do you intervene with cruel nature?

[ianr33]

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.

Why do you consider that to be cruel? It is all part of a natural system that has been in place for millions of years and would still be going strong if man did not screw it up.

Building beach front condos that interfere with turtle nesting and killing sharks for their fins is what is cruel,not letting nature take its course.

Doesnt make it easy to watch though.

 

[drbill]

The undersea world is part of what I used to call the Mutual Eating Society when I taught high school marine ecology. If you can't "stomach" it, don't dive. When a shark chomps down on a sea turtle or a marine mammal or your buddy, let it happen! If it tries to bite down on you... become a hypocrite like me.

Seriously, I rarely interfere with natural events like feeding. In my mind it is totally inappropriate, especially since we often side with the "cutest" species over the real ugly ones (which make great photographic subjects), or the warm blooded vs the "cold blooded" ones.

I relish the opportunity to observe (and film!) natural feeding behavior in the ocean. It would have been very difficult to create my "Munching and Mating in the Macrocystis" DVD if I didn't.

We are all too accustomed to getting our food in plastic wrap or cans. I think it is good to see how most species obtain theirs, AND to participate in getting your own whether it is by spearfishing, hunting or gardening (for my vegetarian friends). This IS how nature works.

 

[dlndavid]

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

I thought I was the only one.

 

[quarrydiver68]

Its best to let nature deal with its own. All animals have to eat.

 

[LioKai]

two years ago, in Galapagos, I was told: "You came here to witness nature in its purist form, and if you go up that sand hill to see the turtles hatching you will prevent the frigate birds from killing the hatchlings to feed their young. I know it is sad but it is natures way". When the nature guide said that to me it made me stop and think on a much larger and more complex level. I now include part of that quote in my naturalist briefing everyday on the boat. Matthew

 

[garyfotodiver]

The undersea world is part of what I used to call the Mutual Eating Society when I taught high school marine ecology. If you can't "stomach" it, don't dive. When a shark chomps down on a sea turtle or a marine mammal or your buddy, let it happen! If it tries to bite down on you... become a hypocrite like me.

Fending off an attack by a marine creature does not make me a hypocrite. Last I looked, humans are not part of the shark food chain.

But we humans do interfere in other animal food chains. Here in Chicago there has been an influx of rural and forest creatures into the city proper. I have seen deer and their young in neighborhoods hundreds of meters from the nearest forest preserve. Many animals have lost their fear of humans, or they are enticed by the easy pickings in our trash cans.

The road kill in these areas has also increased. It is not uncommon to see a dead deer along Devon Avenue on the way to O'Hare Airport.

My 8 year-old saw an Animal Planet program where some young wolves making a meal of a roadkill deer. After I explained to her about roadkill, her comment was the wolves had no manners because, "They ate the meat with the fur still on it."

 

[drbill]

Fending off an attack by a marine creature does not make me a hypocrite. Last I looked, humans are not part of the shark food chain.

Um, Gary... I was joking. Get it?

 

[tedj01]

Not sure this counts, but I've taken six pack rings off of marine creatures' head where caught, removed fish from nets hung up and abandoned on artificial reefs, and have caught a couple of fish u/w to remove hooks from them. Oh, also have returned creatures to their habitats from where somebody had removed them, shown them to another diver, and then just turned them loose in mid-water. That's about all I have done.

 

[alcina]

tedj - have to say those are very very different things that stopping one critter eating another critter in their natural environment Good work!

 

[devolution365]

Someone asked about the shot I posted. I meant to include the url that I got it from. It's from the ScubaDiving 2005 photo contest. You can see it and the rest of the winners here:

http://www.scubadiving.com/2005photocontest/photocontest_winners/wide_reid.html

...and no, it obviously isn't mine. -I've become a pretty good at photographer on land, but am a newbie to the UW photography world.




(Mods, feel free to replace the pic I posted w/ the url instead. I'll post it that way in the future to eliminate confusion.