"The whole of creation is waiting for us to become humans." - Swiss graffiti quoted by Karl Ammann in his film Tiger Mafia.
The film is about the trade in tiger body parts and the breeding farms that supply the trade. It's not gory, but it is horrendous. To see the tigers caged and pacing. In some places, they let captive tigers die of starvation because then, in those places, it's legal to harvest their body parts. These places that breed or starve tigers call themselves zoos. The most traumatic thing for me among a host of traumatic things was one cub - the result of inbreeding. A genetically compromised tiger cub. I would give my eye-teeth, if I still had them, to get that cub out of there.
Ammann himself is incredible. He was a wildlife photographer who found out about the bushmeat trade and couldn't just let that knowledge lie. He became an investigative documentary maker. I came across him as he was interviewed in Poached by Rachel Love Nuwer. I'd avoided it for some time as I thought it would just be upsetting. And it is. More on it later. She says of Karl that he would only be interviewed if she promised not to present him in any way as upbeat or having a positive hopeful takeaway. I respected that. I absolutely DETEST all these books about extinction or the environment that say, 'But this isn't a depressing book! There's still hope and X explains how...." I want to shove their hope up their backsides. Me, I'm with Greta on that: I don't want your hope! the house is on fire!
So, anyway, the book says a lot about pangolins. It was written before COVID-19. But I'd like to bet that hasn't changed things much for pangolins. And rhinos. And bear bile. Turns out that bear bile is the one thing that does have medicinal properties. Of course, what has the medicinal properties is a molecule (ursodeoxycholic acid, also known as ursodiol) that can be synthesised - you don't need actual bear bile.
Traditional Chinese Medicine itself says that there are PLANT replacements for the wild animal products. But doctors still prescribe them and many people still believe they need them for their health. Despite scientific research. The Chinese government hasn't helped as it supports TCM. And capitalism and poverty don't help: there are poor people who are desperate and rich people who are greedy. Poaching is lucrative. The international community stops short of sanctions. Governments and law enforcers are often involved or paid off. CITES seems pretty crap. And less money goes into enforcement and protection than into creating the next generation iPhone. I made that up but it's probably true. Wildlife rangers get killed or injured and suffer PTSD. Idiots pay to shoot caged lions - whose bones are sold as tiger bones to support the demand. Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar all buy this stuff. Vietnam is a huge market and heavily involved.
What happens to all of these animals is hideous. So is the beating of live dogs to soften the meat. Does it matter more if the animals are also endangered? Well, I guess it does for biodiversity and ecosystem health. But to me it's the cruelty and the pain. And that's almost as bad for many Western lab animals and perhaps for some farmed animals.
As ever, what we want for our health, our pleasure, our status, our commercial gain is what really matters. And, of course, it's worse if the Chinese do it. Let me say this: I don't care who you are, what country, what culture, what religion, or why you do it; if you hurt an animal directly or indirectly, you are not a good person.
Shit, that includes me as the cats eat chicken.
And that leads me to the next thing: I will not have another cat or indeed a dog. A labrador has a big a carbon footprint per annum as 10,000 miles in my car. Let alone the deaths of animals.
This is what we do to all that is not us.
We need some SERIOUS transformation magic.
Speckled wood butterfly.
Somehow, I don't think that's gonna work.
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