William Blake may have stood in awe of the ferocity and power of the great cat, but modern man sees quite a different thing. British-based Traffic International, a wildlife preservation group, reports that despite the international ban on the sale of tiger parts, over 1000 tigers have been illegally killed in the past decade. An analysis of seizures of tiger parts — from whole skins to claws, penises, and skulls — yielded the conservative estimate. India, home to half of the world’s tigers, leads all nations with 276 seizures uncovering parts from more than 530 tigers killed. Many Pacific rim nations are not far behind in tiger deaths. Tiger parts are used in many cultures for decoration, traditional medicines and good luck charms.
Source: Daily Mail
–Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
In 1955, I first read a book in my parent’s library, which is now in my library, “Man Against Nature,” Charles Neider, ed., Harper & Brothers, New York, 1954.
On the back surface of the dust jacket is a quote from Maurice Herzog, “The world will never be conquered so long as the zest for conquest, for adventure, is in men’s hearts.”
I thought then, as I think now, that humanity’s efforts to conquer nature can only end with nature conquering us, for the simple reason that we humans are within nature and are of nature, and cannot conquer nature without destroying ourselves.
I live in a world where nothing supernatural will ever be possible, because, if anything happens to come to my attention which was not within my mental model of nature, I expand my model to include it.
My personal model of nature includes a curious phenomenon which I named, in early childhood, “human stupidity,” doing so because it was terribly clear to me that I was essentially as stupid as anyone else, and human stupidity now takes a significant part of my model of nature, and an especially significant part of my model of human nature.
If only I could find something that really is supernatural, only, where in nature of existence would I find it?
Don’t they have rabbits in India …
How lucky is a charm if it is hunted to extinction?
Not very.
Well everyone must have it crown….