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Ecolokind Volume 4, Number 2

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Ecolokind Volume 4, Number 2 ECOLOKIND KINDNESS IN NATURE'S DEFENSE VOLUME 4 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 1975 Space-Age Blood Letting Must End! way of "getting out the vote." In some ways our present civilization is no better. Today, some people still worship the pagan gods of power, prestige, publicity, political strength, and wealth. Hitler "got out the vote" by trying to sacri­ fice an entire race of people. He never finished his job but he left a mark on the Jewish people that cannot be forgotten. The ancients of South America also dealt in human sacrifice. The temple below was often the site of human blood spilling. Blood spilling for personal gain, power, and publicity has raised its ugly head again in the needless slaughter of baby calves in Wisconsin late last year. The cattle farmers that par­ ticipated in the ritual claimed that they had no choice. They said that the rising cost of liv­ ing made it impossible for them to continue to feed the calves. They wanted the Govern­ ment to step in and assist them through these MORE-+ Just imagine that you're riding down a country road and you see the sign above. Or, perhaps you saw the real thing on TV. What do you think about C: the needless inhumane slaughter of animals? 0 C: Down through the history of mankind runs a sad :::i C: tale of blood letting - war - hunting - and co .� sacrifice. Hunting was a natural enough way for E the ancients and the modern day frontiersmen and <( C: co frontierswomen to satisfy their appetites. 0... +-' C: War was often the outgrowth of expanding popula­ a., tions, diminishing food supplies, and plain old co D. greed. Sacrifices of humans and animals might be a., viewed as PR campaigns by ancient advertising men :::, who had something to sell. More often than not, the 0 f- something they were selling was dependence upon � a certain leader or leaders. The sacrifices helped � :::, keep the people together. The sacrifices were used u0 I to appease the anger of the gods. Red blood helped Chichen ltza, the Mayan Temple of Kukulkan, on whose heights sell uncivilized people ideas and beliefs. It was a sacrifices were offered to appease pagan gods. 2 3 hard times. The slaughter was used to gain animals have also been ritualistically slaughtered national · attention for their problem. As you in public parks. There have even been occasional �ITTJ@u��------------------------------------------ know, the bloody PR stunt failed. It may have reports of people found murdered in a ritualistic been that the farmers failed to take into ac­ fashion. Blood letting in the name of the Devil count that everybody is in the same boat. We're has continued through the stone age to the space age. Giant Snails all suffering from the effects of the rising cost It's amazing in a nation which gives mil­ of living. But we're not all destroying life. lions of dollars and millions of hours of vol­ Invade Florida There are other blood letting rituals going unteer time to worthy causes to find we still have on too. The reports of Satanistic animal slaughters people working the minus side of the street. 'V are on the increase. Little is known about these Stopping Devil worship and other secret rites " activities until after the rituals have been per­ that involve blood letting will be difficult. End­ formed. The reports by farmers in the midwest ing the needless slaughter of calves won't be have noted that young, healthy steers, often of so hard. Public opinion went against the farmers. breeding age, have been found slaughtered in the Some are now giving calves to poor people. field. During these ritualistic rites, the inner Killing of calves might also be prevented if the organs of the animals have been removed. Small anti-cruelty laws were invoked against such offenders. f Who Really Needs Alligators? Third and Final Installment How they got there no one really knows. But the introduction of any non-native plant or animal into Or tigers, whales and wolves? We all do-because every time a species disappears our future on earth is a tropical type of environment such as Florida has jeopardized in ways we can't even conceive can be potentially devastating. Non-natives adapt readily to the mild climate and can wreak havoc on By Robert Bendiner all sorts of native flora and fauna. These giant African snails (Achatina fulica) were found in two Reprinted with permissionfrom the August 1974 Reader's Digest. Copyright 1974 by The Reader'sDigest Assn., Inc. places in Florida. Efforts of officials to destroy them have been reported to have been 95% successful. Beyond the ecological risks and