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John Varty & Tiger Canyon
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Now if you dissect Varty's response you see multiple things
One is, He loves big cats (I have no doubt about it) Two is, He needs money to by more land and is willing to hunt big cats to do so. So when I dissect this, I see very contradictive ideas. If he wants to conserve these cats, why strive for money to increase land in africa? They are hybrids, can never be released in India or Africa, they will be used for "awareness and tourism" So my opinion is this: This is the same song sung by Circus's, Zoos and wild life parks. His private funders who are the investors in this venture get the money, they dictate where it goes, he doesn't not. So there is no guarantee that his claim of wanting to by more land is even in their plans. I think if you turly wanted to save you would never allow any man to hunt them. What was originally the cause of the greatest decline of big cats in history? Hunting, so why allow it in a time where we fight so hard to stop poaching? We also don't know what will happen to these carcasses after they are hunted. Are they going to be sold back to the black market, lets not forget. Their bones and organs will fetch serious money. Just too much can go wrong and is unspoken to allow this. IMO 
Newsletter of John Varty received on 09-07-2015, yesterday
Hello Friends When I started the Tiger Project in 2000, scientist were extremely critical of the project because I was not obeying the 9 sub species of Tigers listed. In other words their argument was I should be pursuing the Bengal OR the Siberian Tiger sub species, not both. However, the evidence for subspecies was flimsy to say the least. My instincts told me that all tigers were the same, just with local differences. A tiger in Siberia had a larger body because this is more efficient in colder climates. Tigers in the forest were smaller and had darker coats because this works better in the humid, hot forests of Central Asia. In my opinion, we should be spending less time on arguing about sub species and more time on finding land, fencing it, stocking with suitable prey and making the tiger accessible to a growing band of universal, digital photographers. Like we had done with the leopard at Londolozi, we could use the tiger to change the land use systems and create wealth in rural areas. If this could be achieved then this would be the first step in saving the wild tiger. The other crucial decision I took in 2000, was not to try to do the project in Asia. In Asia a tiger competes with over 100 human beings per square kilometer (at Tiger Canyons a tiger competes with sheep and 2 human being per square kilometer). Therefore to do an ex-situ conservation project in South Africa has proved to be correct and defining. Below are some of the questions that have been answered: 1. Tigers will not adapt to African parasites (No tiger has been lost to an African parasite). 2. Tigers will not be able to hunt African prey (Tigress Julie successfully hunted 14 African species in her lifetime). 3. Tourists will not travel to Africa to view and photograph a tiger (68 nationalities have visited Tiger Canyons and this is growing). 4. The tiger has no place in the African ecosystem (it was never our intention to place the Tiger in an open ecosystem. The Tiger is inside fenced areas which have been reclaimed from bankrupt sheep and goat farms). 5. The tiger was never historically in Africa. (A group of scientists at Wits University are confident the tiger was in Africa and went extinct. In time they claim they will prove this fact). Opportunities missed: Only the province of the Free State had the vision to allow the ex situ conservation tiger project. Other provinces of Kwazulu, Eastern and Northern Cape outlawed the project. I respectively suggest the above provinces should put corruption aside and reconsider their decision. The province of the Free State has greatly benefited in the field of job creation, change of land use and rural development via the tiger. I call on the South African National Parks to consider a large national park which accommodates lion, leopard, cheetah and tiger. No one individual, organization or government has had the vision to champion the tiger cause. While we spend billions of dollars daily on military, war and destruction of our planet, a coordinated tiger project could protect forests, river systems, and whole landscapes. This protection would translate into rural wealth, education, tourism, conservation and upliftment. Therefore it is with great satisfaction that I read a scientific paper which is both logical, practical and workable. I congratulate the scientists from Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin for a valuable contribution to Tiger conservation.
