Where once we slaughtered whales, now we grieve for them | Philip Hoare
by Philip Hoare from on (#10J2Q)
Whales are utopian creatures that we reinvent according to our culture. Now, when one swims up the Thames or dozens hurl themselves on a beach, we intervene
The stranding of 80 pilot whales on an Indian beach is a physical confrontation. It addresses the chasm between ourselves and the natural world. On one hand a sleek, beautiful animal is driven, by loyalty, to follow its fellow whales on to land in a seeming act of mass suicide. On the other, humans make desperate attempts to return these creatures to the sea.
No one can give an adequate explanation for these events. Bad weather, changing shorelines and physiological infection may play their part. But so too do we, by pumping anthropogenic noise into their world. As idyllic as the Indian Ocean may seem, it is throbbing beneath the surface with the sound of constant traffic carrying the consumer goods that fuel our world.
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