Luckily I had a long drive home two Sundays ago, because our local public radio station interviewed Derek and Beverly Joubert who reported things that shook me out of my Pretty Kitty bubble– they film lions and have fallen in love with them. Which is tragic because within about fifteen years, unless things (ie. we the people) change a lot, we’ll inhabit a world without any. In other words, we will be the cause of their extinction somewhere in the neighborhood of 2026. I take that back – there might be a few still in zoos, but that too-small gene pool will peter out before long.
How is this happening? You know...planters poach their ranges, which cats need for hunting and for maintaining a healthy gene pool. And we have for centuries killed them in large numbers, chiefly for sport or for medicinal purposes (a bag of lion bones goes for big, big money in parts of Asia), and sometimes to protect livestock or human beings.
Did you know there are already more tigers in captivity than in the wild? I didn’t. All of the big predator cats, including leopards, cheetahs, and jaguars, are in danger. This reality seems so unstoppable and sad. Beyond sad –I feel that we’re on the verge of doing something that can’t be undone ever. Something that diminishes our lives and our planet’s being. Just knowing that such a beautiful creature as the lion roams the savannahs wakes us to wonder, to marvel at the delight and mystery of being alive. So if they are gone, we become less delighted, less enfolded in mystery and wonder- less alive.
I do appreciate that we have much to feel responsible for and sad about – the victims of earthquakes in so many countries, and the battles raging in too many countries, and the drought and famine that threaten so many. Human ingenuity and compassion could mitigate many disasters, but not one of our failures to do so threatens our own species to the degree that we have threatened others. That’s the problem, I think: our disregard for the survival of other animals, lives over which we now have near total control.
So what to do... I’ve been working on to making changes in how I live that I hope will lessen the pressure on those places wild animals need to survive. coffee, tea, beef, and oil are a few of the things I like to consume that take a huge hunk out of their habitat. I try to consume less, and pay a fairer price for more sustainably grown foods. I support only politicians who are for sustaining this delightful, mysterious world of ours.
It’s helped me to at least make a start. How about you? I’d like to know what your thoughts are about this issue. I’m looking for ways, corny, I admit it- to save what is left of the world we were born of and into, the world that has made us who we are, for better and for worse.
Photo credit: "Tally on My Suitcase" by Lucile Blanchard
Shade-grown coffee is one way to go. I was made aware of it late last year and when my current tin runs dry, that's what I'm buying next. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteYou're doing such a great job, Eliza, bringing these issues to our attention. Who'd have thought that my love for coffee would mean the end of lions. I will definitely have to change that. And thanks for using my cat photo to illustrate the great cats. So amazing to think they are related.
ReplyDeleteI think one way to make a difference is to shop local -- buy from farms and source items made within a certain radius. I am really trying to avoid buying things made in China, etc. where there are almost no environmental controls. I will have to research what has an impact on African wildlife. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
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