Weeping Rhino, Crying Shark

 

back page headline

The following is a letter which I wrote to a local South African newspaper. Please note that I am not referring to their title here, as this is an issue which can be found in most newspapers and the issue of double standards, is a universal human mind frame

Photo of the grieving Rhino, it cried for weeks after its mate was killed

 by poachers

I’m a little confused by your double standards. On the cover of your newspaper, you highlight the sorrow of a grieving Rhino whilst on the back, you hail a lady who has killed a shark. There she is, smiling a victorious smile, with her dead victim between her blood stained hands. I can’t help imagining that somewhere in South Africa, there is a proud poacher with triumph in his eyes as he holds the horn of the mate of that grieving Rhino between his blood stained hands.

A murdered Ragged Tooth Shark

One can think back to a time, perhaps 100 years ago or less, when newspapers would have heralded a hunter, a photo on the front page, proudly showing the hunter with his rifle in one hand and there laying beside him, a brutally murdered Rhino. In those days, Rhino were aplenty and the victims of arrogant white men. Who knows, perhaps someday in the future, Sharks will be an endangered species, finally people will realise that they too have mates and they too have tears running down their cheeks. Perhaps then newspapers will highlight the plight of the Sharks and begin campaigning for their protection.

What man needs to awaken to, is that every creature on Earth wants to be alive, they all want to be with their own loved ones. Everyone dies, but that doesn’t mean that we should add to the suffering of this World.