Shark Whisperer

I suppose the main issue with Jaws is not that it presents a terrifying man-eating shark, it's more that it's an exceptionally well-made film and a remarkable stand out amongst monster movies.

So many monster films come and go but Jaws is a phenom with staying power, the artistic intent wasn't to kill a bunch of sharks (as an interview states on my VHS copy), but it's still a huge thorn in activist's sides.

Ocean Ramsey is an incredible animal activist who has chosen to spend her life defending sharks, alongside her husband Juan Oliphant who films her activities off the Hawaiian coast.

She's been in love with the ocean since but a wee lass growing up on the island, gravitating towards sharks as time passed her work leading to a ban on shark fishing in Hawaii.

She has no fear of the animals and even cozies up with massive Jawsesque great whites, swimming with them without a scuba tank since she can hold her breath for 6.5 minutes.

She's been doing it for so long that she recognizes dozens of the sharks she swims with, who also recognize her and can indeed be called shark friends.

Her knowledge of shark behaviour is highly-regarded by some scientists, who often frown upon pseudo-science but still appreciate what she's done.

I imagine animal peeps will love her, her love of animals is contagious, and the work she does is monumental in raising shark awareness across the land.

Sharks do attack people from time to time but the general frequency remains quite low, I imagine they're much like bear attacks and bears hardly ever kill people.

If I remember the stats from Kevin Van Tigham's Bears (Altitude Superguide) correctly, they only killed around 98 people in North America in the 20th century, they're no doubt frightening in the cultural unconscious, but they're often more afraid of people than they are of them.

The key with Jaws and other monster movies is to remember that they're works of fiction, and although their tales invite sensation, they're not realistic in the slightest.

Unfortunately, many people don't see it that way and confuse the fiction for reality.

Which is why documentaries like Shark Whisperer are so important.

Like it frequently states, sharks need protection.

*A note advertising Shark Whisperer could be displayed on copies of Jaws purchased or rented physically or online. 

The Freshman

One of the strangest phenomenons I discovered while reading animal-themed literature in my youth, was found in Farley Mowat's Sea of Slaughter which I couldn't find the strength to finish.

It's a remarkably detailed account of mass extinction in North America, of the myriad species that have gone extinct since ye olde Columbus finally landed.

It was too sad for me to get through and the lack of sustainable development initiatives was disheartening, environmental groups pushed aside with much more authority and infantilization than they are these days.

The general lack of concern for the lives of integral multidimensional animals, reminds me of a made-for-TV film they used to show every year in my youth.

It was designed to encourage children to stop caring about farm animals, in the film a young child passionately loves their pet, who is one day destined for the dinner table.

By the end, they have accepted that their good friend indeed had to be sacrificed, and even though they're rather sad, they still get on with work and play.

I didn't buy it, I still felt bad for the innovative animal friend who had to be slaughtered, and although many other viewers accepted the outcome, I never really saw why it was shown across the land.

Wanting the schoolyard teasing and criticisms to stop I never really pushed the matter, however, and went about my daily routine as other shows appeared on television.

Nevertheless, in Sea of Slaughter Mr. Mowat thoughtfully points out, that when some bird species were going extinct, scientists killed many of the last remaining individuals.

They did so so they could preserve their stuffed remains within a display case, and write about their lives and habits with ominous summative elaboration.

Why they didn't try to save the species was what surprised me the most, in my youth they were the ones dependably engaged to protect endangered animals.

Why does the carnal instinct to embrace death with misguided enthusiasm, still drive so many psychotics like the ones you find within The Freshman?

Fortunately, as the film demonstrates, clever entrepreneurs consistently cheat them.

But what for a world where it wasn't necessary?

To stop people cashing in on death.

*I don't know if it's a must-see for Godfather fans, but I recommend it, it's well done.  