More from the newsletter
Planning tiger recovery: Understanding intraspecific variation for effective conservation http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400175 Andreas Wilting1, Alexandre Courtiol, Per Christiansen, Jürgen Niedballa, Anne K. Scharf, Ludovic Orlando, Niko Balkenhol, Heribert Hofer, Stephanie Kramer-Schadt, Jörns Fickel and Andrew C. Kitchener Although significantly more money is spent on the conservation of tigers than on any other threatened species, today only 3200 to 3600 tigers roam the forests of Asia, occupying only 7% of their historical range. Despite the global significance of and interest in tiger conservation, global approaches to plan tiger recovery are partly impeded by the lack of a consensus on the number of tiger subspecies or management units, because a comprehensive analysis of tiger variation is lacking. We analyzed variation among all nine putative tiger subspecies, using extensive data sets of several traits [morphological (craniodental and pelage), ecological, molecular]. Our analyses revealed little variation and large overlaps in each trait among putative subspecies, and molecular data showed extremely low diversity because of a severe Late Pleistocene population decline. Our results support recognition of only two subspecies: the Sunda tiger, Panthera tigris sondaica, and the continental tiger, Panthera tigris tigris, which consists of two (northern and southern) management units. Conservation management programs, such as captive breeding, reintroduction initiatives, or trans-boundary projects, rely on a durable, consistent characterization of subspecies as taxonomic units, defined by robust multiple lines of scientific evidence rather than single traits or ad hoc descriptions of one or few specimens. Our multiple-trait data set supports a fundamental rethinking of the conventional tiger taxonomy paradigm, which will have profound implications for the management of in situ and ex situ tiger populations and boost conservation efforts by facilitating a pragmatic approach to tiger conservation management worldwide.
To save big cats from extinction, scientists say we need to redefine "tiger"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speak...ine-tiger/ Fewer than 4,000 tigers roam across the Asian continent today, compared to about 100,000 a century ago. But researchers are proposing a new way to protect the big cats: redefine them. The proposal, published this week in Science Advances, argues current taxonomy of the species is flawed, making global conservation efforts unnecessarily difficult. There are up to nine commonly accepted subspecies of tigers in the world, three of which are extinct. But the scientists' analysis, conducted over a course of several years, claims there are really only two tiger subspecies: one found on continental Asia and another from the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. "It's really hard to distinguish between tigers," said Andreas Wilting, the study's lead author from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. "There has been no comprehensive approach. The taxonomies are based on data from almost a hundred years ago." The study, described by its authors as "the most comprehensive analysis to date," looked at the mitochondrial DNA, skulls, skin markings, habitat and prey of all nine tiger subspecies. It found a high degree of overlap in these traits between the continental tigers — spanning from Russia to Southeast Asia — and between the island-dwelling "Sunda" tigers. Nearly $50 million is spent worldwide to preserve the big cat each year, according to the Science Advances study, and there has been some progress made. The Amur tiger, found in Russia, has been on the rise over the past decade, with as many as 540 of the tigers in the wild, up from between 423 and 502 a decade ago, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Likewise the Bengal tiger population, was reported to have increased by 30 percent since 2010, according to India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority. The hope is that by simplifying the taxonomy, conservationists would have more flexibility in preserving the animals, such as by moving tigers from one area to the next. This is especially important for the South-China tiger, which is considered critically endangered numbers less than 100 in the wild. "They've gotten down to such low numbers that there's really little hope for them," Wilting said. The study reinforces evidence that tigers are perhaps the least diverse big cat in the world. It also supports a theory that there was a massive population decline after a super-eruption took place in Sumatra about 73,000 years ago, leaving only a single ancestor for all modern tigers from the South China area. But in a field where one of the biggest goals is to preserve the diversity in tigers, convincing people that tigers aren't really that diverse can be a challenge. This is not the first time tiger taxonomy has been challenged, but earlier proposals have had trouble gaining ground due to a lack of evidence. At the heart of the debate is a concept called "taxonomic inflation," or the massive influx of newly recognized species and subspecies. Some critics blame the trend in part on emerging methods of identifying species through ancestry and not physical traits. Others point to