Man has to survive on this earth for which food is vital. So are the other fellow creatures which share the Planet's food resources. Evolution has bestowed on man the superior brain power that helped him to establish supremacy over other species. In the process many weaker species became food material for man besides the plant foods. Many believe that there is adequate food to go around for all without any need for over exploitation and pushing many species into extinction. The indiscriminate lust for food seems to have caused temporary blindness to the destruction being caused and the threat posed in the long term to the very existence of this planet. Only lately some realization is dawning on man that he must learn to co-exist with other creatures without endangering finely balanced Eco system that was inherited from his predecessors.
Here is an example of the mindless obsession with food that is causing irreparable damage to the environment besides obliterating a whole species from the face of this planet. An 'appeal" from the 'Global Frog Association' reproduced below, is self explanatory:
" We belong to the amphibian species and number over 6000 types. Though we may not be as beautiful as the aquarium fishes, man admires and covets our 'legs' like exciting women which makes us run for cover to escape from their evil thinking. They say our hind legs which give us our springiness and hoping ability are excellent food material, even better than our other helpless brethren, chickens and nutritionally our legs provide 16% proteins, 3% good fat with 16.7% linoleic acid, 100 kC and only small quantity of cholesterol. While we are prepared to sacrifice some of us to satisfy the lust of human beings for food as we are naturally defenseless against such a powerful predator as man, we hate to be hunted out of this earth to permanent extinction. We have been totally eliminated from USA, Australia, Bangladesh and Costa Rica and are destined to disappear for ever from countries like India, Pakistan, Mexico, Cuba and others, hell-bent on capturing us, removing our legs and selling them to satisfy the greed for food in affluent countries like USA, Japan and Europe who tempt them with their Dollars, Yen, Pounds and Francs. What sins we have committed against human race to deserve this fate? Is it a crime to feed on the mosquitoes, the carriers of many diseases, and help humanity to save themselves from the travails of fatal diseases? Why should a country like Bangladesh finishes us off and then import 10 times more pesticides to fight mosquito menace. To our small brain it does not make any sense! "
"We understand that to make us part with our legs willingly, the processors put us alive in 10% salt water containing 250 ppm chlorine with the presumption that we do not feel the pain! But we know that they are doing this to make us sterile and free from germs so that they can eat our legs without any danger from germs like Salmonella! God only knows what we feel under such traumatic conditions we are exposed to. It is a small consolation that many processors do not let us out alive with hind legs removed that would have been unthinkable for creatures like us depending solely on our hind legs for mobility. Even in death we remain as a friend of man, since our remaining body serves as a feed material containing 65% proteins, 17% fat and 13.2% minerals, useful in raising more food materials. One third of our species already face imminent extinction and if adequate measures are not taken all of us will have to say good bye to our dear Mother Earth soon. While 69 fish species have been given the tag of endangered species, we continue to be neglected by the world fraternity, leaving us to our cursed fate. This is our last appeal to "save us" from extinction".
One of the reasons for this situation could be the difficulties being faced in breeding frogs under captivity though some suppliers claim they can offer such frogs. Unless and until scientific breeding under captivity becomes commercially feasible, international trade in frog legs must be banned and sooner it is done better it will be for the fragile environment in many countries facing ecological disaster because of the mass genocide of this helpless but man-friendly creature.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
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