It was
great to wake up early this morning and with the rest of Kathmandu sleeping it
meant I had enough signal to watch some music videos of Prince. I just wanted to remember the genius he was,
he seemed to get better with age, it’s such a shame when someone with so much
talent passes away too young.
Humans have
the capacity to be so brilliant. This is
why it confounds me why we are so stupid.
A friend said to me years ago that as a species we don’t seem to react
until we’ve been bitten on the arse.
Climate change is a good example.
It took a long time for the penny to drop although incredibly there are
those still in denial that humans are affecting the environment is such a
pronounced way that climate, ecosystems, our planet as a whole is functioning
in a state of realignment because of our actions.
The mass
slaughter of wildlife is another example.
I’ve spent much of the last few weeks getting anti-poaching technology
ready for implementation. To be honest I
don’t want to be doing this. I’d much
rather be studying leopard behaviour although of course having an understanding
how big cats behave is vital in staying a step ahead of poachers. The thing is tigers and leopards can only do
so much to defend themselves especially if they are being targeted and just as
importantly if their prey species are being hunted mercilessly as well.
I’ll be
brutally honest in saying I have come across poachers who have been limited in
their capacity to understand the effects slaughtering wildlife has on
ecosystems. This is where education and
improving their economic circumstances can have immediate and positive effect. Poverty, while it continues, does mean there
will always be poachers available to meet the demand for bushmeat and the
dealers in wildlife body parts for bullshit medicines and collectors.
Herein lies
the first part of the problem, the sheer stupidity of those creating the
demand. The medical world in all its
different forms including the advancement of traditional medicines has long
shown the hoax that is the “remedies” of items such as tiger bone and rhino
horn, to name just a couple of the really topical items. What we have of course is an evil greed of
dealers driving the uneducated, huge profits are at the root of illegal
wildlife trade. In that respect it shows
once again how much money affects IQ but I guess that’s another issue... and
don’t get me started on aphrodisiacs.
But the second
part of the problem, and equally as stupid, is that we are allowing illegal
wildlife trade to happen to the extent it is.
The minor lip service that governments give the problem is simply a
reflection of public apathy, the world has not made the connection that illegal
wildlife trade is having a huge effect on our planet, ecosystems are getting
altered unnaturally everywhere.
As someone
who gets to stand in habitats where there are big cats and also in habitats
where they and other apex predators have been hunted out perhaps it’s easier
for me not to be in this denial. But
when I see the amount of “awareness campaigns” out there I wonder why it is not
sinking in with humanity as a whole. I
know a guy in western Nepal, he was actually bitten on the arse by a tiger, he
turned at that point from a hunter into a conservationist. Binod told me he didn’t realize his stupidity
until that point.
The image
is one I took several years ago and the words were added so it could be the
cover picture on a facebook page. We did
it to test reaction. There wasn’t
much. No, my feet are not as big as that
of a yeti (see my new facebook profile pic) but I’d rather kick than bite. In the meantime however, while the world
works out if it is going to stay in slumber on this issue, we’ll continue to fight hard at ground
level. I thank those who support that,
you are the valuable minority and WildTiger will continue to kick hard on your
behalf... as well as for the incredible big cats and wildlife we have to protect.
