Cruel angler 'rides' a Mola Mola - needs to be named and shamed

[highdesert]

It's the redneck behavior where there's intentional infliction of pain that tends to rub me the wrong way.

Okay ... just for giggles, let's forget about the mola mola cowboy and just go over your last sentence, but in another context. If someone verbally harrassed your wife or girlfriend, but didn't lay a finger on them, would that be OK with you? I mean, they didn't inflict any pain, so no harm done, right?

Sorry, but IMHO your argument is terribly flawed.

 

[Hank49]

Okay ... just for giggles, let's forget about the mola mola cowboy and just go over your last sentence, but in another context. If someone verbally harrassed your wife or girlfriend, but didn't lay a finger on them, would that be OK with you? I mean, they didn't inflict any pain, so no harm done, right?

Sorry, but IMHO your argument is terribly flawed.

If a grizzly bear charged up to you, stood up and gently stroked your head, put his arm/leg around you and walked for a while, would you consider it harassment? Of course not. After you cleaned out your shorts, you'd probably think it was the coolest thing that ever happened to you.

 

[DennisS]

The fish continued on his journey. If fish could be happy, he was glad he wasn't a predators lunch.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Okay ... just for giggles, let's forget about the mola mola cowboy and just go over your last sentence, but in another context. If someone verbally harrassed your wife or girlfriend, but didn't lay a finger on them, would that be OK with you? I mean, they didn't inflict any pain, so no harm done, right?

Sorry, but IMHO your argument is terribly flawed.

Well, it'd be annoying but last I checked I'm not allowed to shoot people for being verbally annoying absent a threat of death/SBI. So I'd be stuck with either ignoring them or calling the cops about "verbal harassment" -- whatever you think that is.

More importantly, conflating the right of humans to be free from harassment and the rights of critters to be free from harassment is a terribly flawed argument. Your average sea creature, absent some kind of legal protection (and often not even then, see 'scientific' whaling by certain countries), has no rights to not be caught, killed, cooked (optional in some cultures), and/or eaten. What's looked down on is the deliberate and unnecessary infliction of pain and suffering on the animal...but given a lack of outrage over sport fishing, it's hard to see how a mola ride is beyond the pale.

I'm very much anti-animal abuse: however violent nature may be, it's generally not malicious (though we see apparent malice in some of the more evolved creatures such as octos, dolphins, orcas, chimps, sea lions, et al.) and I don't like seeing creatures made to suffer more than necessary or without good cause in the first place. But at the end of the day, we're just another animal on the globe, and as we see constantly, various animals interact with eachother all the time in unexpected ways. Heck, sometimes they come play with us: dolphins, seals, sea lions, and octos all come to mind. And critters are not all delicate reef corals.

If you'd like to argue that riding a mola is somehow more traumatic for the animal than catch and release sport fishing of it would be, I'm all ears. Otherwise, I'll chalk it up to amusing and not harmful interspecies interaction. If the human isn't trying to hurt it, isn't doing anything so stupid they're likely to hurt it, and it isn't protected, I say go play nice with the mola.

 

[highdesert]

Okay, so let's bring your argument back to marine creatures.

I take it you are OK with riding turtles, mantas, dolphins, sharks, pulling moray tails, etc, correct? Certainly you seem to be saying that. You make the case that riding the mola mola is better than hooking it and releasing it, but you apparently fail to see that the animal could just be left alone. So if we project your mindset to all divers, is the ocean just a big carnival ride for humans, just because we're humans? Personally, I chalk that type of behavior up to divers and fishermen who are either ignorant or idiots. So when is it enough, or is there no line? Tell me how you are going to assess how much "golly heck, I was just funnin' with it" behavior is enough, and when the animal is stressed, sort of a harrassment kind of thing. To dopey old me, you respect these creatures and give them their space, or you don't. What's your take?

