6. If You Love Animals…
The great Blue Whale can communicate with other whales that are hundreds of miles away.
We all have an amazing animal story – it is one of the things we most enjoy sharing with friends and family. “I saw a momma bear with her cubs climb a tree! They were amazing!” Or, “I was hiking and I almost stepped on a rattlesnake sunning itself. It was the most amazing creature I have ever seen.” Every single animal that exists on Earth today has amazing gifts and unique abilities. Even our dogs and cats give us lots to talk about. Objectively, there are some animals that set themselves apart from the rest.
Which is the heaviest land animal in North America? The American Bison. They can grow up to 2,200 pounds. All that weight and muscle made from an herbivore diet! What’s even more astonishing about these amazing creatures is that they can run fast, topping out at 35 miles per hour. When American settlers and frontiersmen traveled west, they came across massive herds of buffalo. These great animals fertilized the ground turning dirt into nutrient rich topsoil. When they were wiped out during the 19th century, they left behind topsoil that could grow just about anything in it. Now, that topsoil is turning back into dirt, at a cost. During the 19th century it is estimated that humans killed 30 million roaming bison. What did they do with the carcasses? Some were eaten or turned into rugs, blankets and clothing. Others were killed just to be killed and were left to rot. There are about 30K alive in the wild today with another 500,000 privately owned often on cattle farms.
The American Bison can run up to 35 miles per hour.
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/American-Bison
https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/animals-we-protect/american-bison/
The Blue Whale is the largest animal that exists on Earth today. Blue whales can grow to be 200 tons or more – that is equivalent to 400,000 pounds. They can grow to be as long as 100 feet – that’s 17 six-foot-tall men lying flat, head-to-toe in a row. These incredible whales are thought to be the loudest animals on Earth with a voice frequency of just under 200 decibels. Their voices can travel as far as hundreds of miles through the ocean waters, and they use this unique skill to communicate with each other. Blue whales are found in all the world’s oceans. Blue whales are so enormous that their heart, alone, is the size of a small car. Centuries ago, it is estimated that millions of Blue Whales existed before hunting them became popular. Whale blubber was used to supply oil for lamps before electricity. Whale blubber was preferred because it burned bright and clean. In 1966 Blue Whales became an endangered species and hunting them was finally outlawed. It was thought that their numbers dwindled to a couple of thousand individuals worldwide. But their populations are slowly bouncing back. It is estimated that at least 5,000 are living in total today.
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/sea-life/10-blue-whale-facts/
Cows have one of the best senses of smell of the entire animal kingdom. Cows can detect smells from 6 miles away. In the wild this incredible sense of smell helped them detect food sources, water sources, and dangerous predators. But this amazing sense of smell also has helped these incredible animals learn how others are feeling – they can sense pheromones and stress hormones from their friends and maybe even from human companions. These incredible beings would be great partners when going hiking or finding sources of water when you are thirsty. As you might imagine, fresh air would be very important to them since their sense of smell is herculean. But alas, humans house most cows in filthy, smelly environments. I cannot imagine they could they be anything less than miserable. Do people have a responsibility to prevent all of this misery? Yes, absolutely.
Cows have an amazing sense of smell and can even pick up scents from up to 6 miles away.
https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/latest/blogs/19-facts-about-cows/
As you can see the abilities of individual animals are truly incredible. Each with their own strengths and amazing qualities, and all accepted and enjoyed as individuals. Just like people, variety is nice. We might be bored if they or we all had the same abilities, likes, dislikes and the same looks. We live in a place and time, where simply going outside gives us the opportunity to interact with many wild animals, large and small.
What a wonderful world we live in – we can enjoy flowers, trees, butterflies, bees, and small and large mammals on any given day! Beauty abounds. Most of us love animals. We love seeing them in nature. We love taking care of them as pets. The joy that animals bring to our lives is so great, it is hard to measure. If we truly love them though, then we must protect them. Most importantly, protecting them from other human beings, and finding a way off of the dark path we are currently on. If we love them then we need to fight for them. If we love them, we need to allow them space to live a life worth living. If we want them to remain on earth and not go extinct, now is the time to support them – all of them.
