Humans, the Worst Animal

My regard for my species is at an all time low after reading two stories circulating the web this past week about animals that were killed in the name of selfies.  People have always been incredibly stupid when taking snapshots, putting themselves, and often their children, at risk for the perfect picture.  You know, take one more step back on the edge of a cliff for a more dramatic…oops!  Sorry about that!  Or posing the children on a rocky beach ignoring warnings about sneaker waves.  My stomach twists in knots when I see that happening, and I can’t stay to enjoy the view.

In a way, though, that is nature at work.  Survival of the fittest and all that.  I guess it’s a way to weed out the stupid.  Recently a man was so into his texting that he literally walked off a cliff to his death.  Such a waste of a life! You read about this type of thing happening all the time now – people engrossed in their phones walking into traffic, falling down stairs, bumping into poles – it’s so ridiculous it’s almost funny (you can see videos of them on YouTube).  But they’re doing things by choice.  When these things happen to animals, then I really get mad!

I’m sure you all saw the photo on yahoo of the adorable baby dolphin getting handled (mauled) by the people on a beach in Argentina all wanting to get a selfie with the endangered baby. What were those people thinking!?  Let’s take a baby animal away from his mother, take a marine mammal out of the water, and pass him around like a stuffed doll so everyone gets his or her photo op.  What a great idea!  And then let’s act surprised when he dies from the shock of it all.  Really?!  Personally, I think that besides any criminal charges that can be brought against the person who yanked him out of the water that every single person they can identify from the pictures should be fined the equivalent of at least $1,000 to go to a dolphin protection agency.

Then a few days later a story surfaced about a peacock in China that died from the shock of being roughly handled for photographs and having feathers torn out for souvenirs by tourists visiting a park.  Shame on them!  But people have such a detachment from other living beings – and nothing is more important than a good picture.  It seems we’ve started living our lives through photos – if it isn’t documented and posted on Facebook, then it didn’t happen.  And the lengths we’ll go to in order to get a “special” picture is absolutely scary.

I can’t get the picture of that sweet baby dolphin out of my mind.  It makes you wonder if you would get caught up in the mob mentality and want your picture with him too or would you have the presence of mind and courage to say to the crowd “Enough! Put the baby back in the water.”  I hope I’m never in a situation like that, but if I am, I hope I’ll speak up for the animal.