technology that has allowed scientists to distinguish between organisms at the molecular level. "There are so many species concepts that you could distinguish each population separately," Wilting said. "Not everything you can distinguish should be its own species." This concept of inflation becomes more pressing when animal habitats are destroyed. Populations affected by habitat loss often become increasingly isolated and more susceptible to genetic drift. Because there are fewer genes in the population pool, the animals change more rapidly and becomes more distinct — sometimes for the worst. This was especially true in the case of the Florida panther in the early 1990s, when the species was reduced to fewer than 30 individuals in the wild. Rampant inbreeding left the big cat inundated with genetic defects, such as heart problems and reproductive issues. Efforts to preserve the animal through captive breeding proved unsuccessful. Florida researchers, frantic to save the long-held state symbol, decided to take controversial action by introducing eight female Texas cougars in 1995. The result has been considered a success, as the cougars, a close genetic relative to the panther, were able to refresh the gene pool and stave off extinction. While the Florida panther is still considered endangered, there are now somewhere between 100 and 180 in the wild. Still, the case has sparked debate on whether the panther remains a pure subspecies. That's important because it may affect the priority placed on protecting the cat and its habitat by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It really depends on what you define a subspecies to be," said Dave Onorato, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who worked on the panther restoration project. "Perhaps they're now more close to what they were before they became inbred." Onorato said the Florida panther case could be held up as an example for people trying to protect big cats around the world, including the most stressed tiger populations. Worldwide conservation efforts have been put into place to double tiger counts by 2022, but many tiger populations remain under threat by poachers, habitat loss and climate change, according to the World Wildlife Fund. 
Loosening the taxonomy would make all tigers valuable even those that are sometimes sometimes referred to as "junk tigers." They are called that because their genetics are not completely known or that they are a supposed subspecies cross. This increases their value and will help their self esteem. I dunno a tiger is a tiger is a tiger, right?
I think most people is loosing the real point here.
Although this new approach support the distinction of just two subspecies with three conservation units, this don't support the breeding of ALL the "generic" tigers. Why? Well, if you read the document, you will see that the three conservation units are these: 1. Amur-Caspian tigers. 2. South East Asian tigers. 3. Sunda tigers (Sumatra only at this day). So, this scenario present this facts: 1. If you have an Amur x Bengal, it is useless as they are different groups/clades. 2. If you have a Bengal x Indochinese, it is good and can be used. 3. If you have an Amur x Sumatran, it is useless as they are different subspecies. 4. If you have a Bengal x Sumatran, it is useless as they are different subspecies. 5. If you have a Bengal x Chinese, it is good and can be used. As we can see, only the pure Amur tigers, pure Sumatran tigers, pure or mix Bengal-Indochinese-South China-Malayan tigers can be used for breeding. Other type of combinations most be discarded, like some presented above. The document itself is NOT an "open door" for all the "junk" tigers in USA and other parts of the world. In fact, as most of the captive tigers are mix of Amur x Bengal, they are directly useless, as there is already a perfectly good captive population of Amur tigers and there is no need of the inclusion of mixed specimens in a perfectly good population. The same goes to the Sumatran tigers, as there is a perfect captive population of this subspecies, so no need of Sumatran x other tiger groups. Now, what this document suggest is the use of Bengal specimens in order the enlarge the genetic of the Indochinese-South China-Malayan tigers in captivity. In old posts, I suggested to use the Indochinese tigers to enlarge the genetic of the few South China tigers, specially for those in Africa, which are a healthy population that although good right now, it will need new "blood" in the long therm. So, in conclusion, Wilting et al. (2015) is not a libertine point of view, but a suggestion of a correct management for some captive populations. In the wild, there is no need of more re-introductions (for the moment), we need to conserve the ones already there. Just one final idea, although there are very few specimens of Indochina, South China or Malaysia to get a real idea of they size, it is probably that the inclusion of Bengal DNA could increase the size of the other populations. However, we most take in count that the largest Indochina tiger recorded was about the same size than the largest Bengal tiger recorded, while the largest South China and Malayan tigers were of the same size than an average Bengal-Amur tigers, although for very small samples. I think that probably these differences are owing to clinal adaptations.
