Bambi Syndrome

[Aussie]

For those that dont know, currently there is a humpback calf trapped in a harbour in sydney. The media has picked up on this and ran with it. It's either been abandoned by it's mother or it's mother is dead. Harsh reality, but this is nature, and yes it's cruel sometimes.

There is a national outcry that nothing is being done to save this creature, ignoring the fact there are zero facilities to house this massive creature and there is nothing in place to bring. People are trying to give the animal milk straight out of the carton

This is one thing i've never understood about people. Why is it that people that will blissfully carry on while millions are starving everyday, yet when one cute animal is abandoned (like thousands of people dont abandon their dogs every month) in a quite natural process, there's an national outcry and anger about the government not doing anything? Do what? Change nature??

[Jack]

There's a nearly religious fervor to some within the animal rights/liberation movement. I mean, I care about all animals equally, but I also try to be a reasonable person. This, like religion, is one of those things where if you think the same way they do already, it will make sense to you; if you think differently, you won't get it. You don't get it. I don't either, though I once thought I did.

[Aussie]

That's the thing, most of the public wants to spend millions on saving this one calf, despite the fact experts are saying nothing can be done. Hearing things like feed it through a hose through a hole in the bow, like some ship or whale is going to sit there in port for the next 11 months until the time we start shipping krill from Antartica!! All reason goes out the window when the fluffy bunny looks hurt. Of course it's being politized now and the navy has made itself available, a special vet has been flown in just so everyone can say "oh we did everything we can" so we can all sleep better at night??? WTF? Why do people go so silly over things like this? There's no public outcry about the thousands of dogs or cats euthanised every month from people dumping them but I bet you if you put a lame dog on the news you'd be getting hundreds of calls. I must be missing something (the ranters will call it compassion i'm sure despite the fact events like this happen everyday).

[gallo]

The problems involved in feeding a baby whale that hasn't been weened are beyond our abilities. Cow's milk it too weak and watery to do much more than prolong the starvation. The last time I checked, whale milk wasn't available at my local A & Poo Feed store. It would be nice if there were other whales around, especially lactating females who might adopt it, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's a bit sad.

[Thanatos]

Quote by: gallo The problems involved in feeding a baby whale that hasn't been weened are beyond our abilities. Cow's milk it too weak and watery to do much more than prolong the starvation. The last time I checked, whale milk wasn't available at my local A & Poo Feed store. It would be nice if there were other whales around, especially lactating females who might adopt it, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's a bit sad.

Keeper of the Weird Trivia reporting for duty.

I know how to feed baby whales because I remember a similar incident in the U.S. years ago and have a good memory for this sort of thing. Basically you put vast quantities of butter and vitamins in regular milk and blend it up; its really not that hard compared to actually getting it into a whale. Do the Australians have an equivalent of Sea World?

What happened in the U.S. was they had a stranded gray whale that they fed for a while and then were able to release back into the wild.

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/...-20-1997-a.htm

As for our misguided sense of empathy, we need webcams of African children's hospitals. Humans aren't so great on empathy from just reading or hearing about it but let them see someone in distress and they act very differently.

[ironeagle]

Yeah it's like when watching a movie if a hundred people are killed through out a drama we really don't blink an eye, but if the man kicks a dog everyone looks away. I also wonder if the problem is because people think that starving people can always help themselves since they have human intelligence and aposable thumbs, whereas many animals do not posses intelligence enough to help themselves.I don't think we should spend millions on a creature, f we can't even support spend a few thousand to feed our own people in a given state.

[Aussie]

We do have Sea World but we do not have any facilities in Australia to house such a massive creature.

I think this is a good example (in this case) of why government makes decisions and not the populace, if they had their way they would have spent millions and millions on this one animal which has been rejected by its mother with no capabilities to return it to the wild. But it's pretty, we need to save it!!!

People are saying we're as bad as the Japanese now, good grief!

[Jack]

Yeah it's like when watching a movie if a hundred people are killed through out a drama we really don't blink an eye, but if the man kicks a dog everyone looks away. I also wonder if the problem is because people think that starving people can always help themselves since they have human intelligence and aposable thumbs, whereas many animals do not posses intelligence enough to help themselves.

The part of me that does understand a bit of what drives these people ( I do care about the welfare of animals-including the human animal-and I consider people who are cruel to animals to be mentally deficient) would react as you describe. We have bred dogs to be companions animals (pets) by exploiting their general friendliness and desire to please. To abuse that trust and devotion is an act of cruelty, and I perceive that on a on an emotional level separate from the level on which I perceive and react to cruelty to other humans. I don't contend that's wrong or right. It's a part of my character that's developed over the years in response to thousands of bits of input. It's part of who I am.

BTW-they put down the whale today. The whale was being attacked by sharks, they said on NPR, and the attending experts felt that euthanasia was the best option for the whale, all things considered.

