Dead saiga antelopes in a field in Kazakhstan. About 20,000 of the species were found dead in one week.
Credit: Reuters
There was almost something biblical about the scene of devastation that lay before Richard Kock as he stood in the wilderness of the Kazakhstansteppe. Dotted across the grassy plain, as far as the eye could see, were the corpses of thousands upon thousands of saiga antelopes. All appeared to have fallen where they were feeding.
Some were mothers that had travelled to this remote wilderness for the annual calving season, while others were their offspring, just a few days old. Each had died in just a few hours from blood poisoning. In the 30C heat of a May day, the air around each of the rotting hulks was thick with flies.
The same grisly story has been replayed throughout Kazakhstan. In this springtime massacre, an estimated 200,000 critically endangered saiga – around 60% of the world’s population – died. “All the carcasses in this one of many killing zones were spread evenly over 20 sq km,” says Kock, […]
So many ways we are destroying the earth…
Yesterday I was particularly disturbed by the possibilities of this one… Brazil has opened the door to use of “gene drivers”, the release of genetically modified plants, animals, bacteria, etc. into the wild where they are expected to reproduce with wildland species and pass on their genetically modified characteristics.
It is important to remember that cause/effect in complex systems is noy easily seen.
link to article https://popularresistance.org/movements-of-millions-say-no-to-gene-drives/
It may not be long before we humans start to become extinct if we continue to ignore climate change and begin to do our part to change our polluting ways of living. Einstein said “when the bees die off, we will be next”.
Oh, how true you are Rev Dean. I feel overwhelmed with sadness regarding these dreadful changes created by too many humans operating within the too effective capitalist profit mode. Say what you will about the capitalist system it has proved to be most effective at mobilizing humans to seek more and more “bright and shiny objects” to the ultimate detriment of all concerned.