This reminds me a little of dog breeding. It is all about controlling gene flow.
With dogs man has simply bred poodle to poodle and spaniel to spaniel. We sort of do the same things with tigers. First, we helped to create these genetically distinct populations with our siezure of habitat and the development of cities. These isolated populations became more distinct as tigers were exterminated in overlapping areas. Our man-made barriers continue to limit normal gene flow throughout the overall wild tiger population. Then we attempt to maintain these subspecies in captivity by only placing value on the tigers that have that particular set of geographically based genetics and only allowing breedings to other similar tigers. I suspect tigers themselves probably wouldn't be quite as particular in choosing a mate... Next thing you know some subspecies of tigers will start to be afflicted with hip dysplasia.
From John Varty fb page -
Three weeks ago at Tiger Canyons, South Africa, Tiger Boy killed one of Zaria's cubs. Corbett is the father of the dead cub. Today at Tiger Canyons, Tiger Boy was killed by Corbett. In a series of fights, Corbett bit Tiger Boy in the spine, immobilized him and then throttled him. Tiger Boy was from Julie's first litter and was 11 years old. Rest in peace Tiger Boy. John Varty with his dead tiger Tiger Boy, Tiger canyons, South Africa  *This image is copyright of its original author Another image of the dead tiger Tiger Boy, Tiger canyons, South Africa  *This image is copyright of its original author JV writes this tiger is killed today (27-sep-2015), However Images of dead tiger indicate that tiger is dead at least 3-4 days ago. Dead tiger body is swollen and his face look like turning into carcass. What is your thought ? Does the fresh dead body of an animal look like that ?
He is either filled with gas or one of the most robust tigers I have seen. I will not begin to say I know what the decomposing process is, but if Jon varty really cared about these big cats he would stop breeding them.
It seems like he has far to little land to accommodate these territorial predators. I have seen to many tiger fights and deaths coming from his location. 
I don't see any conservation-specific end goal in the mind of Varty. Africa never was the native range of the tiger. Moreover, a small captive population will be prone to so much genetic drift that it wouldn't be reflective of the population you're trying to save anyhow. It seems all too much of a tourist attraction, especially considering the fact that the money to run the place comes from somewhere that's not likely Varty's life savings.
A little more info on the history between Tiger Boy and Corbett
"The management plan to create one large area for tigers has begun and the first internal fence (5km long) is being removed as I write this. This means that Ussuri's 3 cubs, Antoine, Jameez, and Marguerite have a large area into which they can disperse. Ussuri and Tibo (the white tigress) are now able to greatly expand their territories.
In theory Tibo's three cubs could be in danger from males that are not the father. However Shy Boy, Tiger Boy, and Seatao have all been moved to other areas.
On moving Tiger Boy into Corbett's area, he immediately attacked Zaria's cubs. Zaria defended her cubs and a fight broke out. Corbett on hearing the fight, joined Zaria and attacked Tiger Boy. Tiger Boy got Corbett down and was winning the fight when Zaria jumped onto Tiger Boy and attacked him, saving Corbett's life. (I witnessed a similar incident in a fight between two male leopards, Marthly Male and Camp Pan Male. Vomba female jumped onto Marthly Male to help Camp Pan Male out who was the father of her cubs.) After Zaria jumped onto Tiger Boy, all three tigers began boxing and I witnessed the incredible sight of 3 tigers, all a metre off the ground captured in one frame.
While the adults were fighting, Zaria's cubs ran away but got separated. Tiger Boy killed one of the cubs the following morning.
