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HAVE YOU EATEN ENOUGH SALMON?
The other day I read in a newspaper that two raccoon dogs (Japanese tanuki) had appeared in the garden of an old couple’s house. When they gave the animals some food, they ate it happily. Since then they began coming to the garden for food almost every day. The couple continued to feed them for two months.
One day, however, a public health worker came and told the couple not to feed them. They felt sorry for the raccoons, but hardened their heart and did not give any food to them for several days, until at last the animals stopped visiting them.
They missed the animals very much, but one night a year later, they saw the same raccoons drinking water in the garden. The old couple felt as if their children had returned to them. The old woman said to them, “Drink as much water as you want. They can’t punish us because we are not feeding you.”
The story is touching, isn’t it? The problem is, however, not limited to the raccoons alone. It has become a global problem.
I read an Internet article that bears in British Columbia, Canada were coming closer to town looking for garbage just before hibernation time because there were less and less salmon in the streams. It said that a bear eats 700 salmon to get ready for hibernation, but the number of salmon returning to the Fraser River, the longest river in British Columbia, is drastically decreasing.
In July this year, the Canadian Fisheries Department forecasted 10.6 million sockeye salmon would return to the Fraser, but only 1.37 million did. The reasons include sea lice from fish farms, warming waters, and pollution.
The Japanese are surrounded by superabundant gourmet food while wild animals are starving.
Something is wrong, isn’t it? I'm afraid the Japanese will be punished sooner or later.
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hibernation
have you eaten enough salmon
my dear bear
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鮭をたらふく食べたかな
先日の新聞に次のような記事があった。ある老夫婦の庭に２匹の狸が現れて、餌をやると狸はうれしそうに食べた。それ以来、狸は毎日のように庭に現れ、老夫婦は約２カ月間狸に餌を与えた。
ところがある日、保健所の人が来て、狸に餌を与えないようにと注意された。夫婦は狸を可哀そうに思ったが、心を鬼にして数日間餌を与えなかった。すると、狸は来なくなってしまった。
夫妻はとても寂しく思ったが、１年後のある晩のこと、例の２匹の狸が庭で水を飲んでいた。夫婦は我が子が帰ったかと思うぐらい懐かしく思い、老婆が「ああ、どんなけ水を飲んでもええよ、餌をやってるんじゃないから、罰せられないからね」と狸に言った。
なかなかいい話だ。でも、これは狸の問題ではなく地球規模の問題なのだ。
インターネットの記事で読んだが、カナダのブリティッシュ・コロンビア州では熊が冬眠期になると、ごみをあさりに街に出現するそうだ。川を上ってくる鮭が減ってきているからだ。熊は冬眠するために７００匹の鮭を食べるそうだが、ブリティッシュ・コロンビア州の最長のフレーザー川をさかのぼる鮭の数が急激に減少している。
この７月、カナダ水産海洋省は１０６０万匹の虹鮭がフレーザー川に戻ると予測したが、実際は１３７万匹だった。原因は養魚場のフナムシ、海洋温暖化と汚染による。
日本人は有り余るほどのグルメ食品に囲まれているのに、野生動物は飢えに苦しんでいる。
どこかが狂っていないか。日本人はそのうち天罰が下るのではないか。
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冬眠へ
鮭をたらふく
食べたかな
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