There are two things I value that are sacred.
One, no one should ever harm children and two, no one should kill animals for no good reason.
Why is our first instinct to kill animals that inconvenience humans, as if they have no right to exist? And why, especially, does a government department that’s responsible for protecting our flora and fauna appear to have such little regard for animalkind?
This is a true story and one that happened a week ago....
A young bear who was spotted roaming through the west end of Montreal, no one knows where he came from or how he reached the big city.
Maybe he swam ashore or stowed away aboard a transport truck.
The bear was eventually cornered in a tree by an animal protection group with the assistance of police and firefighters. While awaiting a veterinarian to fully subdue him with tranquilizers, Montrealers had plenty of time to observe the poor young 18 month old cub clinging to a branch for dear life with a dart hanging out of his side. Curious onlookers peeked out from nearby homes. From afar, others followed a local live stream of the action or sought updates from media covering the unusual standoff. He melted our hearts and had us cheering for his safe descent from the treetops.
And the saga did seem to have a happy ending when the animal was finally captured around 7:30 p.m., with officials from the Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs promising to release the bear back into the wild.
But on Tuesday, Montrealers awoke to the unfortunate news that the bear had instead been euthanized. According to the ministry, the 1 1/2-year-old male was too accustomed to populated areas to let loose again for fear he would just gravitate to another town or city....
Sauvetage Animal Rescue, which was on the scene 15 minutes after the bear was located and throughout his ordeal, professed itself “shocked” to learn the creature had been so callously disposed of. The group said it was not contacted prior to the poor beast being euthanized, even though it had already found an animal sanctuary for him to live out his days if he couldn’t be freed.
It’s an outrage so little effort was put into preserving the life of this young Ursidae. Yes, bears are wild animals that must be handled with great caution. But killing him because he’s a nuisance is cruel. Such senseless decisions speak volumes about a lack of so-called “humanity” our species is supposed to have such a monopoly on.
It’s doubly tragic given that human development is the reason why so many critters, big and small, end up in dangerous situations to begin with. As more habitat is lost, animals get disoriented or have to travel further in search of food. This leads to a clash with humans. And more often than not, it’s the wildlife who end up in harm’s way.
As much as we are enchanted by chance encounters with errant wildlife, it all too often ends badly for the objects of our appreciation. Whether they die of natural causes, due to calamity or at human hands, wild creatures don’t stand much of a chance when they venture into urban environments.
What’s maddening here is that something could have been done to spare this bear. But those government officials who were entrusted with his welfare couldn’t be bothered.
Or maybe these officials were so pissed about the crypto market that they killed the young bear.......
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