It seems that the majority of people around the globe share a belief that the human species is somehow superior to all others (I think it traces back to that opposable thumb thing) and that all other species were put on earth simply for the convenience and pleasure of humankind.  Well, guess what … in my most humble opinion (and humility is obviously not my strong suit) those folks are wrong!

Every time I see a picture or an article about a hunter who is proudly displaying a dead animal, claiming that he is a big, tough man … picture Tarzan beating his chest and emitting sounds … I cringe as my stomach churns.  When I hear of animals being killed simply because they had become an ‘inconvenience’ to humans, I want to throw things.  But the story that crossed my path last night brought tears and rendered me unable to speak for several minutes.  The headline says it all …

A Kangaroo Wouldn’t Hop — So Zoo Visitors Stoned It To Death

It happened in China, but it could have been anywhere on the globe.  The kangaroo — a 12-year-old female whose name is not known — was not hopping enough to amuse spectators at the Fuzhou Zoo late last February, so someone picked up a rock. Others followed suit.  Zoo workers tried to stop the massacre and even quickly removed all the rocks from the immediate area, but people then started removing bricks from the pavement to throw at the kanga.  By the time zookeepers rescued the kangaroo from the crowd, her foot was nearly severed.  Veterinarians tried to save her, and she survived for several days before succumbing to internal bleeding.

But the Fuzhou stonings didn’t end with that kangaroo’s death. Just a few weeks later, visitors attacked and injured a five-year-old kangaroo for similar reasons. It survived.

In Russia in 2016, a group of men used two large off-road trucks to repeatedly run down a brown bear who posed no threat to the men … they did it, apparently, for sheer entertainment, and even captured the incident on video, where the men in the truck can be heard yelling, “Squash him!  Squash him!”.  After driving the truck back and forth over the animal, which attempts to get up, the men can be heard saying, “It’s still alive” and seen poking it with a metal rod.

Last December, three Florida men shot a shark with a revolver, then tied to the back of a motorboat and dragged through the waves until it died.  They, too, made a video of their cruelty.

My purpose in relating these stories?  Tomorrow, friends, is Earth Day.  Earth.  The only planet that can sustain human life.  A planet comprised of many eco-systems that work hand-in-hand to provide food, water, and natural resources to sustain life.  Not just human life, but all life.  Humans were not the first species to appear on planet earth, and it is foolish arrogance to believe that all other creatures on this planet are somehow inferior, or that they are here only for the convenience of mankind.

Quite honestly, based on man’s treatment of the rest of the animal kingdom, based on the sampling of stories above, I would have to say that humans, despite their opposable thumbs, are significantly inferior to other species.  We have the ability to take care of our planet and all its inhabitants.  We have brains that are capable of figuring out how to maintain our planet, to keep other species from becoming extinct.  But instead, we use those brains to find more methods for cruelty and destruction.  I can honestly say that being human is not something I’m very proud of at this moment.