I would like to thank the following people who have over many years shared their knowledge of veterinary care and management of big cats with me.
The late Dr Eddie Young and Dr David Meltzer. Doctors Roy Bengis, DeWald Keet, Peter Rodgers, Charlotte Mouiex and Ryan Nienaber. In addition Ian Whyte, Butch Smuts, Trevor Dealove.
Tread lightly on the Earth"It looks like Corbett wasn't going to let the death of his kin go unpunished. That being said, it is directly due to Varty moving Boy into Corbetts area.
And now this:
"Hello Friends Sariska was born on the 10th of January 2009 at 10:30am in the morning. His mother is Shadow and his father was Ron.
I have reason to believe that he was the 3rd cub born and as he emerged into the world. Shadow was crouching, not lying down. The anxiety in my voice is clear as I say "you are going to crush the cub" in the film Tiger Man of Africa. Fortunately for Sariska, as Shadow sat down he slipped out like a piece of soap from underneath her.
Four healthy cubs were born that day including Corbett, Panna and Sariska. The fourth cub, was crushed two weeks after the birth when Shadow sat on it. Three cubs survived.
Shadow kept the cubs well hidden for the first 5 months except for one occasion when Sariska was 3 months old. A poacher had set a wire snare above an antbear hole hoping to catch an antbear as it exited the burrow. Scenting that the antbear was down the burrow, Sariska (3 months old) went down to investigate. The wire snare caught him around the waist and tightened as he struggled to free himself.
Forty-eight hours after he was caught, I found him weak and exhausted in the snare. By trapping his head to the ground we were able to cut the wire snare off with a pair of pliers. (The sequence is in the film Tiger Man of Africa). After this incident, Sariska was exceedingly shy and would run from the vehicles and hide. For two years very few pictures were captured of Sariska.
As time went on, it became very clear that Corbett was exceedingly aggressive while Sariska and Panna were shy.
In the floods of 2011, four hundred metres of the perimeter fence was washed away. Corbett immediately swam out into the farm land. Sariska never ever left the park, even though there was no fence.
During his third and fourth year Sariska was not able to capture a territory. Being smaller than other males, Sariska was always running away to avoid a fight. On one occasion when Seatao was pursuing him, Sariska went down an antbear hole backwards and so protected his rear end. Now Seatao was forced to approach him from the front. At this point Sariska slashed Seatao’s face opening an 8 inch gash down his lip.
On other occasions Sariska defended himself by standing on top of rocks, or in pools of water. He learnt to use the electrical fence to protect his rear, forcing his opponent to approach from the front.
At the age of 5, Sariska captured a territory in the south of Tiger Canyons. He immediately impregnated the Tigress Ussuri and 3 cubs were born. Sariska then expanded his territory northwards and captured a small portion of the river. This area overlapped with Tibo (Tibo is the only wild white tigress in the world). After mating with Tibo, she too produced 3 normal coloured cubs. (Sariska was not a carrier of the recessive white gene.)
After impregnating Tibo, Sariska immediately withdrew from the area, leaving Tibo with no protection. Fortunately for Tibo and her cubs, her brother Mahindra took over the territory. (Because Mahindra is Tibo's brother and therefore invested in the cubs, he protects the cubs and has assumed the role of father.)
Two weeks ago Mahindra began to expand his territory to the south and began to exert pressure onto Sariska. I was not particularly concerned because although Mahindra is bigger than Sariska, Sariska was a far more experienced fighter.
On the 7th August 2015 we found Sariska dead and from the grass and tracks I deduct the following:
Mahindra, after chasing Sariska for two days without success, had left the area and headed back north. Sariska, fatigued from the running had lain down to rest and fallen asleep. Mahindra had returned to the area and found Sariska sleeping. Mahindra stalked him and jumped on him. Mahindra’s top canine had penetrated behind Sariska's ear and a lower canine had gone into his throat.