economic folly of whose habitat is now threatened by the draining -- . wantonly eliminating an animal species, one must activity of would be developers, should at last die out finally take account of the benefits to humanity that after millennia of miraculous survival, what difference may well have been sacrificed. For example, if the fruit could it possibly make? Marching Flamingos Only this - that the world would have lost a fly, that seemingly dispensable insect, had been wiped Ardastra Botanical Gardens, Nassau-Hedley Edwards out a century ago by some early and successful matchless laboratory for the study of evolution. For has 21 flamingos trained to do intricate parade pesticide, it is doubtful that scientists would know some of these fish have been stranded in isolated steps, all in unison. On command to 'Muster!', they nearly as much as they do today about genetics. It just communities for thousands of years, and each com­ come running from their pool and assemble. They happens that the fruit fly has a life cycle of less than munity has had to adapt to different conditions. Some respond to such commands as 'Parade!', 'Halt!', two weeks, remarkable fertility, and other major ad­ have learned to live in water hotter than 100 degrees; 'About Turn!', 'Double Time!'. But the climax of vantages for laboratory study, enabling geneticists to others can tolerate a range of temperature from the show is when Edwards shouts 'Charge!', and they observe scores of generational changes within a few freezing to at least 100 degress. run around the parade grounds with wings extended. years. The natural world is still so full of such wonders, Edwards is 71, but he refuses to reveal his In the same way, whales and dolphins are proving with such potential for illuminating life, that when man 'military secret' on how he trains these shy birds. ro C of unexpected but inestimable value in the study of pushes any species to extinction, he jeopardizes his 0 ·;:a circulatory systems and heat-exchange mechanisms. own future in ways that he cannot even conceive. Yet ro z The swordfish has warned mankind of an unsuspected he is doing just that - not viciously as a rule, but overdose of mercury in seas. And the brown pelican mindlessly. -�Ql z and peregrine falcon have given us timely notice that It is a curious logic that lets him willfully club to C 0 ·;:a DDT can adversely affect reproduction. death, say, the last of the great auks, and half a century ro c In the Death Valley area, a few deep springs survive later reverently value an auk's egg in a museum at :); C 0 from those glacial days 20,000 years ago, when lakes $2000 as the awesome relic of a vanished past. And u and streams covered large areas of California and "awesome" is surely the right word. For, as the great � Nevada now given over to desert. These oases are the naturalist William Beebe put it: t::, 0 refuge of the tiny pupfish, spirited remnant of an "When the last individual of a race of living things u "' aquatic life that otherwise vanished by the time the breathes no more, another heaven and another earth 0 L valley dried up 4,000 years ago. If these creatures, must pass before such a one can be again." CL ©1975, The Humane Society of the United States, 100 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037. The ECOLOKIND newsletter is published monthly � _ Permission to reprint art and text is hereby granted to teachers for non-commercial educational purposes. Credit line should read "Reprinted by 4 5 ��@]®��'--------------°\ It's Your Lucky Day! Review - All About Rabbits Do you believe in good or bad luck? Or, do you they could get for good luck charms. Watership Down a novel by Richard Adams MacMillan Co. $6.95 believe that success or failure is based upon other American frontiersmen started the whole thing. things such as effort, education, and knowing the But when the American businessmen got in on the they patrol, raid gardens, and, in some warrens they right person? scheme, they exported the idea to Europe. Pretty militantly control the residents. Whatever it is, luck has found a happy home in soon, the idea caught on there too. Frith is the Creator of the Universe, generally repre­ the American vocabulary (and mind). Animals are We've made light of it, but just imagine how sented by the sun. But El-ahrairah is the Prince of often associated with good and bad luck. A rabbit's many rabbits died in the pursuit of luck. Rabbits, and the curse upon him and his children is foot is said to bring good luck. Black cats are Black Cats represented by the many enemies that rabbits now supposed to bring bad luck. And let's not forget Because cats are mysterious and independent· have.
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