One time I was on my way to Mayagüez with some of my friends, the road
was dark and the music was very loud when suddenly we felt a very big bump
under the car so we panicked and stopped. When we got out of the car we noticed
that what happen is that my friend had killed a stray dog. My friends reactions
where very diverse. The most stunning reaction came from the owner of the car
who was very mad because the car had a little bump and it was covered in blood.
The most humane reaction was from a girl who loves dogs and started to cry. At the moment I felt a little sorrow but I
have to admit that a road kill didn’t seem like such a big deal and It was more
of a hassle than anything.
Most people in Puerto
Rico have a big attitude of indifference towards road kills because it is
something we are accustomed to. My reaction was based on that since I was a
little boy seeing a dead animal was a daily thing, every time someone made a
road kill they where more preoccupied with their car being dirty than the life
of the animal. I have to say that personally I feel bad when I see a dead
animal like a cat or dog, but maybe not as bad as I should. There's also another side
to road kills that may seem positive because one of the most killed animal
squashed by cars in Puerto Rico are Iguanas. Iguanas
have been devouring vegetation and disrupting the island ecosystem so this
death may be considered as pest control. (Newcomb, 2012)
Nerveless it its necessary that people begin to have empathy and respect for
the lives of animals because as humans we should respect life no matter how big
or little it may be.
There
are a lot of thing that can be done in order to minimize road kills and create
consciousness in Puerto Rico, first of all and upmost important its to create
awareness for the respect of all type of life and a better method of
certification in order to have a pet. People must be willing to keep their pets
and if not they should take the proper process and find them another home not
leave then in the streets to die. The best way to sensibilize people is to
begin in the system of education, at all schools the importance of every life
should be emphasized because the feeling of indifference in people is
cultivated at an early age in this society. And last driver should be required
to be more careful when driving so a lot of these accidents are avoided.
In
todays Puerto Rican society empathy for other living things is being lost
little by little. It is most important that we remember than animals are our
only companions in this planet and that we cannot loose sight of life value.
Road kills are situations that cannot become routine and it is everyone’s
responsibility to make sure this is changed. Nature was there before all
machinery and it will be there after so we need to respect it because we really
on it. Road kills are the perfect example of technology corrupting nature a process that needs to stop before its too late and ther no coming back.
References:
Newcomb, T. (2012, 008 22).
Iguana: In puerto rico, it’s what’s for dinner. Retrieved from
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/08/22/iguana-in-puerto-rico-its-whats-for-dinner/
No comments:
Post a Comment