I've just discovered why there was so much interest in the tiny snail darters a few years back. They're to be bred for industrial use. Don't scoff! It has to be something sensible like that. Surely, people wouldn't put themselves and their neighbors out for a bunch of tiny creatures---only one of the millions of species that have lived on this Earth, some 90 percent or so which are naturally extinct. Would they?
I'm not sure what that use will be, but It'll certainly benefit Americans in a big way. Maybe through new medical drugs or new candy flavors or snail darter pins. Look at how many years we used horses in the glue factories. It's been a fine use for worn-out nags. [No, I won't go there.] [And don't the European 'frogs' like to eat horse meat?}
And for many years, we've used animal hooves for sources of natural gelatin. When flavored and colored, it's tasty stuff if you don't think about the source. And, then we have the many uses of animal hides for blankets, warmers, baseballs, handbags, wallets, boxing gloves, fetishes, lounge chairs, etc. and you can see the importance of animal husbandry. Even alligators and snakes can get into the mix, what with exotic food [they taste like chicken] and leathers. Monkey brains and baby snakes were eaten on an Indiana Jones set, along with beetles and eye balls.
And we can tune into current TV to watch various idiots eating snakes, worms, maggots, beetles, fire ants, etc. to our hearts' content. It's not often you get to eat free on the job. That's probably why the shows were developed in the first place. And when such people have finished eating their strange fare, they can bungee jump or sky dive or fight in a cage.
Now recently, some researchers in India have come up with another useful animal. Tree frogs. The scientists are interested in why the frogs can continually stick and re-stick to trees without losing the adhesive quality of their feet. Great will power? Their technology must be moved from the biological to the industrial so there'll be another product to sell to 'we the American consumers.' And how far a jump is it to expect another development or two? Either the tree frogs legs' will be boiled down to produce a natural glue, or our new packing tape will have hundreds of tiny tree frog feet imbedded every few millimeters. Personally, I'd investigate the dentist's friends, peanut butter or taffy, for their stickiness quality.
The mystery to all this is why the vocal, vicious, and self-serving people at PETA haven't said a word about the bugs and snakes being eaten on live TV. I guess those 'animals' aren't important enough. A classification of the importance of various types of animals is apparently in use. Maybe bugs and snakes don't look good on a poster? And who wants to see a naked snake on a TV commercial?
In any case, I still enjoy beefsteak, turkey, chicken, ham, and other meats bred for our consumption. Let others have their tofu-led vegetarian Christmas [er, I mean Winter Solstice Holiday.] And remember, although we share the Earth with other species, we are decidedly not on an equal footing. "...and God said unto them [mankind], Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." We can be responsible and moral without giving away the store.
Mankind [who, by the way, has not created global warming] is in charge and should act that way. We shouldn't despoil the environment, for it contributes to or detracts from our own health and provides the natural scenery of our God-given land. But the climate is out of our hands. Nature does what Nature wants. We can only try to deal with the results. Terraforming is still science-fiction.
So, when Mother Nature meets Al Gore, it will be a heavily one-sided fight. And they won't need a cage. Too bad Al's too 'portly' to quickly run away.
