The Animals Strike Back

The animals of this world are not pleased, and they took it upon themselves to let us know of their discontent through two well-publicized displays of violence. The first vicious act took place during the beginning of last week, when a bear attacked and killed its trainer. The second time the animals lashed out was in the form of a deadly shark attack off the coast of San Diego. What have we done to make these giant beasts so angry at us?

In the case of the bear that lunged at its trainer “friend”, I have to ask; how anyone is able to trust non-domesticated animals? Dogs, cats, birds, etc. have been exposed to humans for hundreds of years, and there are certain genetic predispositions in place that act as safeguards against the sort of unpredictable, predatory behavior exhibited by wild animals. Just because you have raised a bear by hand, with humans, from cub-hood to 5 years old, does not mean you have in fact taken the “wild” out of the animal. Then to take this a step further and train the bear to “play” fight with people, as the bear does in the scene in which he is featured in a Will Ferrell movie, that is just asking for trouble.

Perhaps the saddest part about the incident with the bear is that he will most likely be put to sleep as a result of his actions. Since he was taken from the wild and reared by people, he never developed any of the skills necessary for survival on his own, thus release back to his natural habitat would mean certain death. So now, because he acted in an aggressive manner, lashing out at a situation in which bears should never be placed in the first place, he is going to be put to death.

A man was swimming in the Pacific in the early morning hours off the coast of San Diego, training with a group of triathletes, as he had done many times before. Only this time was different, the 66 year old veterinarian was stopped mid-stroke when a Great White appeared, took one bite straight across his legs and quickly swam off. Unfortunately rescue attempts were futile and the man died, most likely even before reaching the shoreline.

This incident seems to me to be a case of mistaken identity. These guys were swimming over 150 yards offshore, in full, dark colored, wet suits. Their distance from the shore and appearance from underwater could even lead a skilled diver to believe they were seals from many feet below the ocean’s surface. The shark, probably starving due to our excellent ability to over fish and decimate sea life, most likely did carefully examine his prey before committing the attack, which also explains why he may have swam off so quickly after biting the man.

I think the point to take away from these incidents is simple – the animals are sick and tired of our bullshit. Wild animals belong in the wild. We need to be more conscious about destroying these wonderful creature’s habitats and respecting their space, while thinking less about trying to use them for some sort of personal economic gain. Why don’t we start using all these great photo and video editing programs we have developed and use them for man vs. animal interactions instead of training undomesticated beings to do tricks. We just need to be more aware, i.e. if you are going to go out for a leisurely swim in the ocean, where there had already been a few dead seals turn up earlier in the week, maybe you should pick a spot 10-50 yards offshore. If you mess with the bull you know what you will get.