I sometimes wonder whether Disney movies featuring talking animals are responsible for the sentimentalization of nature at the heart of popular environmentalism. Case in point is the recent video everyone is going nuts over featuring a polar bear “petting” a dog (35 seconds):
The Washington Post reports that “The man who shot the video praised the bear for showing ‘that kind of heart toward another animal.'”
Now, if you have any sense at all, you’ll know that at best all that’s happening here is that the bear is playing with its food. Kudos to the Post for pointing out the common sense of the matter:
But reality soon intervened. Canada’s CBC News reported that officials had removed three polar bears from the same property in Churchill after one killed and ate another dog. The owner of the site, who raises the sled dogs, told the network that the slaughter had occurred on “the only day we didn’t feed the f—— bears, the only night we didn’t put anything out.”
The irony of the two incidents spawned commentary on the perils of the attributing human emotions to animals and imposing a moral code the creatures can’t possibly be expected to live up to. . .
“To me, it’s like it’s trying to see if the food’s ready or not,” [wildlife biologist Tom] Smith said, laughing. “It’s not surprising that it would try to explore this dog . . . but I guarantee if you left that bear there long enough, it would say, ‘I wonder what this dog tastes like?’ I’d be sorely disappointed in a bear that didn’t ultimately eat that dog.”
What do you want to bet that the predatory polar bear has an Inuit name that translates to “Harambe”?
Related:
Tourist bitten by crocodile after trying to take a selfie with it
A French tourist was bitten by a crocodile after posing next to the enormous reptile in a misguided attempt to take a selfie, according to reports.
The 41-year-old woman was exploring Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park with her husband when the duo came across the giant female reptile, reported The Mirror.
The couple squatted down next to the crocodile, which then reportedly sank its teeth into the woman’s thigh as the picture was taken.
Charles Darwin, call your office.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.