Can You Hear Me Now?
What COVID-19 is telling us about the interconnectedness of man and animal — and why we should be listening
“Oh no, I’ve said too much. I haven’t said enough.” — R.E.M. / Losing My Religion
“Homo sapiens is one of several species grouped into the genus Homo, but it is the only one that is not extinct.” — Encyclopaedia Brittanica
My friends know that I am a passionate animal advocate. Some of them are aligned with me, supporting organizations like HSUS and Conservation International; volunteering, donating, circulating petitions, re-posting articles. Others shrug off what they see as a pet cause (pun intended) of little consequence: animals are cute, sure, some of them are cool, but there are people starving in Africa — there are people starving everywhere — and they have children to feed and bills to pay and all the other millions of things that beg for our attention in our complicated world. I get it. I try to tread lightly. No one wants to be the crazy activist. Well okay — some people do — but it’s not my brand.
But now, I fear I haven’t said — or done — enough.
As the world drops to its knees at the hands of COVID-19, it is devastating to come to terms with the fact that this horror show — this unprecedented decimation of life and livelihood, liberty and community — was the predictable and preventable consequence of human ignorance, carelessness and cruelty. The Corona virus was unleashed in essentially the identical way as the SARS virus in 2002 — at a “wet market” in China, where live exotic animals from multiple continents are caged and slaughtered for consumption, the virus passed from animals to humans. Watch this excellent eight-minute VOX video for a factual illustration of its origin and rapid spread. This 60 Minutes Australia piece takes a deeper journalistic dive. What both pieces underscore with chilling clarity is that if we didn’t care about animal rights B.C. (Before Covid) we had better start caring now. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. US.
As much as humans believe it is our God-given right to get what we want whenever we want, we live in an ecosystem. Oxford dictionary defines ecosystem as, “A complex network or interconnected system” and “A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.” (Emphasis is mine.) There are laws governing the natural world. Principles simple and complex that reveal themselves to us through scientific inquiry and experimentation, trial and error and observation. Sometimes they are made known in retrospect, when Mother Nature demonstrates with unapologetic fury that those laws have been broken.
We have repeatedly ignored the whispers of nature, who speaks without words. Will we deafen our ears to this, her mighty roar? If we thoughtlessly cannibalize our ecosystem and the beings who inhabit it, we will not survive. Let’s be clear that no matter what we think of ourselves (did we name ourselves “Sapiens” with at least a touch of irony?) the earth doesn’t need humanity. Humanity needs the earth. Eight billion and counting of us now stand quaking at the edge of the abyss — what will we do? Will we slide over the edge in denial and complacency? Or will we take stock and embrace our collective obligation to execute intelligent and compassionate dominion over the earth that sustains us, and all its sentient creatures?