Fair comment
I suspect its always been the case, but social media is an amplifier of these stories, too easy for people like me to dive in and make an ill informed comment because I want my 15 seconds of fame (now reduced from 15 minutes due to overcrowding)
John Murray
1 year ago
They don’t go killing bison in Yellowstone park just because some morons get too close from time to time and pay the price. Idiot humans getting too close to a a one ton animal, well, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. By contrast, Harambe was dragging a kid around and the alpaca had a deadly disease, so not much choice in those cases.
The people with a real say in it would be the boat owners I’d say, not sure I’d appreciate the insurance arguments about Freya-related damages if I was them. I can see doing the cost-benefit and deciding Freya had to go, but no doubt it is a bit cold.
Noel Chiappa
1 year ago
The reaction is just one more example of the infantilization of Western populations; people whose understanding of the hard choices of life is that of children, not adults,
‘Defund the police’ (especially in a violent America), anyone? How about mass adoption of solar and wind power – which are inherently intermittent, and thus unreliable?
Look at the bright side: being misguided about euthanizing one wild animal is a lot less consequential than making bad choices about the electricity sources on which modern civilization depends.
Sasha Marchant
1 year ago
The hysteria is ridiculous and death threats are unacceptable. Nevertheless, the killing of this animal troubles me. The reasons given were (1) safety of the (idiotic) people coming into contact with her and (2) that moving her would be stressful for her. Firstly, I find it distasteful that so many people think nothing of automatically killing wild animals for the sin of coming a little to close to human habitat (I accept that in some cases this may be necessary). Humans really need to learn to live with the other animals on this planet and that includes accepting a level of risk. Secondly, did someone really decide that that Freya would be better off dead than stressed? Just last week in Malawi 263 elephants and 431 other animals were airlifted between national parks. For the elephants this involved being hoisted upside-down by crane! The authorities can dress it up in any way they please – hard choices etc. but, ultimately, Freya was killed because she got in the way. A most dispiriting story that reflects poorly on all involved.
Fair comment
I suspect its always been the case, but social media is an amplifier of these stories, too easy for people like me to dive in and make an ill informed comment because I want my 15 seconds of fame (now reduced from 15 minutes due to overcrowding)
They don’t go killing bison in Yellowstone park just because some morons get too close from time to time and pay the price. Idiot humans getting too close to a a one ton animal, well, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. By contrast, Harambe was dragging a kid around and the alpaca had a deadly disease, so not much choice in those cases.
The people with a real say in it would be the boat owners I’d say, not sure I’d appreciate the insurance arguments about Freya-related damages if I was them. I can see doing the cost-benefit and deciding Freya had to go, but no doubt it is a bit cold.
The reaction is just one more example of the infantilization of Western populations; people whose understanding of the hard choices of life is that of children, not adults,
‘Defund the police’ (especially in a violent America), anyone? How about mass adoption of solar and wind power – which are inherently intermittent, and thus unreliable?
Look at the bright side: being misguided about euthanizing one wild animal is a lot less consequential than making bad choices about the electricity sources on which modern civilization depends.
The hysteria is ridiculous and death threats are unacceptable. Nevertheless, the killing of this animal troubles me. The reasons given were (1) safety of the (idiotic) people coming into contact with her and (2) that moving her would be stressful for her. Firstly, I find it distasteful that so many people think nothing of automatically killing wild animals for the sin of coming a little to close to human habitat (I accept that in some cases this may be necessary). Humans really need to learn to live with the other animals on this planet and that includes accepting a level of risk. Secondly, did someone really decide that that Freya would be better off dead than stressed? Just last week in Malawi 263 elephants and 431 other animals were airlifted between national parks. For the elephants this involved being hoisted upside-down by crane! The authorities can dress it up in any way they please – hard choices etc. but, ultimately, Freya was killed because she got in the way. A most dispiriting story that reflects poorly on all involved.