TILTING AT WINDMILLS: THE MISSING LYNX

Saturday, March 21, 2009

THE MISSING LYNX

On Thursday I blogged about abortion and the Catholic bishops’ poster campaign that stated that the Iberian Lynx enjoyed more protection under Spanish law than the unborn child.

Regular readers of my blog will know that at weekends I tend to try and cover a lighter topic and in a sense I am going to do so today. I have already made my personal view on abortion clear so I will not restate that. However I did also voice my support for the ecologists who took offence at the poster.

The theme of the poster is offensive to me on two counts. First it muddies the waters in the real fight to protect a very endanger Spanish species - the Lynx. Secondly it is published by a church that in the past has spoken from the pulpit that wildlife is not important because, unlike humans, animals do not have souls. Therefore the juxtaposition of the baby and the Lynx could be a throw back to that primitive message.

Soulless? I don’t know about you but I’d rather have the affection of a cat rather than a deviant cardinal and the companionship of a dog rather than that of a paedophile priest. I take the view that all life is sacred.

Now I have to chuckle because it emerges that the Lynx on the poster isn’t the Iberian variety at all. Experts have identified it as a Lynx Boreal or Euro Asian breed that doesn’t exist in Spain. Indeed whilst the Iberian Lynx is in danger of extinction, with only about 200 of these cats in the Sierra Morena and Doñana national park, its Boreal cousin is far more widespread and numerous.

As the row raged over the poster it was announced that three Lynxes had been born under the Doñana breeding programme to Saliega and Almoradux. If the local bishop acts quickly perhaps he’ll be allowed to take a photo of them.

(The photo above is of the three Lynx kittens born in Doñana. Scroll down for the Baby – Lynx poster).

No comments:

Post a Comment

TILTING AT WINDMILLS

Sancho Panza is much less learned but a good deal saner than his master.

"At this point they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that are on that plain.

"Fortune," said Don Quixote to his squire, as soon as he had seen them, "is arranging matters for us better than we could have hoped. Look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants rise up, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes. For this is righteous warfare, and it is God's good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth."

"What giants?" said Sancho Panza.

"Those you see there," answered his master, "with the long arms, and some have them nearly two leagues long."

"Look, your worship,'' said Sancho. "What we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the vanes that turned by the wind make the millstone go."

"It is easy to see," replied Don Quixote, "that you are not used to this business of adventures. Those are giants, and if you are afraid, away with you out of here and betake yourself to prayer, while I engage them in fierce and unequal combat."”