colombopetrescue

Save a tear for this crocodile

Did you see the headlines last week?
Monster crocodile caught, killer crocodile trapped, youth catches murderous crocodile.
Sensational. And the photographs: about 3000 people with one animal which was tied up very tight , humans laughing and pointing and sitting on it. For some of these sad people this must be the culmination of their human mission, the high point in their blasé lives, the story they will tell their grandchildren someday…which will be counter questioned with such queries as “what is a crocodile? What is an elephant? What is a tiger?” since by that time there won’t be any around, except as wind up toys imported from China


Perhaps media too is to blame for attitudes. Let’s just examine those words “killer crocodile” . Crocodiles kill, its what they do, they are carnivorous reptiles evolved over millions of years to catch living prey and kill. Unlike humans who can eat plants, or chose to go vegan, a crocodile MUST kill to survive, unless it can scavenge. Which again this one had supposedly been doing, since there was an outlet nearby which had been dumping a lot of meat remains into the river at that point. Not mentioned in the media I read.
Then there is media which totally distorts facts to the point of ridiculous “The MURDEROUS crocodile that TERRORISED people in Wanathe at Ragama has been caught in a trap set up by a youth in the area. The crocodile is about 19 feet long.” says a website called Lankatruth. It sounds as if the death toll from this serial killer must be in hundreds, but googling further Im surprised to find it is one. Murder by definition is the “unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice” so how can a crocodile be murderous? the definition of terrorism is trickier but still dosnt seem to fit ” “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public” Did the crocodile set out each morning with a thought of terrorizing people? According to SrilankanMirror “Since its capture last morning (Feb. 08), more than 50,000 people had come to see it.” So fifty thousand “human” sri Lankans came to watch a rare and precious wild animal tied up in torment, misery and sheer terror, suffering with its throat cut with bait, and some of them sat on its back in rows, to have their photos taken, but no one had any real idea about saving it, no one thought that perhaps the crocodile wasn’t really wrong to eat animals, since it was a carnivore…no one really wondered what it must have felt like…I have to pause and wonder, who was more cold blooded…
And I have not read the vernacular papers on the subject but Im sure they have splendid headlines too.
“But it killed a man! you say. Its stomach had HUMAN body parts in it!” Well, so do lots of humans, kill people, and these are higher animals who think rationally, who know that it is wrong to kill humans, warm blooded so called intelligent so called humans also kill people, and this is not how they are treated. And they usually don’t kill from hunger, but from greed, jealousy , hatred…are these then more acceptable than an urge to simply survive?
Oh easy for you to say, you don’t have to share your backyard with a crocodile, you will say. Im sorry about the person who died. People die daily. In road accidents, in medical mishaps, from electric shocks and sports accidents, food poisoning , what have you. I may die tomorrow from falling off a moving bus. Life has a expiry date. But to blame a wild animal for your death and justify torturing and killing it on this basis, now that’s simply, what’s the word for it… barbaric?
No, this killer crocodile was neither a murderer nor a terrorist but was helpless and this is how reportedly fifty thousand so called sound thinking humans in a predominantly Buddhist country captured it from a marsh, tried and administered their summary justice. Why I say “from a marsh” is to emphasise that it wasn’t trespassing in someones backyard, or living room, this animal was in a marsh, where crocodiles usually dwell. Its their kind of land. It does not really belong to anyone.
And finally… allow me to speak in terms which even these humans understand- allow me to appeal completely to your greed and profit point of view, may I point out that this 15 to 19 foot Nile crocodile was valuable. Thousands of foreign tourists come to this country to observe the wildlife. They do not come here to shop at malls, or to gamble at casinos, or to play golf. They certainly dont come here for the red light districts. If you have ever been anywhere out of this country, or if you have access to the internet you will know that Americans and Japanese have better casinos and malls than we will ever have in a hundred years. The Thai have better brothels. What they don’t have are wild crocodiles.
So finally dear gentle readers, as you talk of this particular crocodile at parties or over the water cooler , or wherever you make small talk, please at least do not malign its character, it was not a murderer, or a terrorist , so save a tear for this crocodile.
It was merely a carnivorous wild animal who found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time and fell prey to the most dangerous animal of all, self righteous, law abiding humankind, who decided to prove their superiority, and who wanted fun photos to be taken of them sitting on it as it took its last choking breaths.

posted by aljuhara @ 7:06 AM