---------- Post added August 5th, 2013 at 08:01 PM ----------

Well, it'd be annoying but last I checked I'm not allowed to shoot people for being verbally annoying absent a threat of death/SBI. So I'd be stuck with either ignoring them or calling the cops about "verbal harassment" -- whatever you think that is.

Would you call the cops about sexual harrassment? There is no contact required to make the case for bona fide sexual harrassment ... it can be purely verbal. Would you call the cops for that ... or shoot the offender?

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Turtles lack gills, but keep in mind they're not all universally protected; indeed, there's a movement here in HI to locally delist the HI green sea turtle so the locals can catch and eat them again. I'm hoping it will fail because I have a soft spot for turtles, but if it passes I'll at least enjoy being able to interact with them while not blocking their ascent to the surface. If it doesn't like what I'm doing, it's more than capable of swimming away or biting the crap out of me. The same basic analysis goes for dolphins.

I'm not sure about manta or shark riding as a general matter; my understanding is that they may need the ability to move in order to get sufficient water flow over the gills. Still, assuming they're big enough to not be overly hindered by a human remora, you won't see me objecting to a respectful hanger-on. The GoPro ad with the girl riding the Great White comes to mind; if the shark had a problem with it, it was more than capable of evading or killing her.

I'm not sure why one would pull a moray's tail, unless one was looking to lose fingers, but it doesn't sound like it would harm the animal. The title of this ridiculous thread is "Cruel Angler Rides Mola Mola - Needs Named & Shamed," and there's a lot of adjectives being slung around in the following posts about how terrible riding a mola is. I'm not going to say the mola likes it--though it's not clear it had any issue with it either--but if you want me to agree with that kind of invective, it's going to have to be more malicious behavior than that. If your take is that humans are totally different from every other creature on Earth and can only respect all wild creatures by assiduously avoiding any physical contact with them, that's cool by me. Just don't expect me to think of you as anything other than full of .

That said, I tend to agree with you that the lowest common denominator's behavior is why we can't have nice things. And all too often, people who get hurt/injured/killed by an animal that did no more than respond to a stupid human trick fail to take the animal's actions in stride as they should. But still, I'll save my outrage for truly outrageous behavior--of which we regrettably have no goddamn shortage.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Fisherman Rides Mola Mola in Viral Video - PawNation

 

[KeithG]

hang on, we'all want to know "how did it taste?"

bald eagle or canada goose?

 

[Aquabot]

Rednecks know no bounds when there's an animal to kill, maim, or dominate.

I have to respectfully disagree with this comment, you'd be surprised how many of us are PRO animal conservation. As for this guy, he needs to be fined and jailed if not beaten IMO.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[divewench1]

This thread was logged in the Indonesia section for the reason that, here in Indo there is a 'code of conduct' for diving with the Mola Mola, which is a protected species.

Responsible Dive operators in the area ensure that divers are aware :

Always approach an Ocean sunfish very slowly within its field of view.


If the fish are just entering the cleaning station, do not approach until the cleaning has begun and the
fish have been stationary for at least 1 minute.


Maintain a minimum of 3m from the closest Ocean sunfish when the animal is at a cleaning station.


Maintain a minimum of 10m when the animal is not yet cleaning and is approaching the reef.


DO NOT TOUCH. You’ll remove mucus protecting it from infection.


Do not swim behind an Ocean sunfish as this can startle the animal.


Do not swim under the fish as your bubbles will disturb cleaning behaviour.


Do not block an Ocean sunfish’s escape route off the reef or pathway onto a cleaning station.


If a Mola-Mola approaches, remain still.


Do not use flash photography as this often disturbs the fish.


Do not use personal underwater motorized propulsion vehicles or make unnecessary loud noises.


You will never convince me that the fish was happy with it's encounter with the fisherman, and I am sure that the majority of divers who have only dreamed of diving with one of these magnificent creatures will be horrified by the video and will not consider the thread heading as ridiculous. Just my opinion :spit: