Luck

[Guest guest]

>NO BAD LUCK THIS.

>Its MURDER of lives at the cost of inventions, BLOODY INVENTIONS of

>MANKIND for MANKIND.

 

 

Luck is relative.

 

If an animal finds a warm place to sleep in an engine

compartment, that may be good luck, if nobody starts the car again

before the animal wakes up and moves on.

 

If an animal manages to hide from a perceived threat,

usually that is good luck. Some threats don't follow the rules of

most others--and that element of deception, besides being what makes

cutter bars and weed-whackers dangerous to cats, is also what makes

cats successful stealth predators.

 

If an animal manages to scurry unseen into a supermarket,

and/or get back outside when the animal wants, that can also be

exceptionally good luck. Only the closing door intervenes, and then

not often.

 

Most of the things humans do that affect animals tend to mix

the positive with the negative, probably including building railways

through elephant habitat.

 

Most likely, elephants are getting hit by trains in

northeastern India for much the same reasons that moose, caribou,

and bears get hit by trains in the U.S. northwest and Alaska:

because the cleared railroad rights-of-way enable the animals to

travel with greater ease when they want to change locations.

 

Much of the time, during the hours between trains, the

animals can go farther, faster, than ever before. Unfortunately,

they have not yet learned to avoid trains, and may be getting killed

faster than their elders can grasp the nature of the threat and pass

along the knowledge.

 

The trick, whether in avoiding injuring kittens by accident

or avoiding hitting elephants on train tracks, is to anticipate the

extent to which whatever we do may look like good luck to an animal,

and do whatever is necessary to prevent the appearance of good luck

from becoming bad luck--for the humans who may be horrified by

accidentally injuring an animal, or may be injured in a train

derailment, as well as for the animals.

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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