Desensitisation

948: 

I heard on the radio today that they’d built an artificial reef out of steel,  somewhere off Sydney,  twelve metres tall and seven hundred cubic meters in volume, to attract fish; not for their general welfare but for the pleasure of recreational fishers. And then the scientists,  always thirsty for data,  get in on the act. They’re hoping to capture not-too-big sharks and tag them ... by irrigating them in the bottom of their boats to keep them alive while they cut them open,  insert a tracking device internally along with some antibiotics to reduce the risk of infection,  suture the wound and return them to the sea. What with barbed hooks, unanaesthetised surgery and suffocation, it’s no picnic for the fish.  But who cares about them?

It just goes to show how de-sensitised people are to all this violence towards ‘dumb animal life’,  whether it’s birds, mammals or fish.  It illustrates how slowly consciousness is progressing,  how empathy for non-humans is so weak.