here was a story this week about three cougars being shot in recent days in Princeton, B.C.
Before I go any further, I think I should point out that this is an unusual story. It seems the cougars were actually stalking humans as prey; almost unheard of. In one case the cougar looked like he was about to pounce on two girls who were floating down the river in tubes.
Everyone involved thinks this is very unusual and perhaps the three cougars were siblings.
It seems that the RCMP and the animal conservation people were very reluctant to kill the cougars, and the language of the news reports, both on radio and in print was very balanced.
Now, all of that being disclosed, and at the risk of getting myself into real hot water; there was a sentence in the news reports, in almost all of them, that speaks of something different. The RCMP officer who was quoted said, "We had to do it before anything tragic happened."
Why is it that the killing of three cougars is not seen as "tragic"?
Now I don't want you to think I am heartless and misunderstand how tragic it would be if some girl in a tube got eaten by a cougar; It would be absolutely heart wrenching. At the same time, can anyone define just why the cougar's life is less valuable?
One of the cougars was shot by a hunter who decided it posed a threat. Again, I was not standing in his shoes, but I imagine that I would have no way of judging if a cougar was a threat or not. I know nothing about the psychology of big cats; I know nothing about cougars in particular. And I am going out on a limb here, but he probably did not either.
For that matter, neither would any single RCMP officer.
Sure, if a cougar were actually attacking my daughter, I would kill the cougar if necessary. Of course, if a person were attacking my daughter I would be just as likely to kill them if necessary. In both cases I would feel extremely bad about ending a life.
I would however, do everything in my power, in either case, not to kill them.
I firmly believe that this is our major problem on the global stage; we as a species have not truly come to terms with our own arrogance.
There are theories that place the human race at the bottom of the totem pole; after all, we can be seen as nothing but a scourge on the face of the planet. We cause the most destruction of habitat, ecosystems, and even ourselves. Of all the species of life that exist, we serve the least purpose, we do not contribute to the life cycle of any other creature in a positive way, except by choice.
A cougar, for example, lives in an interdependent family and covers a hunting range of over 300 kilometres, and its main diet is deer and elk. Their niche in the ecosystem is to control the elk population; and they do not even waste any of it. Once an elk is killed, the cougar covers what it cannot eat with debris and continues to feed on it until it is all gone.
In a pinch they will eat up mice and smaller animals too; keeping the population down.
Like us, however, a cougar is an apex predator; no one feeds on cougar meat.
There are a few examples of them attacking humans. It is rare, but it is possible the three in question needed to be killed to preserve more human life. I am not arguing that; I am simply objecting to the concept that the loss of a human life would be tragic, while the loss of a cougar life is merely necessary.
In this, you should read everything from cricket to house cat, from cow to African elephant. Death is tragic, no matter what is doing the dying.
As long as we can easily separate ourselves from the results of death, as long as we can justify it without peering too deeply into the dark recesses of consequence, then we are doomed to continue in our own self destruction.
Those three cougars were hunting; which means they were providing. If, as has been suggested, they were siblings, they are part of one family unit. If three hunters of one family unit suddenly go missing, there is a strong possibility you have just killed off any number of female and young at the same time.
So here is the thing. If we can start to see ourselves as 'one' of the occupants of the planet; neither the most important nor the most useful; then we can start to interact in a better way with the others.
If we can begin to have empathy for just what it might be like to be a cougar, or an eagle, or a butterfly, then perhaps we can start to see a better way to coexist with all other life.
It is tragic when a plane goes down and kills 150 people. It is tragic when a river is polluted and kills 150 fish. It is tragic when a family dies in a motor vehicle accident. It is tragic when cougars are shot because of human encroachment.
I am not reducing things ad absurdum; there is a better way to understand the interrelatedness of the ecosystem. One step along the way is to see ourselves for who we really are, just one part of the whole organism.
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