Why Does Man Kill the Tigers?

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Out of all the Animals, Tigers are one of my Favorite. They are profoundly beautiful.

How anyone could kill such a thing is really beyond me and it just makes me sad, angry, disappointed, and depressed when I think about it.

Actually, I watched a programme on TV last night about an American family who owned an animal sanctuary for exotic pets that could not be housed in peoples homes anymore and they looked after them properly.

There was a Tiger brought in because it has bitten an owner in his house. Later that week the courts decided the Tiger would have to be killed. WHAT????? So some complete dumbass tries to house a large wild cat in their own home, they get bitten, and the Tiger dies??????

It brings tears to my eyes.

I guess the whole Wild Tigers are a different story though. I've visited our local Wildlife park (orana park, Christchurch nz) several times where they have 2 Sumatran Tigers. The keeper told me that their Natural habitat is being destroyed all because of Palm Oil farms. (where tigers then resort to killing the slave palm oil farmers) Sad state of affairs indeed. He also said that parks such as this only take such animals to keep their gene pool alive, to stop them becoming extinct.

Its so sad that this has to happen, but things will not change.

In our lifetimes, some beautiful animals will be gone, all because of us.

I'm ashamed.







[edit on 1-7-2010 by grantbeed]

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
reply to post by Dr Love

 

That may be a factor NOW, but that's not how it started.

I'm not talking about modern man in a society of monetary values. I'm talking about a primitive village of humans, where there is no such thing as money. Where the ONLY motivation for killing the tigers is that he killed one of our babies.

not enough information:

did the village men go out in a number of groups to find and kill the man-hunter tiger?

If so, then there is the factor of each smaller group not communicating with the other hunter groups.

however, if the unspoken concensus is to kill every tiger found within a 4 hour radius of the village, then that is a strategy too... and not just the wanton killing of tigers... the other tigers may also become man-eaters too, for whatever reason...(environmental stress, individual behavior)

reply to post by grantbeed


What about all the beautful animals the earth wiped out during the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene epochs?

Around at least 100 species of sabre toothed cats, all gone. Many extinct before humans even existed.

1000s of other species of all kinds of animals, all gone before humans ever even lived.

This thread was meant to be a philosophical question, not a smear on humans. My question is out of genuine curiosity, not a means to belittle man for killing the majestic tiger. I'm a firm believe in self-defense and would have killed the tiger, too. My curiosity is WHY would I kill ALL the tigers instead of just the one.

I was curious what makes man different in that respect and I think there have been some really great answers and thoughts on the subject. Thank you all!

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
My point is that we can complain all day what terrible things humans do, but in the end humans don't even come close to having a monopoly on death and destruction.

But I wasn't complaining. I was asking a question about WHY humans act differently than other animals in the face of a threat. I admit, I can understand how you might misinterpret my post, but if you read the words instead of reading INTO it, you might have a better understanding on the original question.

Originally posted by debris765nju
You can't let killers run free....cage them or kill them.

There are thousands of animals who could say the same thing about humans, right?

Originally posted by Illusionsaregrander
Now, we are going to have to make a new cognitive leap, one that recognizes our interdependence with other species. We never had to before. And, we either will or we wont. If we dont, in all likelihood, we will go extinct as well.

Good point. Excellent post. And I agree. We will likely cause our own extinction.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

And I agree. We will likely cause our own extinction.

I tend to agree, though that makes me sad. We certainly dont have to, though homo sapiens sapiens is doomed, as over time we would evolve into something not identifiably homo sapiens sapiens even if we didnt become extinct. I personally would rather we evolve, and perish as a type that way, than end the entire line in an extinction.

However, one thing to bear in mind when considering our odds, remember that ancient strategy of no management, just wanton use and then move? Its still the strategy of choice even among some brilliant minds. Where are we looking? To the stars, to find our next spot that will magically contain the resources we need to continue the game.

Moving on to the next thing has worked so well, for so long, that we really arent considering the management strategy very seriously at all. At least the people with the most say in our actual behaviors as groups arent. I tend to suspect that unless there is some event, (some natural selector) that decimates the population and allows the "managers" to become the dominant type in the species, we are in fact doomed.

I seriously doubt that we will get our technology for space travel up to snuff in time to make the "love 'em and leave 'em" strategy work this time. I have a suspicion that when our ecosystem collapses, it will do so like that game Jenga. Where you pull first one stick, then another, and another, and all the while the whole thing stands. Until you pull that one wrong, critical stick, upon which the entire thing has become dependent with the removal of the others.

And then it comes crashing down catastrophically.

Thats what I am going to guess will happen. The ecosystem will be shaky, but fine, and one day we will make the one wrong move, and it will all come down on us so fast we will barely know what hit us, much less why.

Cheers!

Simple answer. Reactive and Proactive. Baboons are reacting to the crisis. Man is proactive. It kills all the tigers in the area to keep it from happening again. It's not fun being food. I imaging it hurts while the tiger is chewing off your face.

I refuse to be Feces.

Originally posted by Illusionsaregrander
Thats what I am going to guess will happen. The ecosystem will be shaky, but fine, and one day we will make the one wrong move, and it will all come down on us so fast we will barely know what hit us, much less why.

Like dumping a crapload of oil into one of our oceans?

Another great post!

Originally posted by ntech
Simple answer. Reactive and Proactive. Baboons are reacting to the crisis. Man is proactive. It kills all the tigers in the area to keep it from happening again. It's not fun being food. I imaging it hurts while the tiger is chewing off your face.

This tells me HOW man is different than the baboon. My question is WHY. Baboons don't want to be food, either. They know it hurts to be food.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic


Like dumping a crapload of oil into one of our oceans?

That did cross my mind, though I am not ashamed to admit that I lack the prescience to know which stupid move it will be that will result in the utter collapse.

Tigers are not to be trusted nor kept in cages, they are animals just like humans. As for you question I think the reason is basically "logic", that is all animals kill for food and for sport/fun and for unexplainable reasons. Some logical dude in the age of tribes or villages must of thought that it would be a lot safer to kill all the tigers that were around so you wouldn't have to worry about them later, and that meme spreed out to each successful village with tiger problems. The rest is just idiosyncrasy love for death sports like the romans did in the Colosseum that killed all European tigers around there empire, or for money, like the hunters did and do today for there fur coats or if your Chinese to improve your manliness by eating tiger balls. I don't think there is a reason other thats the way everything is in this universe, from smashing matter/atoms to microbes to animals to planets to solar systems, when things or opposites get to close they collide. If providence would have made the tiger more advanced they would be no different then humans in there actions and deeds, only more furry.

Also here is a tiger story i heard from a Indian friend who when he went back to India to visit years ago, he went on a little trip throw the jungle with a local guide. And this is what the guide told him to do if a tiger attacks. First is it's most likely if it attacks you wont see it and would be dead its an ambush predator more then a chase you down predator. Second if you see one coming at you run. Then my friend in his live in the city and stay on the computer lifestyle, asked this stupid question. So all I have to do is outrun the tiger if I see it, to which the guide answered "no you just have to outrun me".