Monday, January 12, 2009

rhino or wino? so many decisions


Two nights ago, at Cicero Country Pizza, a post card hung next to the pay counter. It was of a local who must have gone on a safari in Africa and who had shot a rhinoceros. The caption read, "This rhino was shot in Africa with a tranquilizer and, then, returned to the wild."

I found this to be a quirky addition to the sportsmanship of hunting. Now, instead of wild game being shot for the hunt of it, there are generations of beasts being tranquilized from time to time, only to recover and return to their animal instincts. A few days later, they might get tranquilized again. What a life! I thought, "Hmmm, do rhinos have addictions? Does a tranqulizer feel like a bottle of wine? Might they grow hooked on the feeling of wooziness that comes from a rifle? Is it like that Northern Pike in Oneida lake who keeps getting hooked and returned only because he is inches too short to keep? What does that do to a creature's psychology?"

And I thought about that rhino. He's rather big and, I imagine, quite an easy target. Now, shooting mosquitos for sport, that would be something worthwhile and interesting. What are the chances of hitting a good skeeter with a bullet even when you have awesome marksmanship?

We are a fascinating species. We humans, that is.

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