Tuesday, March 25, 2008

New Enemy of Man.


My friend Randy sent me an article recently in which he expressed concern about bears not being our number one enemy anymore.

First off, let me make it clear that I don't consider bears our enemy, but rather an honored foe. Nothing is more glorious than dying while engaging a bear in a fist-fight. You know that your probably not going to win, but on the off-chance that you do, your pretty much the most awesome guy in the history of man. What Randy was concerned about is the Sting-Ray, because evidently, some new person got killed by one the other day.

This got me to thinking. I have always considered the shark to be our biggest underwater enemy, but it's possible that there is some sort of sting-ray rebellion happening there in the briny deep. Or, inasmuch as sting-rays are concerned, the briny shallows. I will need to see more evidence of rebellion before I put sting-rays on my watch list. Right now they are just on my radar. If there are substantially more attacks resulting in human death, they will go on the big board, and sting-rays, you don't want that.

I would also like to congratulate Randy for doing the correct thing in alerting me. The only person who is better suited to determine overall animal hostility towards humans is my friend, The Sweed, and he doesn't have a blog. I have spent many hours contemplating the impact of an animal insurrection, and am therefore qualified to keep the general public advised of potential danger. "Meerkat Manor" may be something you watch for fun and entertainment with the family, but for me it's basically surveillance. Animal Kingdom, you would do well to remember that.

Good Night Now!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree that sharks are probably the largest underwater threat. However, I decided to look further into just how much of a threat stingrays can be. My first clue was simply the fact that an animal expert like Steve Irwin, who has swam with sharks and made a living out of pissing off crocs, was killed by "the pussycat of the sea"...

I found several different stories of 'freak accidents' resulting in death such as the story that I sent you the other day. I then ran across this article:

http://www.potamotrygon.de/fremdes/stingray%20article.htm

The part that really stood out to me is how natives of South America are terrified of stingrays yet have very casual attitudes towards several other animals that many people would consider far more dangerous.

After reading this article I believe that stingrays have spent years making people believe they are gentle creatures just to gain our confidence. What makes it worse is that we are falling right into their traps. They are already known as the pussycats of the sea. They allow divers to hitch a ride thus putting the diver in the perfect position to be stung.

I fear that a rebellion may on the horizon…