Social Sense
I am an animal lover, but I agree with Mustang about arachnids. In my house spiders are an endangered species.
What some people just don't get is that wild animals are, well, wild. Most wild creatures make poor pets. They have a musky scent, and their waste products are particularly odiferous. Take a baby raccoon, make a pet out of it; then see what happens when that cute little thing becomes an adult and the call to mate comes. My father learned all about that when he once had a pet raccoon. What happened wasn't pretty! The creature gained access to the chimney and tore the hell out of the living room and, in the process, defecated all over everything. Ugh!
Then there was the time that a rabid skunk attacked the basement door. My father dispatched the skunk, but the skunky odor lingered for years. My mother and I hated to go to the basement to do the laundry--let me tell you. No amount of tomato juice would wash away that smell!
I don't want to exterminate species (though my huntress cat and I will execute indivudal spiders, snakes, and centipedes--all of which periodically invade my cellar), but it's wacko to blame capitalism itself for endangering species. The keeping of exotic pets predates capitalism; have a look at the ancient Romans, for example. Today, it is capitalism which is helping to preserve one species--the Giant Panda.
Of course--you know me--I noticed this: "The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) claims that the considerable smuggling of birds of prey out of Russia, sold mainly in Arab countries, produces tens of thousands of dollars in profits for animal smugglers." Maybe some Arabs use the birds of prey to control rodents or to facilitate the gathering of protein in desert countries.
The 1001 Arabian Nights contains some intersting animal tales. For example, one of Sinbad's adventures spoke of the roc, a bird of prey; Sindbad outfoxed the roc, of course. In the real world, I also seem to recall that Saddam Hussein maintained a collection of exotic animals.
Typo. Make that "interesting."
Also, forgot to close my italics tag.
Ah, the joys of nature walks!
From http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...2601672_pf.html :
Md. Children Attacked by Swarm
"Preschoolers on a nature walk in Montgomery County yesterday were confronted and stung by a swarm of winged insects, sending 11 of the children to a hospital.
"The children's injuries were not serious, and all were released from the hospital by yesterday afternoon...
"'One of the children disturbed a log and rolled it over, and some bees came rushing out,' Burris said.
"Others said the insects might have been those commonly known as yellow jackets. Bees and yellow jackets are often confused; bees generally are larger, with thicker, hairy bodies...."
Capitalism in Russia is poorly controlled today. The economy is getting more and more oligopolized. According to a policy brief released by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "the unanimous judgment of Russian insiders is the Kremlin has never been as pervasively corrupt as it is today" ("Putin's Decline and America's Response" by Anders Aslund). In a society like this, it is vary hard to protect animals from political and economic corruption.
To save wildlife in Russia, it is necessary to help the civil society there.
Save animals means save people.
Subtext Mustang
Wasn't it amazing that one could not find fresh produce under Communism. Yet a tad of Capitalism and there is enough disposable income to spend on stupidity. Capitalism at its finest illustrated as a side bar.
Beak man: Years ago I had an exchange student from Russia who told me that not one time in her life did she ever see "lines waiting for fresh bread or vegetables." Now whether or not she was speaking truthfully, I don't know. Maybe she was raised in a wealthier environment than most, or perhaps she was simply being Russian. But I have to admit that it made me stop and think about the possibility of "disinformation" programs by our own government.
Mustang Anatoly Scharansky and Russian emigres are plentiful in NYC
and they will tell you about shortages. In fact they will also tell you about low quality products. It may have been exagerated but was certainly present.
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