At one time, animals were abundant across the Earth. They not only supplied us with awe and beauty, but they helped us survive. By hunting them and using their pelts for warmth and their flesh for nourishment, humans did not perish, we lived to see another day. But now we know we don’t need them for food or for clothing.
Animals should not be thought of as objects that humans depend on for what they can give to us. They are living, breathing, loving beings that have feelings not too different from humans. They deserve and desperately need protections. Animals should not be targets or killed for fun. Animals should not be forced to live in a crate or a cage. If we saw them in the horrid conditions that we typically keep them in – we would be heartbroken and we would weep. We need to push for new laws that do more good than harm. As the law stands, it is against the law to meddle with the process of abusing them, if they are animals that are bred to be eaten. These laws are outdated - they represent animals as property with no consideration that they are alive and have unique needs. Laws do not protect these animals, they protect the owners and the businesses that profit from their misery. To protect all animals, there is so much we can do. But the first thing is to do no harm.
You might be wondering, well, why do they need saving? It is easy to ignore or not pay attention to what’s going on outside of our own individual lives. Actively learning about all animals’ plights might take too much time out of our day. And besides, what can we do about it? If we want them to exist at all, we have got to start paying attention.
Our World Data, estimates that on a single day in the year 2025, humans have killed over 220 million land animals and trillions of fish. That is not a typo – that is just for one day! That may not seem like much considering there are about 8 billion people living on Earth. But if you looked at the numbers killed just in the US alone you would realize that we eat far more animals than most other countries do. In the US it is estimated that at least 25 million animals are killed for us to eat every single day. The number of people in the US make up only 4 percent of the world population, yet we consume approximately 11 percent of the animals killed daily. Farmed animals have become robots for hungry humans – they are not allowed to love, to be loved, to live out their natural born lives, to choose where to sleep, what to eat, who to be a friend to – no choices whatsoever. Humans make every single choice for them. And humans control their populations. Farmed land animals are not the only animals on earth that are in trouble.
Since 1970 the earth has lost 70-75 percent of its wild animal population. Almost 3 out of four animals are gone. This loss has occurred mostly by displacement due to human activity, habitat loss and consumption. Much of the land that had once been forested has been cleared to plant crops to feed the animals that feed us. We are running out of space for these crops – the currrent system is simply not sustainable. We wouldn’t need to chop down all the forests if we just ate less meat and more high-protein plants. Humans need to wake up soon or this loss of life will continue at an accelerated and unprecedented pace. I, along with many people, would be devastated if there comes a time when we have successfully destroyed all animal habitats and no animal is wild any longer. There are so many reasons we need wild animals to stay wild and domesticated animals to have a life that gives them happiness.
Humans have turned the animal kingdom upside down and now we need to make amends for what we have collectively done. There are other ways you can help animals besides taking them off of your plate. Wildlife Rescue League and the World Wildlife Fund are great causes to support. If you want to do more for farmed animals, then write to your congressman or woman and let them know you support laws that protect animals. Or find a farm sanctuary that you want to support. A fun fact: many cattle farmers are turning their farms into sanctuaries for farmed animals. They have realized that this business is inhumane and are doing their part to help and not hurt vulnerable farm animals. One person can make an enormous difference, but all of us working together can make a much bigger impact. If you love animals, there are so many ways to help them.
https://www.worldanimalprotection.us/latest/blogs/five-farm-sanctuaries-consider-visiting/
Some interesting documentaries you can view to improve your understanding include:
Blackfish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnSCBNmLuAA
Earthlings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gqwpfEcBjI&rco=1
Our Planet Documentary Series
https://www.ourplanet.com/en/
We Are Guardians
https://www.weareguardiansfilm.com