Loving Tigers, and Letting Them Live

GLORY GLORY HALLELUJAH! (sp) The human race may indeed be spiritually evolving, and leave it to the good, sensible folks in Oklahoma, U.S.A., to lead the way. Amid the vicious, horrendous violence, suffering, and misery we humans needlesslly heap upon each other daily, there may yet be hope for humankind. Zoo worker stuck her arm through the bars of a tiger's cage, and was too slow withdrawing it, and lost it, just the other day. But the tiger will not be murdered! For once in our miserable domination of this otherwise lovely planet a group of human beings has made a decision which promotes neither greed nor violence. Always before, the magnificent animal paid the price for the stupidity of the dominant animal, homo sapiens. Man kidnaps wild animal, cages it, human places itslef in harm's way, frightens animals, get hurt, or killed, animal "put dowjn", i.e. murdered. May we assume that the young lady who's arm was bitten off in Oklahoma does not wish to kill the tiger who bit it off? "Noble Be Man, Compassionate, and Good", quothe Goethe. "Revenge" Not safety; that was never part of the equation, else wild animals would not be trapped, caught, and caged. We kill the innocent animal because we want revenge. But now, we rise to a higher level, perhaps. Homo sapiens; deadly, that one. Dominant animal awakens, and becomes enlightened. Once upon a time, when i was young and stupid, say, around thirty years old, a friend and i drove over to an outdoor zoo, splitting a six pack, at least, on the way. By the time we arrived, we were primed, and loaded for bear. We wandered around, feeding the animals because it was allowed, holding a baby panther, handing a slice of bread to a giraffe, generally enjoying the hell out of ourselves. When we came to a large cage housing a large tiger, I could not resist. The beautiful, four hundred pound beast was lysing on his side, leaning against the bars. Apon our approach he seemed perfectly calm and accepting, and I could feel a good vibe, somehow. Baby rolled over on his back, as if asking for love, asking for belly rubs. I reached in and patted, then rubbed, baby's belly. I swear, he began to purr. I could tell he reallky like the attention, and maybe was used to it. He had th eoption of swinging his paw, four times the size of my hand, through the bars, and eliminating my face, my life, or both. But he chose to writhe, seemingly happily, and purr. Big, loud, motor purr. Never knew that tigers do that, but now I know. So, needless to say, the true human of spirit, which is compassion, is absoltely thrilled beyond all comprehension, when I read that the good folks at that zoo in the great state of Oklahoma aren't going to hurt that sweet magnificent animal who was tricked by human stupidity into making a mistake. Maybe there's hope for us humans after all.