They Asked For It

"Orang asli fights off tiger with rock" - The Star, 7 Feb '10

Every time i read the papers and come across such headline, the first thought that comes to mind is, "Why did the animal attack the person in the first place?". I am one who always believe that animals, unlike humans, do not cause harm without a reason. Nine out of 10 times, they are probably threatened into doing so. It annoys me too that most media often report such stories by either playing up the injuries or taking a victim's-courageous-fight-for-life angle. What about the cause?

So this recent incident talks about a man who went into the forest to collect petai, got attacked by a lurking tiger and escaped by fighting off the mammal. He even played the pity card: "Asked whether the attack would deter him from going back into the forest, Yok Meneh said he had no choice but to continue as his family’s survival depended on the produce he collected."

Then, yesterday, i came upon this headline which made me happy:

"Orang asli was trying to kill tiger, not collect petai" - The Star, 9 Feb '10

Finally! After so many reports that paint a horrible and false image of animals, the truth is highlighted. The idiot caught the tiger in a snare and when he returned to kill it a few days later, he was attacked. Unfortunately, the tiger did not survive. They found his body few meters away and his detached limb still in the snare. And, authorities reveal that there are no petai in that forest so his whole collect-petai-need-money shebang is bullshit. He's lucky he walked away with just a 15.2cm deep wound on his back for all the torture that he has done on the poor mammal who is merely trying to survive in a world of selfish humans.

I remember Steve Irwin once said something along these lines:

"We teach you how to watch out for crocodiles because we want to keep you safe. By keeping you safe, we keep the animals safe because more often than not, every time after an attack (regardless if it's the human's fault), the animal ends up being killed."

So fucking true. We are the beasts. Not them.