by Gaddy Bergmann
November 15, 2007 01:22 AM EST (Updated: November 15, 2007 08:35 PM EST)
On Monday, November 12, 2007, FOXNews.com reported that Thai officials confiscated over a hundred pangolins (an armored, insect-eating mammal) destined for sale in southwest
I am so sick of hearing about this cruel, illegal, and senseless trafficking of animals for food and “medicine” in the
Why are people still chopping up animals in this wasteful way? There are plenty of other foods available, and there are plenty of real medicines out there that actually help treat real ailments. And yet, the slaughter continues. Elephants, rhinos, and hippos are still being poached in huge numbers. Why? So that that merchants can turn their tusks or horns into a powder and sell it as an aphrodisiac. Tigers are also being hunted for a similar reason. They’re penises are likewise lopped off, ground up and sold as “virility enhancers.” Shark populations have plummeted worldwide due to overfishing, and the cruel practice of slicing off their fins before tossing them back into the ocean continues. Horribly wounded and unable to swim, these sharks sink and die by the thousands. And in
This trafficking in wildlife is despicable. If these animals’ bodies were at least being put to some kind of good use, then I could see some room for compromise. If people really had to eat pangolins or else starve to death, or if consuming the pulverized phalli of charismatic megafauna really did help treat ailments, then perhaps some kind of sustainable harvest could be arranged. But neither applies. These animals are being slaughtered for no other reason than tickling the finicky palates of the ignorant, apathetic rich, or offering completely worthless placebos to the gullible masses.
Let’s tackle the matter of food first.
Now, as for the matter of traditional “medicine.” Volumes have been written on the relative merits and shortcomings of Eastern and Western medicine alike, and I did not write this article to build up or take down either one. What I did write this article for, however, was to clearly state that traditional concoctions that use animal horns or genitalia as aphrodisiacs are complete baloney.
First of all, let’s look at this from the customer’s perspective. Some person walks into a traditional “medicine” shop wanting to buy some kind of aphrodisiac made from some kind of animal. The merchant sells him a powder, tells him how to use it, and takes his money. The customer then leaves, eager to try out his new “treatment.” What the customer doesn’t know, is that these powders are frequently counterfeits. The consumer thinks he’s buying ground up tiger penis, rhino horn, or hippo tooth, but what he’s really getting is a fake. He’s just thrown his money away. So, from a consumer advocacy standpoint, people are often just wasting their money at many of these traditional “medicine” shops.
Turns out, though, that even if they were getting their money’s worth, they still wouldn’t be getting their money’s worth. Ground up animal parts have no therapeutic value whatsoever. They’re a waste of people’s time and money, and they’re a waste of an animal's life, because they don’t do anything. They’re complete placebos. If you really want to help yourself with a placebo, take a sugar pill. They’re cheaper and probably taste better. The horns and teeth of big, impressive animals are chemically useless to people. The only reason traditionalists put them in “medicines” in the first place is because of the naïve notion that, if you consume something from a powerful animal, then that animal’s power will be transmitted to you. Psychologically there may be some truth to that, but that kind of spiritual energy can be obtained just as easily by admiring a photograph or observing the magnificent, living creature itself, as it can be by destroying the very thing you want to emulate so much.
These powders and concoctions are not medicines, and I am sick of hearing people refer to them as such. Medicines come either from detailed research in a scientific or clinical setting, or from careful observation in a traditional setting. Most drugs, therefore, come from plants or minerals, and not from the flesh of animals. Flesh offers us protein, which is why we need some meat in our diet. But flesh does not provide us with medicine, and no concoction made from mutilated animals changes that.
The simple truth is that ignorance and greed are perpetuating the animal trafficking business. I don’t think we’ll put a stop to human greed anytime soon. However, we are pretty good at combating ignorance with information and education. The more people know that animal parts are not medicinal, the better we’ll be able to protect wildlife.
Gaddy Bergmann
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