The Problems in Our Own Backyard:: Lions and Elephants and Children

I believe that we are each responsible for what goes on in our own backyards and that we should stay out of other people's business. This includes taking care of our own animals, our own children and our own lawn chores, and staying on our own side of the fence, even if we disagree with how someone else is gardening, pruning, raising his own children or training his dog. It also means that we should come to the defense of our neighbors when they are under attack by outsiders -- even  the government  -- but we should not intervene in domestic disputes on the other side of the fence. This is the essence of being a good neighbor.

Somebody killed a lion in Zimbabwe -- and people who pretend to be animal lovers are up in arms and asking for his head. But when the government of the State of Ohio confiscated, killed and then dissolved the corpse of an American lion, there was no such outrage. Nobody is calling for the death of the head of the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

http://www.examiner.com/article/ohio-department-of-agriculture-kills-leo-the-tiger-ridge-lion


What is the difference? In the one case, it was a lion far away killed by a hunter. In the other case, it was a lion owned by an American and killed by the government. Why is it that the case of Leo the Lion has provoked no outrage? Is somebody orchestrating the public's feelings?

I remember a similar situation back in 1993, only it did not involve lions. It was about men, women and children. The government of the United States laid siege to the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, and in the name of saving children, burned the place to the ground with all the men, women and children inside it.

http://www.pubwages.com/22/remembering-the-mount-carmel-massacre

At about the same time, a lot of bad things were happening to people in Bosnia.

http://www.history.com/topics/bosnian-genocide

But most of the intelligent, intellectual and "enlightened"  I knew at the time, who lived in Houston, Texas and went to Rice University, were enraged about the atrocities in Bosnia, which were far, far away, and they did not care at all what was happening in their own backyard, in Waco, Texas, which was only a three hour drive away. They could have saved the children at Mt. Carmel, whereas they could have done nothing about the people in Bosnia. I am not saying what was happening in Bosnia was good, but it wasn't our business. What happened in Waco was our business, because it was our government that was doing it, using agents hired with our money and weapons bought with our taxes -- and they were doing it in our name!

The principle in both cases is the same: We are responsible for what happens to American children and American lions and tigers and chimpanzees, when it is our government that is doing it. We are not responsible for what happens overseas.

 Many animals are on the verge of extinction in Africa. There is nothing we can do about it. But we can stop making it hard for those private people who keep these animals and breed them and help them thrive here in the United States at their own expense and using their own means.

We can't save every child and every animal in the world. But what we can and should do is prevent our tax money from being used to keep American citizens from taking care of their own animals and their own children using their own funds. We should do this, because it is happening in our own backyard, and we have the means to stop it. And if we don't stop it, we are part of the problem.

What Does It Mean to Be Exotic?

My gardener confided to me the other day that I am lucky to have any peaches at all. He told me that most people around here who try to grow peaches have very little success.

This surprised me, because when I moved here, I took my peaches for granted. I can't take any credit for them, though, because the previous owners had planted them. "They require a lot of pruning and care," my expert told me.

To me this rings of: it's not native here. It's probably exotic. And I asked him to try to find me trees that are as close to native and natural as he could, while meeting my needs. I didn't say this because I have some ingrained prejudice against exotic plants. I don't uproot trees that came from somewhere else, and I don't kill wildflowers just because someone calls them exotic invasives. It's just that I want my trees to grow easily, with minimum effort on my part.

Blossoms on my first pear tree this morning

But thinking about it, I am beginning to suspect that all my fruit trees are exotic. They may be "traditional" for people to plant, in the sense that this has customarily been done since the first non-native American settlers appeared here, but this does not mean that any of these trees originated here naturally.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropmap/missouri/crop/fruit.html

More of my First Pear Tree blossoms

Can a fruit tree be both traditional and exotic? It think it can, "Pear, Asian" is listed under  "Traditional Crops: fruit and nut crops in commercial production" in the first table on the site I linked above. If the pear tree comes from Asia, it is not native to Missouri. So it must be exotic. And yet it is also "traditional".

Blossoms of the Second Pear Tree This morning

People are often confused about the meaning of the word exotic. The lowly service berry may in fact be native to Missouri, but it is much less traditional a fruit tree than a pear.

So what does exotic mean? According to Merriam-Webster online, it means:

Full Definition of EXOTIC 

1 :  introduced from another country :  not native to the place where found  <exotic plants>;

2 archaic :  foreign, alien
3 :  strikingly, excitingly, or mysteriously different or unusual ; <exotic flavors>

          4 :  of or relating to striptease ;<exotic dancing>;

 Taking striptease entirely out of the discussion,  exotic means coming from another country. It also has the connotation of being striking, exciting, mysterious. different or unusual. It used to mean foreign. It is derived from Latin, from a word whose root means "out" or "outside." In its derivation, it is not that different from the English word "outlandish." Exotic was first used in English in 1599.

I was called exotic once. I did not know what to make of it. I was at a friend's house when I was a little girl in Texas, and a woman visiting there kept staring at me. Finally, unable to restrain herself any longer, she blurted out; "What are you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You just look so different," she said. "Are you Italian?"

"Oh," I said, finally understanding what she meant. "I come from Israel."

"Well, I knew it was something exotic," she said.

To me that was a very odd incident. I spoke English with an American accent, so she was clearly referring to my appearance, not my speech. Nothing quite like that has ever happened to me, before or since, but I think it is just because most people are more polite. I don't mind that she asked that, but I was confused by her question for a minute. 

Prejudice against outsiders is usually known as bigotry, and it is considered politically incorrect. But when it comes to exotic animals, people feel free to display their attitude quite openly, sometimes in a belligerent manner.

Yesterday, I posted on Facebook about  a Texas House Bill 3592 "Registration and Regulation of "Dangerous" Wild Animals". I was just trying to warn my friends in Texas that their rights to own big cats, bears, primates and other species were being threatened and suggested that they get in touch with their representatives. The post was intended for my friends in Texas, as this concerned them, but a few other people came by and left friendly comments about the right to own exotic animals. Others  voiced concerns about rattlesnakes, which are actually native to Texas and not exotic at all. Then one person, from Canada of all places, declared categorically: "Sorry, I don't think people should have exotic pets." When I pointed out to her that the post pertained to Texas, she replied: "I don't care where you live, people should not have exotic pets."

This a woman who lives in Canada, is from Scottish ancestry and resides in an apartment with a cat. The cat, like all cats, did not evolve in North America. How can she be against exotics? Neither she nor her cat are native to the region where she lives.

If she had said "animals that have not been domesticated", rather than "exotics", then I could maybe understand her claim. But then again, according the wikipedia: 

In comparison to dogs cats have not undergone major changes during the domestication process, as the form and behavior of the domestic cat is not radically different from those of wildcats and domestic cats are perfectly capable of surviving in the wild.^[

I did not speak to her about her cat. I merely pointed out that the laws are quite different in Texas than in Canada, and that this particular bill only affects those in Texas. Neither she nor I have any right to tell Texans what laws they should pass. I was merely warning those of my friends who live in Texas that this legislation was about to be voted on, so that they could do something about it, if they wished. Lawmakers often pass laws of this sort without consulting their constituencies.

We are all exotic one way or another, Even native Americans migrated here and did not evolve in North America. If exotics were tolerated only in their place of origin, then all of us would have to go back to Africa. And this would include not just the humans. All life is kin. Scientists have yet to replicate the production of life out of non-life, and so it seems that all of us have a common origin, and  it was in Africa that all our ancestors were spawned. Should we all go back to Africa? Would we be welcome there, do you think?

Bow was born and bred in Missouri, so has greater claim to native status than I do

It is usually those people who are totally  unaware of their own bigotry who display it the most clearly. My friend from Canada probably has never thought through the exotic conundrum, so this is why she feels so uninhibited in speaking out against exotics. But one way or another, we are all exotics, and it is best to learn to get along, and to live and let live. 

What Can We Do to Save the Exotic Animals in Ohio?

So far, Bow and I have been lucky. Year after year they have tried to pass legislation that would make it impossible for us to stay together in this state, and year after year that legislation has been defeated. The people in the state of Ohio have not been so lucky. On January 1, 2014, a law goes into effect that will allow the state to confiscate exotic animals, seal them up in a high security prison, and if they find no sanctuary or zoo that wants them, these animals will be executed by the state.

The sanctuaries and zoos don't want them. They have already said that they are full to capacity.

There are many animals and their owners who are about to suffer this fate. Here is a video appeal that some of them have made to try to sway the public to spare them.

I have shared this video on Facebook and explained that these animals have been condemned to death because they are exotic and in Ohio. Many people said it was sad or even tragic. But nobody said: "I won't let this happen. I will stop it!" And as long as this is our attitude, nothing will stop it. 

Somebody did say, before this legislation was passed: "These people have exotic animals. That is terrible! I'm going to stop it!" And that someone got his way. Who was it? Why did they do it? Why are they so powerful? Why is everyone else so helpless?

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is behind the legislation in Ohio, as well as in every other state in which such a law is being pushed through. They think it is better for exotic animals to die than to be owned by the people who love them.

Do you support the HSUS?  What would you be willing to do to help these animals and the people who love them?