control, shift, cheeseburger

OK, we all know that Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin met his maker by stingray last week. That was sad enough, but now, there have been about ten incidents reported in Australia of dead stingrays, most of them mutilated. Is this some kind of left handed “revenge” for the death of Irwin? Are Aussies getting rid of the little creatures in reprisal for the naturalist’s death?

Steve Irwin may have brought this on himself. Some have speculated that he might have had a subconcious death wish. That is just what it is: speculation. Of course PETA has taken this opportunity to call Irwin some kind of sensationalist who just annoyed wild animals for the enjoyment of others. I don’t know and I don’t want to speculate. All I know is that it is stupid to kill stingrays for something that wasn’t their fault.

The only problem I had with Irwin was that he anthropomorphized animals or made them “humanlike.” Now we can speculate; maybe that’s why these mutilations of stingrays are happening. The people doing the mutilation are not separating the animal (which doesn’t know any better) from the act (the death of Irwin by stinger). Let’s be clear boys and girls; a stingray does not have cognitive intelligence. It can’t “pre-meditate” “murder” against a rough handler, it is acting solely on instinct. Let’s agree that whatever happened to Irwin was his responsibility, which, by the way, was a responsibility he had fully taken on. He knew what he was doing.

You who are mutilating the stingrays know what you are doing too. STOP.

Filed under: Stupidity