do you intervene with cruel nature?

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Spoon

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when you see a shark chomping on a helpless sea-turtle of dugong, do you intervene or let nature take its course? just asking a question because i have seen several of the shark-turtle encounters and i pity the turtle and feel like i should do something instead of nature taking its course.
 
Well it's not a marine example but I once killed a rabbit that was suffering from mixamatosis. It seemed like the humane thing to do. I wouldn't interfere between an animal or fish and it's prey though (as long as it wasn't my buddy!). I don't much like how cats play with mice - but I don't interfere.
 
yeah tell me about it. hard to fight emotions when you see a shark chomping on a helpless turtle in front of you when your speargun is so useless on the boat
 
Yeah, hard as it would be, I wouldn't interfere... on principle (the shark's doing what a shark's gotta do!); and because it would mean killing the shark; and because I wouldn't want to, um, piss the shark off and give him any other ideas.

I disagree with Kim, though... I definitely will try to rescue a bird or a mouse from one of our cats if the cat ever got outside!! (Indoor kitties, but they definitely understand hunting... how do they catch birds so well?)

There's another side to that coin, though, underwater... a lot of times when night diving, you can attract a predator toward a potential prey by shining your light on the prey. Like, lionfish immediately come over to investigate whatever you're shining your light on. I think you've got an obligation to "protect" that potential prey for a bit after you're done looking at it... no?

--Marek
 
When I saw the picture below I thought "Geez, if I were the photographer, I would have put down my camera and tried to save the fish!" -But soon logic took over and told my compassionate tendancies that this is how the "real world" works. ...still, I'd find it difficult to watch in-person.

p_marine_schrager.jpg
 
I've intervened on many an occasion. I probably shouldn't have. Sometimes you just feel compelled to help because these poor critters sometimes look at you directly as if saying "help" (like the picture above). Helping sometimes just happens - like a reflex and probably karma that you were there today to help the hapless.
 
Marek K:
Yeah, hard as it would be, I wouldn't interfere... on principle (the shark's doing what a shark's gotta do!); and because it would mean killing the shark; and because I wouldn't want to, um, piss the shark off and give him any other ideas.

I disagree with Kim, though... I definitely will try to rescue a bird or a mouse from one of our cats if the cat ever got outside!! (Indoor kitties, but they definitely understand hunting... how do they catch birds so well?)

There's another side to that coin, though, underwater... a lot of times when night diving, you can attract a predator toward a potential prey by shining your light on the prey. Like, lionfish immediately come over to investigate whatever you're shining your light on. I think you've got an obligation to "protect" that potential prey for a bit after you're done looking at it... no?

--Marek

I know what you mean. In Bonaire I got a pic of a school of tangs. Then I saw a real nice box jelly. The flash from the strobe lit up the jellyfish and caught the tangs attention. Needless to say I felt really bad for the jellyfish.
 
Spoon:
when you see a shark chomping on a helpless sea-turtle of dugong, do you intervene or let nature take its course? just asking a question because i have seen several of the shark-turtle encounters and i pity the turtle and feel like i should do something instead of nature taking its course.

Mankind has already interfered with nature in ways that may never be corrected. In this particular matter, is the predator less of a creature because it follows its instincts? In other words, are the "victim's" rights more than the attacker's?

Let nature take its course.
 
I've intervened:

I saved tadpoles from frying in the sun after the puddle dries up by moving them to a plastic container.

I move earthworms off the sidewalk and back to the grass (again, so they won't fry).

I've rescued things from fire ants.
 
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