[Aussie]

Quote by: Jack BTW-they put down the whale today. The whale was being attacked by sharks, they said on NPR, and the attending experts felt that euthanasia was the best option for the whale, all things considered.

Yes, and ranting animal rights activists abused the poor lady that had to make the decision, twits were yelling things out like "we could have fed it" like that wasn't somehow going to prolong its agony. People like that make me sick. One idiot said well we can feed ducks by throwing food over the side, why not a whale? I felt very sorry for this poor woman who had to make a hard decision (based on expert advice) based on the best interests of the calf.

Footage here ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[gela]

They should redirect there anger to the Japanese who are killing hundreds of whales, illegally, in Australian protected waters. What a waste of effort just for one whale.

[jose]

Did it get eaten?

[Aussie]

Quote by: gela They should redirect there anger to the Japanese who are killing hundreds of whales, illegally, in Australian protected waters. What a waste of effort just for one whale.

Exactly, but it's much easier to get angry when you only have to walk five minutes to the source.

[another day]

Or rather, "the death of one is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic"

[gela]

On a similar note, apparently the Japanese, who needlessly kill hundreds of endangered whales; played a sob story about how us Australians culled 400 kangaroos because they are overpopulated, due to Human intervention.

[grandpa]

Quote by: gela On a similar note, apparently the Japanese, who needlessly kill hundreds of endangered whales; played a sob story about how us Australians culled 400 kangaroos because they are overpopulated, due to Human intervention.

So long as it's a story of what had happened, I have no problem with it. It does bring about an enduringly fascinating question; should we regard human life as far more important than animal life?

Grandpa h.

[Night]

Because people in general are excitable little sheep.

[Matt]

It's good they put it down, they ended its misery. I think some of the animal rights activists need a wake-up call on what's best for the animal and what they should be focussing their attention on. The lady who made the call to put the whale down did the right choice, and people who are criticizing her clearly don't know much. I hope the whale was left for the sharks to eat after it was put to sleep, since at least it can help other creatures live.

It pi$$es me off how so many of these supposed activists go after something like this, yet for dinner have a burger. Makes no sense.

[Aussie]

Quote by: grandpa So long as it's a story of what had happened, I have no problem with it. It does bring about an enduringly fascinating question; should we regard human life as far more important than animal life? Grandpa h.

Yeah, the roo thing was down the road from me. Canberra is facing one of the worst droughts ever and roos can breed like rabbits, they're just wasn't enough food around for them. Again, the activists would obviously prefer to prolong their misery than make any hard decisions like ending it. They were just going to shoot them, but had to herd them up, then idiot protesters let some out, so they had to get them again, and perform lethal injections. Again, i bet they have no concerns eating beef in which the cow has a bolt shot through it's head.

[ironeagle]

Pet animals are either too stupid to care if they are pets or enjoy being pets, there is no epidemic of oppressed pets, it's just not a real issue anywhere. Animals are here to be eaten, to die and to be used for clothing and other necesities. It's not my fault humans are superior intellectually. We are not immune to the cycle of life, we are just more intelligent and safer because of it. I don't believe in PETA or vegitarianism, it's just an excuse for people to deny that plants are living things too, they die and suffer when they are killed to be eaten or used for clothes. They are by nature more defensless than any other life on the planet. I like my pets they like me, and I like to eat meat and have no problem with the people who killed it for me. I also wear fur coats, fur boots and rabbit fur scarfs in the winter, because it keeps me warm and doesn't fall apart, the prettyness of it is just an added benefit.

[Ken Carman]

Quote by: Aussie For those that dont know, currently there is a humpback calf trapped in a harbour in sydney. The media has picked up on this and ran with it. It's either been abandoned by it's mother or it's mother is dead. Harsh reality, but this is nature, and yes it's cruel sometimes. There is a national outcry that nothing is being done to save this creature, ignoring the fact there are zero facilities to house this massive creature and there is nothing in place to bring. People are trying to give the animal milk straight out of the carton This is one thing i've never understood about people. Why is it that people that will blissfully carry on while millions are starving everyday, yet when one cute animal is abandoned (like thousands of people dont abandon their dogs every month) in a quite natural process, there's an national outcry and anger about the government not doing anything? Do what? Change nature??

They get great press, while humans... even when they can't... are expected to have enough balls to pull themselves up by their own jockstraps... even when they don't have them. I defend neither. I'm not sure compassion for either is "wrong."

Why do people who give to no one; no charity, spend so much money on pets? I plead damn near guilty to this one. In part, sometimes, with pets it's easy to see the need and then go to excess. With humans it's easy to notice the scams; questionable requests, and then conflate them into "all" or "since I can't know for sure, not doing is the better option."

Basically our own base nature as a species bites ourselves in our own ass.