PETA

[Brigliadore]

Originally posted by FelinesAreFine
Animals aren't capable of premeditated murder.

Ever seen the movie The Ghost and the Darkness? It shows lions killing for sport in a rather premeditated way. Yah its got Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas in it, BUT it is based on a true story.
Sometimes for whatever reason an animal is born a little off in the head, and thats when unnatural things start to happen.

[FelinesAreFine]

Hey Bruce, I loooove that picture. I'm gonna frame it.

[FelinesAreFine]

Brigliadore, you believe everything that Hollywood makes? There's an old saying: "Although God cannot rewrite history, Hollywood can."

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally posted by Brigliadore
snip--Sometimes for whatever reason an animal is born a little off in the head, and thats when unnatural things start to happen.

Wow, I'm glad that never happens to people.

[Brigliadore]

Originally posted by FelinesAreFine
Brigliadore, you believe everything that Hollywood makes? There's an old saying: "Although God cannot rewrite history, Hollywood can."

I don't believe everything Hollywood makes, my mom is a screen writer and I grew up in that business, so I have a pretty healthy grasp on it. But it is a fact that those lions killed and they are stuffed and on display in the Chicago Field Museum. Here is the info on the display taken from the Field Museum's website.

In March 1898 the British started building a railway bridge over the Tsavo (SAH-vo) River in East Africa. Over the next nine months, two large male lions killed and ate nearly 140 railway workers. Crews tried to scare off the lions and built campfires and thorn fences for protection, but to no avail. Hundreds of workers fled Tsavo, halting construction on the bridge.

Before work could resume, chief engineer Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson (1865-1947) had to eliminate the lions and their threat. After many near misses, he finally shot the first lion on December 9, 1898, and three weeks later brought down the second. The first lion killed measured nine feet, eight inches (3 m) from nose to tip of tail. It took eight men to carry the carcass back to camp. The construction crew returned and completed the bridge in February 1899.

(The 1996 movie "The Ghost and the Darkness" was based on Patterson's adventures in Tsavo.)

A photo of one of the lions after being killed.

[Brigliadore]

For those that care the Chicago Field Museum has some photos on there web site taken while Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson was building the bridge in Tsavo. There are some neat photos of the railroad car used as a trap as well as the lion's cave entrance. I really love old black and white photos so I thought I would share.

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/...o/gallery.html

[FelinesAreFine]

You're going to equte my overweight 14 lb house cat to a 600 lb African Lion?

[Brigliadore]

Originally posted by FelinesAreFine
You're going to equte my overweight 14 lb house cat to a 600 lb African Lion?

I never said your house cat was on the same level as a lion. You said animals aren't capable of premeditated murder. I stated that I felt they were, and offered evidence to support that.

[ladysycamore]

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
Sweet lovable kitty cats.

[dar512]

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
Sweet lovable kitty cats.

Poor gerbil. Probably died of fright right after that picture.

[Slartibartfast]

Loner male lions are not very nice.
If they get the male lion of a pride to flee, they take over the pride.

Then, they usually kill all the cubs in order to cause the females to go into heat.

[BryanD]

Loner male cats are also known to kill kittens they come across, perhaps for the same reason.

[Lady Sidhe]

Old predators will kill a human as well, merely because they can't catch their normal prey, which is too fast for them. Wounded animals will kill in self-defense.
I don't think that animals who kill humans are necessarily "off"; it may simply be, in their view, self-defense--we do tend to just take over an animal's normal habitat, then bitch when the animal "retaliates," ie, when coyotes kill livestock that is penned on what used to be their hunting grounds, when individuals venture into an animal's territory.

While I think that animals do kill with premeditation--how can you not consider killing for food premeditation, after all--I don't believe they kill with MALICE. Animals will often NOT kill when killing would be to their benefit, such as when a wolf fights for dominance. When the other wolf shows submission, the dominant wolf stops fighting. A human would press the advantage and kill. The animal is much more civilized, due to instinct, than humans tend to be with rules for behavior. That's the difference between animals and humans. Humans tend to kill for either no reason, or for inadequate reason; animals kill for a purpose: food, defense, instinctual passing on of genes. We can't apply our morals to animals. If we aren't going to treat them with the same consideration with which we treat human beings, we shouldn't expect them to adhere to our standards.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.


Sidhe

[Crimson Ghost]

Originally Posted by FelinesAreFine

You're going to equte my overweight 14 lb house cat to a 600 lb African Lion?

Ever see a cat stalk a mouse? Same style as a lion.

In an examination of the skulls of "The Maneaters of Tsavo", it was found that the canine teeth were rotted out, causing them to seek easier prey. (Discovery Channel)
Lady Sidhe - "Old predators will kill a human as well, merely because they can't catch their normal prey, which is too fast for them."

I can understand why the lions were hunting humans. We are a good source of protein, and one 150 lb. male yeilds about 60-75 pounds of edible meat. We taste a little like beef, pork, or chicken, but that varies from person to person.

[Lady Sidhe]

From what I've been told, animals only kill humans for food when they must, because animals supposedly don't really like human flesh. I don't know why. TS would probably know more about that.

Sidhe