Delo loses this rat race

Howard Delo recently wrote in his “Outdoors” column, “The giant rat hunt.” This headline refers to the eradication of all the rats from Rat Island on the Aleutian chain, using poison.

He was surprised there had been no public out cry “from the animal rights folks, like PETA.” He twice raised the issue that maybe the reason is because “there just isn’t any money to be raised in a national campaign to “save the rats.” He continues by stating that “we all either trap or poison mice and voles.”

Not so.

There are those of us who use humane traps and release the live rodents back into the out of doors.

He states “perhaps owning a pet is why some people are willing to donate to the animal rights groups” and that “they can relate to the poor wolf and teddy bear through their pets.” He continues that, “they can’t relate to a rat.”

Again I take exception. Domesticated rats can be sociable and make excellent pets with proper care.

As an adult, I can differentiate between the “Disney portrayal of fuzzy little forest creatures all talking with each other” as opposed to the animals that we share our world with. Delo graphically describes wolves pulling “down a healthy adult moose in its prime” and a bear killing and eating a moose calf. That neither shocks nor saddens me. It just is what is. We know these creatures are doing only what they must to survive.

Human beings stalk their prey with high-power, high-tech weapons and also bring “down a healthy, adult moose in its prime.” Unlike wolves, however, humans have different motives for killing; some for subsistence, some for trophies and some for the sheer enjoyment of hunting.

As usual, it is man’s fault, not the rats, that these rodents escaped from sailing ships many years ago and established themselves on this island. If in fact they do decimate the entire seabird population, they will not be able to survive themselves. Problem solved. This will allow the sea bird to return to its habitat without poisoning and polluting the island. Poisoning rats does hasten their extinction, but it also puts in jeopardy other animals in the food chain. I can’t help but wonder how long this poison will be lethal?

Delo states “nature does not play by the same rules man has developed for his civilization.” Just pick up your newspaper any day of the week and it will be all too obvious how uncivilized our human behavior really is.

I agree that animals act instinctually. So do humans. But to say that “nature has no compassion nor is it cruel” is absolutely wrong. Watch a cow moose defend her young. Instinct? Perhaps, but can we, in our human arrogance, presume with absolute authority that she is incapable of compassion?

Have you ever heard a domestic cow and calf wail when they are separated? Have you ever observed a dog that is willing to nurse another animal species, a kitten or a squirrel? I have.

Delo states that animals “need to eat to survive and in order to do that, they must either kill a plant or another animal.” There is no comparison between these two life forms. An animal has a complex nervous system and can feel pain. The ability to feel pain requires a brain, central nervous system and pain receptors. Plants are not equipped with these. Most understand that there is a huge difference between cutting our lawn and cutting off a cat’s tail or breaking up a head of lettuce or bashing in a dog’s head.

The lack of public outcry is not about fundraising, nor is it “quietly acceptable,” as Delo has stated. Many share my sentiments, but lack the public forum that his column has. In the future, I hope Delo will contain his column to outdoors topics and steer clear of assumptions about other groups of people that do not share his way of thinking.

As hard as it may be for some to understand, there are people who respect all living beings and recognize their connections to all life — wild or domesticated, finned, furred or feathered. To not do so diminishes our own humanity.

Toni Faubion-Truesdell

Palmer