, he will have killed one five thousandth of
a species. Consider what that means for a moment. What would we do to a person
who killed one twenty thousandth of the human species? That would be 350,000
people. Or how about someone who killed one five thousandth of the human
species...that would be 1,400,000 people. What would we do with such a person?
We would send in special forces to kill
them. That is what we would do. So, I wish to suggest that we do the same for
anyone who kills such a proportion of an endangered species. We should, quite
simply poach the poachers.
I wonder why we don’t do this,
automatically. My only answer is that the developed powers just don’t care
enough about endangered species to hunt down and kill their killers. We should,
however, be doing just that. If someone cares so little about life on this
planet, that they are prepared to exterminate a species, they should,
themselves, be subject to extermination. That, to me, seems a fair and
reasonable – and JUST stand on the issue. A poacher is forever diminishing
Nature, by being one of those who drive species to extinction. They should not
be tolerated, but should be eliminated.
To my mind it is a simple equation. The life
of a cold hearted, even evil, poacher is not worth one twenty thousandth of the
lives of another species of higher animal. They should be killed – and killed
in such a public way, that it dissuades other would be poachers from poaching.
I would be prepared to believe that a
developed nation cares about the future of planet Earth, if it sends its
special forces out after poachers, in less developed nations who don’t have the
means to deal with it. Let us hear, instead, not the death statistics of yet
another endangered species in its death throes – but a daily tally of the
number of poachers killed, in the name of saving those species. Were this to be
covered in the news, on a regular basis, word would eventually filter through
to those inclined to poach that “Poaching is a BAD idea.”
This is the only effective way left to save
these species in the wild.
Poach the poachers, to save the world.
Posted by Valentine Cawley
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Labels: Black Rhino, capital punishment, endangered species., how to save the world, poach the poachers, species extinction, the effect of human greed on nature, White Rhino
3 Comments:
Hi I am a moderately gifted child age 13 . I have a question how can a gifted child restart his interest in a subject like space.Being a expert at something is hard because of peer pressure like I was a expert in space (somewhat) I was called a geek .Worst thing which could happen is bulling sadly I am bullied almost everyday.
It is sad that you are bullied for being bright and having an academic interest. Yet, you must not let the bullies win...as you are now doing. What they WANT is for you to give up that which makes you different or special. They want to crush you. So it is your duty to make damn sure they don't. I doubt that you have lost your interest in space. What has happened is that they scared it out of you...by penalizing you for having it. You must IGNORE them...and hold on to your true self. Do not let them change your choices for yourself. Start reading again about space...or any other interest and don't worry at all about what others might think. Then again, you can read in private and never let them know what you are thinking about if you wish. Just don't let them win...be the person you really want to be. If that is an expert on space, then so be it...and never let anyone stop you.
Good luck.
thanks for your help valentine sadly one of the bullies is mildly gifted funny about a year back i had a depression about a failure so i began to taunt myself everyday .The worst part is that when i began to push my self criticism back the bulling started which only aggravated the situation.Through sheer willpower i killed it off and with motivation from a friend.Your children are great.my interest in space started on my 7th birthday.Sadly i don't have my intrinsic drive like what i had i used to stay up all night learning sometimes.My friend is the only one in my class who understands giftedness he is also mildly gifted
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