Leave Dory Alone!

Human stupidity is infinite.
Almost weekly, we hear news about animals which died in vain because of ‘accidents’ whilst in human interaction.
Shooting selfies with wild animals is the new shooting trophies - but not less dangerous for the animals (and humans too).

This shark was pinned down by a man for having taken photos of. It probably died afterwards. Think, how cruel is it to keep a water-breathing animal on air in the sand merely for stupid photos?

And if sharks aren’t quite cute enough for you, you might like dolphins. But this dolphin died being passed around for selfies of beach-goers. Was it worth it?

While I am a big fan of Corgi pages on facebook, it’s a whole different story with animals that haven’t been domesticated for thousands of years like dogs.
Movies, photos and videos on social networks promote not only the love of exotic animals, but also the desire to own them.

People treat animals as if they existed for mere human entertainment.
Riding crocodiles seems like a fun play for your daughter, right?
But if an ‘accident’ happens where a wild animal with the brain size of a potato follows it’s natural instinct to defend itself and harms a human that tried to ‘pet’ it, It is the animal’s fault, which must be put down for aggressive behavior.
And then, there are times when we mean it well with animals but end up hurting them.

Pet tiger? Check! Pet fox? Check! Pet Armadillo?…

There are more pet tigers in the US (5000) than in the wilderness, where they are endangered (3,200). Baffling.
There have been videos viral of petting Armadillos. But these can transfer disease to humans, and while the animal may seem to us to enjoy the tickling, it probably is in stress. How natural is it for this animal to be touched this way in the wilderness?

There has been a sad case where a baby bison had to be put down after visitors of the Yellowstne national park thought is was lost and cold (these animals prefer cold climate) and put it in their car to ‘help’, which changed its smell. The mother animal wouldn’t accept it back fot this reason, so it has been killed.

Also, it is common practice to remove sharp teeth and claws (even of cats) from animals like the ‘cute’ and endagered Slow Loris. This is quite cruel. Would you like to live without teeth?

The movie ‘Finding Nemo’ about a clownfish has widely increased the sale of this one species. Naturally, there are concerns about the sequel which focuses on Dory, a regal blue tang. These fish are often taken from the oceans and not from captive breeding. So there has been an urge to ‘not find your own Dory’.

We don’t have to own every animal we see or hear of, and they are usually better off in natural habitats and not our living rooms.
Please, for heaven’s sake, leave wild animals alone. They don’t need humans and you intruder only harm them, of which you might not even be aware of.