The Awful Strife of Nature
Environmentalism, it’s been said, is the ideological luxury of city dwellers in modern life, for anyone who lives just outside an urban or suburban environment knows the truth: nature is vicious and cruel and work relentlessly to make the life of man a living Hell.
I was reminded of this when looking at the horrible, bloody gashes on my brother’s domesticated cat, a sweet animal that lives in harmony with his superiors, the human family that owns and cares for him. The violence had been inflicted by another cat, a wild animal that is much bigger and lacks the mirage of conscience that we infuse in our pets.
The wild animal arrives at the back porch of this house nestled in the country on the edge of the West Texas desert. When no one is looking, the wild animal terrorizes the domestic cat, stealing food, slashing at his fur and skin, and generally try to rid the world of its competition for survival.
One would think it would be easy enough to kill it, but it is cunning beyond all expectation. I wandered through the mesquite and wild grass looking for him with a rifle in hand, but he knew where I was going and hid magnificently. Once I gave up he would appear again as if to taunt me. I would go out with the gun again, and it would start all over.
As my brother and I waited in silence by the reservoir, I noted a skull sitting by the water. Where did this come from? Wild dogs, came the answer. They have been prowling for three months. They target the goats. Three months ago, there were 16 goats, domesticated and happy. Then one day the dogs arrived. At night, they hop the fence, and kill them and drag them away. Sometimes they ravaged them to the bone right on the spot, and leave the remains to bake in the sun. FULL ARTICLE
Comments (12)
The lyrical quote from Garet Garrett later in your article reminds me why I treasure the man as not simply an astute observer of capitalism, but as a prophetic genius regarding the human condition.
Published: November 22, 2007 9:12 PM
I really can't wait until I'm able to purchase this set of books. Thanks the article and for bringing us so much great information on this writer Jeffrey!
Published: November 22, 2007 9:24 PM
Now this is a different lesson in biology than you get most of the time. Good reading.
(Note: in the quoted speech are quite a few typos, several words ran together - hasteeth, elmplant, witha, Itsenemies and so on. You might want to fix them.)
Published: November 23, 2007 4:26 PM
Yep. Most people seem to think plants are completely passive and harmless, for whatever reason.
Published: November 23, 2007 8:06 PM
Good article! People display their preferences by their actions and for some reason nature abundant areas like Montana are almost empty, and the people living there could hardly be considered lefty environmentalists. Weird huh?
Published: November 23, 2007 9:05 PM
Vedran, Montana is crawling with environmentalists.
Many of them are free-market environmentalists who strongly favor less government, such as those here: http://www.perc.org/
and here: http://www.free-eco.org/index.php
Other "enviros" there include the wealthy who are restoring trout streams and urban populations downstream from legacy mine pollution. In Wyoming they include ranchers whose water is being despoiled by a vaste expansion of gas exploration and production on nearby "public" BLM land. Sportsmen are also making common cause with enviros against the policies of the Bush administration that favor resource extraction over other valuable uses of public land. The solution of course is to get the feds (and states) out of the public lands business.
Published: November 25, 2007 11:52 PM
Jeff, I sympathize with your brother's struggle and appreciate your ability to tie it into one of the Garret Garrett books that Mises has published. Both are opportunities for learning and reflection.
I agree with Garrett when he says "The weak fall out and die; the better survive. That is the principle of natural selection." And I agree with you "producers tied to the land: they must be fighters or die. The warning to all of us is that we must understand that nature is only provisionally tamed."
However, except to the extent that that we are subject to diseases and epidemics, very few of us any longer "live in the wild" or "are only a step away from being devoured by it". Cooperative and technological man is doing a great job of converting nature into food (and squeezing out competition and predators). We only have microbes to fear, though it may behoove us to note that much of our impact on nature is purposeful activity that is more in the nature of a "tragedy of the commons" that reflects that absence of feedback factors provided by clear and enforceable property rights. Are you suggesting that because nature is trying to kill us we shouldn't worry about expressing our preferences to protect any of our environment?
Also, it is a little puzzling that you note the struggle for existence but fail to connect it to the struggle among men and groups that has played an essential part in our physical and cultural evolution. We fight and war because one of our biggest threats has always been other human groups. Yes, much of the fighting is unreasoning, but that doesn't mean that there are no reasons for it. Hostility among groups has always been with us, and instinctively conditions our perceptions of others.
Regards,
Tom
Published: November 26, 2007 6:15 AM
Thanks TokyoTom. I'm familiar with PERC in Montana that's one reason I said "lefty environmentalists"
Red states are filled with people who actually take care of their land instead of complaining to the federal government.
Published: November 26, 2007 1:12 PM
Unfortunately, the existence of feral cats and dog packs are frequently the result of individuals who believe that it's cruel to take an animal to the shelter, and so they abandon them, with the misguided notion that someone will take them in. As a result, the animals become hungry and, what were once family pets, are now predators. It annoys me to no end that those who suffer from what I call "Bambi Syndrome" leave people such as your brother and yourself with the uneviable task of having to destroy the very animals these cruel and cowardly individuals have discarded.
As for the feral cat, hunting him in the wild grasses won't work, because the cat will hear you long before you see him. I would recommend the use of a Have-a-Heart trap containing a plate full of liver. It's hard for most animals to resist, and if you inadvertantly capture a neighbor's pet, the humane trap allows you to release them with no harm done.
As for the dogs...they must be dealt with before they attack a small child. Many years ago, packs of abandoned dogs began to roam our neighborhoods at night. One of my cats was killed and another was mauled. It was only when the dogs attacked a child on a bicycle that people began to appreciate the seriousness of the problem.
BTW, I just want to say that it was very thoughtful of you and the rest of the crew to take the time to post articles over the holiday weekend. Thank you!
Published: November 27, 2007 3:27 PM
I know about nature. I live in it every day. After many years of close observation, I have figured out the FIRST LAW OF NATURE. Here it is: "Everybody is somebody else's lunch."
Published: December 26, 2007 6:22 PM
"Everybody is somebody else's lunch."
who ate you?
Published: December 26, 2007 7:44 PM
Sometimes, lunchtime lies in the future, and may even recede into the future indefinitely while always remaining on the agenda; as Douglas Adams wrote, "time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so".
Most likely he will be eaten by worms, which will in turn be eaten by ducks, which will in turn be eaten by us (see "On Ilkley Moor baht 'at").
Published: December 26, 2007 11:56 PM