Respecting Wildlife Without Making Life a Disney Movie

I’m an animal lover. I’m a wildlife and nature photographer. I’ve always had pets, always cared for them to their dying days. . .

But I think some folks are ignoring reality when it comes to animals.

Humans are terrible? Sure, some are, hopefully not too many. Of course we’ve had huge impacts on wildlife, not to mention on each other.

And factory “farming” is gross and disgusting.

But have you ever watched a large cat disembowel an ungulate, and start eating its stomach and organs while the ungulate is still alive?

Ever watched an eagle or an owl stripping flesh off of a still-quivering rodent?

Ever seen a 12cm coho smolt gulp down a 6cm chum fry?

Is that somehow better than us killing?

Nature is not Disney. It never has been, and it never will be.

I think Disney and its ilk have done a huge disservice to children who’ve fallen under their spell.

Predators are not sci-fi movies or documentaries. Predators are daily life, starting from plankton all the way up the food chain to carnivorous mammals. . .

That does not mean that humans cannot reduce their footprint by reducing meat consumption etc.

But let’s not somehow put wildlife up on pedestals as shining examples of harmony and love and whatever. . . .