Normally when two male tigers fight, the grass is flattened and pieces of fur litter the ground. Here there was none. The only flattened grass was where Sariska was sleeping. I believe Mahindra jumped on him and Sariska never got back on his feet. The top canine, 5 inches long, traveling downwards with 1,500 lbs per square inch force, penetrated Sariska's brain and killed him instantly.
I greatly regret that I did not remove a fence earlier. The removal of this fence would have allowed Sariska a bigger area into which to escape.
Sariska nearly died when he was born, he came close to death when he was caught in a wire snare and he evaded many attacks from larger males. He spent long periods of time playing with his cubs. This is unusual for a male tiger. Sariska always allowed Ussuri and the cubs to feed before him. This too is exceptional. Although not fond of the camera lens, (Sariska would often turn his head away from the lenses), many magnificent pictures and film have been taken of him.
He leaves 6 normal cubs, Antoine, Jameez and Marguerite. The three cubs fathered with Tibo have not yet been named.
James Corbett, the great hunter of man eaters, described a male tiger as "a wholehearted gentleman". Sariska was shy and gentle by nature, a thorough gentleman.
I feel exceedingly privileged to have known him. He enriched my life greatly.
He will be sorely missed.
RIP Sariska
Tread Lightly on the Earth10/01/2009 - 07/08/2015 JV " Sariska was never given a chance, he was lucky and smart to make it as long as he did, but they are enclosed and it was only a matter of time. I say again, if Varty truly cares about these cats he will stop breeding them. There isn't enough land obviously and he is systematically killing off the smaller and weaker cats that would normally at least have a chance to run to a new area and spread their blood lines to a different place. I really is upsetting
Here is an interesting account of Villagers and Lions and how they co-exist.
 *This image is copyright of its original author Hello Friends The year is 1990. The place is Masai Mara in Kenya. A pride of lions attacks a herd of Masai cows and kills one.
The Lions have broken a silent agreement between themselves and the Masai not harm the Masai cattle.
Retribution will be swift and it will be brutal. Within minutes of the news breaking that a cow has been killed, 20 warriors are moving swiftly to the scene of the attack.
The Lions are found lying in a thicket. The warriors, each 6 foot tall and magnificent athletes are armed with long spears, short swords and marungu, surround the thicket. Now the brothers in arms move in, ready for the kill.
A male lion charges a warrior called Nkotoi. It jumps on him ripping his throat out. Spears fly through the air striking the lion. The lion drops Nkotoi and runs. Nkotoi dies shortly after this from loss of blood.
The warriors pursue the male lion into the next thicket and find it crouched in the dense bush. Wounded and aggressive, the warriors know the lion will be at its most dangerous. Pride and courage are at stake. The Masai know that another warrior may die, yet still they move in. The male lion charges and grabs Nanga by the arm. As Nanga goes down, the lion snaps two of his fingers like match sticks.
More spears fly. The lion runs for a third thicket. One warrior stays with Nanga, the rest follow the lion. The male lion is weakening, at least 3 spears have hit him, but he is not done yet. He charges Sopiya. As he comes in, Sopiya hits him with a rungu (a rungu is a piece of wood carved with a round knob on the top). The force of Sopiya's rungu breaks the lion’s upper canine. The male lion jumps onto Sopiya biting across his shoulders and collar bone. (We later worked out that if Sopiya had not broken the canine it would have gone into his heart and killed him). Cordylla runs in, forcing the jaws of the male lion open and pulling Sopiya to safety. (Cordylla would later receive the highest award for bravery).
Now 4, 5 and 6 spears rain into the lion and it dies quickly. The hunt and the life of the lion are over. These are real hunters. Fearless, brave they are killing the lion not for trophies, but because it has killed a cow. *This image is copyright of its original author One of the Masai is dead, two are badly wounded. It has been a fair chase with lion having every chance to escape (The rest of the pride did escape). It has been a contest between tooth and claw & spears. The highest form of bravery has been displayed on both sides. Blood has been spilled on both sides. Compare this to the American who pays a professional hunter to drag and bait along the boundary of a national park and then shoots it from the safety of a jeep from 25 metres using a powerful spotlight and compound bow.
