I’m not a violent person. I don’t even believe in the death penalty. But when I stumbled across this article about three rhino poachers getting killed by a pride of lions, I have to say that I was kind of pleased by the justice that Mother Nature meted out.
Even if it were true (and it’s most definitely not) that rhino horns held medicinal properties, that doesn’t give you the right to kill them. And if you are stupid enough to break into a game PRESERVE full of wild animals to commit this crime, you certainly can’t blame the lions for viewing you as a delicious midnight snack. You were about to do what you do, so they did what they do. Fair’s fair.
You were committing a crime. You were in a place where you had no right to be. Nature stepped up, leaving nothing but your shoes and your gloves and one skull behind, along with the nefarious weapons you planned to use to commit your atrocity.
Sometimes justice balances the scale in unexpected ways. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If I didn’t believe so firmly in karma, I’d probably implode under the sheer weight of my righteous indignation. Fortunately, a little of that weight was lifted this time around.
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Although not a fan of “nature” in general, for various reasons, neither am I a fan of people who kill for “trophies” or for profiting from ridiculous and outmoded superstitions about the medical effect of animal parts (it’s just keratin, people.) So I was also a bit amused by this. I seem to recall someone suggested that one of the game wardens might have surreptitiously converted the malefactors into lion food. Anyway, preserving the diversity of the fauna seems a good thing.
Well, we’ll never know what happens out in the back of beyond. But yes, diversity is good!
I have wondered how the root of the problem can be addressed: the folk belief that rhino horns have medicinal properties. It is still driving poachers because the risk is worth the reward.
Lots and lots and lots of education. But it is so firmly embedded in just a few cultures, and therefore it will be hard to dislodge. I fear the rhinos will be gone long before the myth is.