Life in the jungles of Africa is
hard. It is a constant struggle for man and beast to find food and drink every
day, and things like comfort and dignity are luxuries. Man considers he is at
the top of the food chain therefore animals are there for the purposes of
serving him.
Animals are hunted and slaughtered
for their skins and their meat; such has been the tradition since the coming of
First Man. The first instinct of mankind is to obtain protein from animals, and
so it has been that the majority of humankind exists from the sacrifice of the
animals.
Where the biggest problem arises,
other than for vegetarians, is that poachers have no respect for animals that
do not serve them for food. They will stalk elephants and other prey to take
such things as tusks and horns which he sells for a fortune to him, but to us
is a mere pittance. Of course it’s easy for us to condemn him as we have jobs
and careers and pensions, but he has only hunger.
In the process lives are lost by the
Park Rangers whose job it is to protect the livestock, but the poacher comes
armed and very dangerous and will kill any human he finds in his way to win the
prize that will feed his family and perhaps give them some little comfort. The
poacher is Public Enemy Number One in those societies so it is no surprise that
they get no sympathy when things go wrong for them.
A recent headline tells the story of
at least one poacher who met his match in a pride of hungry lions. They dished
out revenge for all that he had done to harm animals, and for the sins of his
compatriots. They killed him and sat down to dinner. All that was left of him
was his head. They left that because it was even too disgusting for them.
Every now and again in the wilds of
Africa Natural Justice is done, perhaps more so than we imagine.
Call it the Circle of Karma, for what
goes around, comes around.
Copyright © 2018
Eugene Carmichael
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