Who is the Endangered Species?
By Elona Baron (as told to Laurie Baron)
SAN DIEGO−The Golden Deceiver has decided to weaken the Endangered Species Act to make it easier for companies to build, develop, drill, and mine habitats where rare animals reside. Since dogs aren’t threatened with extinction, why should I care? I might be domesticated, but I fantasize about living in the wild, momentarily when I am stalking rabbits or watching programs on the Animal Planet channel. Whether they are apes, big cats, elephants, pachyderms, primates, or whales, these animals are mammals and share much of my DNA. Just because their brains aren’t as highly developed as humans’, do they deserve eviction or slaughter by otherwise physically inferior beings? With all due respect to Russell Crowe, I’d bet on a lion over a human in a fair cage fight any day. Moby Dick is a cautionary tale for people intent on killing huge beasts with their bare hands.
Homo sapiens should have more sympathy for creatures they slate for extinction. Who today remembers the Neanderthals? Innocent persons who can be mowed down by an “alleged” member of their own species armed with a weapon of war might consider banning semiautomatic guns and rifles weapons from being used against themselves or wild animals. The real elephant in a room is its head mounted on a wall, an ivory tusk, or a stool made from its foot.
Defiling the environment where animals thrive makes as much sense as polluting the water humans drink, the soil for growing crops, or the air for breathing. I’d like to arrange for the Golden Deceiver to inhale the smog of Beijing deeply before stuffing his face with meat from animals who grazed on slash and burn pastures or building a golf course in Greenland because he erroneously believes the country’s name is Greensland.
The Endangered Species Act is credited with saving bald eagles (our national symbol which is so proud it doesn’t need to comb its feathers over its head to hide its bald spot), gray wolves (my ancestors), humpback whales (you’d think the Deceiver would empathize with a huge animal that enjoys humping), and whooping (not construction) cranes. Go ahead Mr. President, befoul the planet and exterminate its wildlife for profit. In the end humanity will destroy itself.
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Elona resides with Bonnie and Laurie Baron. The latter is professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University. He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com. No animals were harmed in the writing of this column.