Re; The wayward whales in California. WHY DO WE "help"?

[Wcross]

I can't help but wonder if all those people "helping" the whales find their way back to the ocean are not actually killing them. Why do we insist on interfering with the natural course of events. It may be that all the people that "helped" have done is confuse the animals so badly they don't know where they are.
Why do we insist on messing with wild animals like that? Leave them be and let nature take its course. (Of course it is too late for that to happen in this case)

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. It could be that past

precedent has proved that helping them is actually the better course of action.

[marmar]

2. Maybe it's not totally the natural course of the events in this case....

One of the whales apparently had wounds from a boat propellor on it, and we've so polluted the seas that the whales' echolocation abilities aren't working like they should. Just a thought.

[AngryAmish]

3. because we don't believe in evolution

[Zywiec]

4. It makes people feel good.

[jilln]

5. So you refuse all medical attention?

Why not let nature take its course?

I get your point... but why not relieve suffering when you can? There's way too much in this world.

[Wcross]

8. Do we KNOW we are helping?

Seems to me that whales have been around for a while and know what they're doing. We have no clue what their intentions are, we can only ASSume they need to get back to the ocean. Maybe there is something they want/need to do upriver?

[jilln]

11. Do we know we're NOT?

People like to think animals are very smart when that's useful to us, and when it's useful NOT to think they're smart, we get to cram them in factory farms and eat them, etc.

[Az]

6. A couple of reasons

First we are human. That means we are a social species. But not just a social species. We are a highly intelligent social species. We can make connections to other species in ways they cannot. Thus not only do we feel a sense of connectivity to others of our own species but we also feel connected to other species as well.

We naturally internalize the plight of others. This is strongest amongst those of our own species but due to our ability to understand and learn we have extended it to other species. This ability comes from an evolved trait to enable species to learn instead of having to be prewired via instinct for all events. Learning makes us much more adaptable and enables us to survive in more environments. Its quite an evolutionary achievement.

So because we internalize others conditions we empathize with the whales and other species that are in danger. We help a bird with a broken wing. We feed a stray animal. And we push an occaisional whale back into the water.

Another and perhaps more compelling reason is that we may be responsible for their plight. Our dominance of the oceans has changed their environment drastically. We not only pollute the water and churn it with our engines but we also deafen species that rely on sound for communication and navigation. Evidence suggests that whale songs are being disrupted due to the noise we pollute the oceans with. They are being cutoff from one another. They are being isolated.

We have disrupted the natural order of things. Environmentalism is not about preserving nature. Nature is about change. Extinction. Death. The trouble we face is that nature could quite easily take us out as well. We don't want that. We want an environment that is suitable for our needs. And all the living things around us are part of that environment.

Nature doesn't care. Nature adapts to whatever it has. If we disrupt nature so severely that the ecosystem collapses then we endanger ourselves. Nature will continue on. Life will continue on. Its just the life that enjoyed the previous environment that will not continue on. And thats us.

So our environmental interest is in freezing the environment in its current state. In effect we are fighting nature. Nature changes. We don't want it to.

[lazyriver]

7. In many cases I would be inclined to agree with you.

But not in this one. Sure it's possible that the whales became wayward due to "nature" taking its course, but we simply don't know that. Research has led many scientists to hypothesize that human activity might be responsible for beachings and navigational errors (sonar, shipping, and other human pressures). When we're talking about an endangered or threatened species that will only become more endangered or threatened as we fuck up the climate, pollute the seas, allow Japan, Norway and Iceland to conduct "scientific" whaling operations and the U.S> Navy to conduct underwater sonar experiments that many believe harm these animals, I believe we must do whatever we can to try to help them when we are fairly certain they will die otherwise.

The chances of these whales finding their way back to the sea on their own were very slim. In this case, I can't argue with the efforts taken to try to help. There are so few left and it's desperation time.

[enki23]

9. natural does not equal good. is does not imply ought.

.

[Cleita]

10. For one thing these aren't "people" messing with the whales

but Marine biologists. This isn't the first time whales have gotten lost in the delta and been guided back to the ocean. Also, the whales are at home in salt water and the delta is fresh water and that is the reason they try to get the animals back to their natural habitat.