Where Are All Of The So-called "Moderate" Stingrays?
As regular readers of TNOYF know, I have been atypically slow to react to the untimely and tragic death of Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin. I have been waiting to see what the reaction would be from the stingray community on this violent and cowardly act but as of yet I have heard nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Where are all of the "moderate" stingrays that I keep hearing about in the press? Just one stingray speaking out against the crime would hold more weight than the dozens of liberal stingray apologists who have taken up their cause.
I keep hearing marine biologists and other oceanic experts repeat the same talking points over and over: "It is extremely rare for stingrays to kill people", "Stingrays just want to live in peace", "Most stingrays disagree with what happened."
Balderdash. I have heard of exactly one encounter between a stingray and a human, a well-trained and very experienced wild animal expert at that, which literally ended in cold-blooded murder. I am no mathematician, but that is almost a 90% kill ratio for these swift-swimming agents of death.
So today I issue a challenge to the "moderate" stingray community if they exist: Stand up (or hop out of the water or whatever it is that you do) and speak out against this terrible hate crime or face being lumped in with the rest of your murderous breed.
And to the oceans, reefs and lagoons that provide safe harbor for these killers I say this: Do not shelter these creatures. Do not give them comfort. Do not let them do stingrayish things within your borders. Remember, you are either with us or you are with the Oceanic Fascists.
posted
Hey, some of my good friends are Stingrays. When I was talking to them, they all said what a shame it was that, you know, one bad ray kind of hurts the whole group. And let me tell you, I'm in close with these guys. I mean, they've invited me to hang in their hood and all, not that I'd ever go into one of "those" neighbor hoods, if you know what I mean. I'd be like, you know, a fish out of water, only I'd be a mammal in water, and everyone would be staring and I wouldn't get no fish respect.
But hey, they are my friends. Not that I'd let my sister marry one, but still, they are good vertabrates, and you really can't ask for more that that.
And I respect what they say. Maybe not as much as I respect my talk radio DJ, but then again, most Stingray's aren't white, straight, Christian or even American and almost half of them are female. Still, what they say is worth some thought.
I mean its not like their Canadian or anything.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I was just contacted by a friend of mine, a shovel nosed ray, from the invertebrate defense league who asked me to forward the following statement.
Rays and other invertebrates do not seeking to harm mammals coming to visit our aquatic homelands. Sometimes an individual might be startled and react in a way that might be harmful to visitors not used to our habits, but we do not seek to harm those visitors.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
The IDL would also like to add that the TV show "Raymond" is an innappropriate use of their ancestoral name. They see it as bad taste and would hope we humans will be nice and change it to something more mammilian such as "Chimpmond" or "Orangatangmond."
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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