Dozing polar bear, Indianapolis Zoo

Friday, January 12, 2007

The smell of fear

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this makes me want to puke up blood. I'm not some rosy-hued idealist suggesting that predators don't need to be managed. But I do think that formidable animals like wolves, bears, and cougars tend to throw into sharp relief the fear that underlies so much of blood-soaked macho culture.

Predators are necessary. Period.

2 comments:

Jade L Blackwater said...

I have read about the ways in which a proper balance of predators in an ecosystem actually supports healthy forest growth... without the appropriate article citations, I can summarize it generally like this:

Deer eat tender young saplings. When the predators are few, the deer are many, and their appetites decimate the young tree population.

Once predators balance out the herbivores, there is a greater survivability among the saplings, allowing for more active forest regeneration!

And I agree TH... there has to be a better way to manage wildlife with human life. I think part of that will be invested in a shift in the general consensus about our place in the world. Ah, ridiculous idealism...

Jade L Blackwater said...

PS - pass me the bucket. That article is just so sadly f***** up.

le sigh