Rio

I didn't think people wanted to keep birds as pets anymore, let alone exotic ones, or I at least figured the practise had remarkably decreased in recent years, but perhaps that was only in Canada and Québec, I admit I haven't read anything about it in quite some time, but ye old Rio brings it back into the forefront, meaning it must still be a problem, in different jurisdictions, around the world.

To reiterate the arguments that convinced me that keeping birds as pets was wrong, it boils down to the fact that they can fly, and it's therefore a horrible thing to keep them locked up in cages.

Even if some birds may be crappy at flying, they still cover thousands of kms in flight over the years, many habitually migrating as the seasons change, that must be a cool way to live.

If a lifeform is capable of flight and soaring from one tenacious treetop to the next, is it not extremely cruel to keep it in a cage, where it has nothing to do but lament its miserable situation?

Thoughts of soaring high above the magnificent clouds in search of food and friends and play, no doubt torment downcast birds in cages as they spend their entire lives excruciatingly jailed.

The horrors of the pandemic may serve as an example of what it's like for birds in cages (and other animals too), the extremely frustrating prolonged time when we were forced to spend so many hours at home.

It was for a good reason that is to stop the pestiferous spread of dispiriting plague, but what a horrible thing indeed to have to spend so much time locked down in isolation.

Caged birds routinely share this horror and understand where we're coming from accordingly, and pet owners should therefore think twice before locking a bird down in a cage.

Of course Rio's Blu can't fly and consequently becomes closely attached to his caring owner, the two forging a loving dynamic as she actively comes of age.

But she doesn't know that he's an endangered species until the day when an ornithologist from Brazil comes calling.

Having located a potential bird companion.

The two the last known representatives of their species.

Rio perhaps spends too much time making arguments which justify the possession of exotic birds, not to mention keeping them as pets, and not enough time focused on freedom, which seems like it should be the film's raison d'être.

Freedom is the focus in the end, nevertheless, when the poachers are thwarted and the beasties fall in love.

It's not worth the money to cage wild birds from the jungle.

The profits are limitless if you let them soar free. 

Gorillas in the Mist

So many creatures inhabiting the Earth, passing the time, independently existing, their unique characteristics quintessentially unravelling holistic wonders and symbiotic serendipity. 

There must be a special day to commemorate the people who spend their lives protecting endangered species (or animals in general), who defend them through thick and thin with athletic devotion and spiritual incandescence. 

These amazing people make great sacrifices to defend species who can't defend themselves. In some cases risking everything to boldly defend their animate rights and biodiverse habitats. 

Gorillas in the Mist follows Dian Fossey as she defends the lives of Mountain Gorillas, in the far off reaches of the Congo she just dropped everything and moved there one day (and never moved back).

Her initial job is to count them which she does with adoring praise, I wonder what it was like, the first moment she saw one, not as displayed in the film but as a bona fide fact of life.

In the film she adapts incredibly well and doesn't focus too much on her previous existence, she maintains some creature comforts but is otherwise %1,000 committed to the Gorillas.

She fights the poachers as well and also takes on broad zookeeping interests, not just with petitions and rhetoric she vigorously combats them at the grassroots level. 

The zookeeper has high ranking friends whom she must clearly convince to honour Gorilla kind, her work permit at times hanging in the balance while she ruffles feathers with genuine righteousness. 

That isn't to say her life's one big conflict where she consistently engages in rambunctious reform, she spends most of her time reverently studying the dynamic Gorillas at play.

That would be cool to sit back and observe such a vigorous species for years on end, gentle giants living off vegetation their inquisitive babies beyond cute and cuddly.

As the years pass she grows tired of the continuous poaching in the mountains, and turns into quite the warrior when she isn't immersed in study.

She confronts poachers with bellicose sincerity and her reciprocal methods produce results.

But she's far too efficient in the end.

Which leads them to hunt her as well.

Nevertheless, she gave her life to courageously defend the ontological interests of an endangered species. 

I'll always consider her with reverence. 

Jane Goodall too (chimpanzees).

And so many others.