Tread Lightly on the Earth
JV
Last one
@tigerluver @GrizzlyClaws @Gaute Have you seen any evidence that would back what Varty is saying? "5. The tiger was never historically in Africa. (A group of scientists at Wits University are confident the tiger was in Africa and went extinct. In time they claim they will prove this fact). " http://www.jvbigcats.co.za/newsletters114.htm
I actually agree with Varty on this one
"In the greater scheme of things Cecil’s death is not that serious. As an aging dominant male he was probably at the end of his tenure. Ustad’s incarceration is more serious because tigers in the wild are down to 3000 (some say it’s closer to 1000). Ustad, having been removed, a younger male will take his territory and new genes will be injected. So why are so many people so incensed? I believe these “named icons” are symbols of what we as human-beings are doing to planet earth. Instinctively we know we cannot continue on this destructive path. Climate change, human population growth, hamburger culture (use of land under cattle) and burning fossil fuels are far more important than Cecil the lion or Ustad the tiger. However, we can’t get to grips with them, they are too big and they are nameless.
I recently went to the city to buy my daughter a motor car. Naively I believed that I would have the pick of several makes of electrically powered, environmentally friendly cars. I was completely mistaken. Only Toyota had a Hybrid (runs on electrics and petrol), none were available in the country and the last one had sold 4 months ago. No other brands were even contemplating bringing environmentally cars into South Africa.
Now the burning of fossil fuels is far more important than Cecil the lion or Ustad the tiger, but we do nothing! We are paralysed.
Only when the public refuse to buy petrol and diesel cars will the motor companies produce environmentally friendly cars. Only when mass media and social media and people are protesting outside the motor companies, like they did outside Palmers dental practice, will the motor companies change. It’s never going to happen!
So we are like the frog happy in the warm water, gradually moving to boiling point.
In the political and financial magazines of the world, the people we admire most are the rich people. Forbes magazine is always listing the richest people in the world, the richest people in the USA. (I look for my name but it always seems to be missing). Therefore monetary wealth is the yardstick.
Countries too are listed. The wealthiest countries spend the most on the military. It seems a country that’s wealthy needs to spend an awful lot on protecting that wealth and protecting their supply of oil .
Have you ever seen a list of the most environmentally friendly countries, the least polluted countries and the cruelest free country and the most spiritual country. If so, please send it to me.
Have you ever seen a politician or head of state survive who puts the environment ahead of the economy? Therefore our global values are to create wealth. Not sustainable wealth, just wealth! The richer are getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer. Hardly a recipe for global peace.
Our ethics are disintegrating. We shoot male lions in enclosures where there is no chance of escape for large amounts of money (as the rand weakens, the canned lion industry will expand because it's paid in dollars).
We separate young elephants from their mothers and send them to China, the cruelest country in the world, to pay off debt.
We kill millions of sharks to satisfy the shark fin soup market which is a luxury for rich people.
We chase animals with beaters while wealthy “hunters” sit on raised deck chairs blasting away at the big, the small and the pregnant.
The list goes on and on. The laws of the countries are all written from a human perspective. Nowhere do they acknowledge the rights of animals to exist in a non cruel environment.
Except for Buddhism, none of our religions protect and acknowledge the rights of fellow species. Many of the religions in fact promote animal cruelty in their religious ceremonies.
Therefore our values don’t protect the earth and fellow species. Our laws don’t either, neither do our religions, and our leaders are in the business of gaining at much personal wealth while they are in power.
We are morally, ethically and environmentally bankrupt.
“The world is waiting
Tread lightly on the EarthFor a new direction One based on The laws of Nature” JV" He seems to change his tone on hunting or canned hunting |
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