“I know how to save the rhinos,” my co-worker Apollonia
announced at lunch the other day. “Really. It amazes me that no one has thought
of this before.”
“Enlighten us,” I said.
She eyed me balefully. “You’ll think this is stupid, I know.
But hear me out. People are killing rhinos because they want their horns,
right? The greatest threat to rhinos is human beings, because they want their
horns. So we corral all the rhinos, and tranquilize them, and remove their
horns. Then there’s no reason for the poachers to kill them.”
I didn’t respond right away. Finally I covered my nose with
my hand and said: “Ow!”
She scowled. “It wouldn’t hurt them. A rhino horn is made of
keratin. It’s like a fingernail. They don’t need it.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s obvious.”
“What if it’s necessary to life as a rhino? What if –“
“Oh, they don’t use it for anything. They prance around, and
jab one another with it.”
“Maybe,” I said, “girl rhinos judge boy rhinos by their
horns. Maybe girl rhinos won’t be interested in boy rhinos anymore if the boy
rhinos don’t have horns.”
“You,” Apollonia declared, “have no idea what you’re talking
about.”
I ignored the obvious ridiculousness of this statement.
“Okay,” I said. “So now what?”
“So,” Apollonia said, eyes glittering, “we need to put the
idea out there. On the Internet.”
“Geez,” I said. “I don’t know anything about the Internet.
How would we do a thing like that? Unless you want me to write about it in my
blog, and use your real name - ”
“No!” she shrieked. “Don’t you dare!”
So there you are, kids.
Of course, there are also groups like rhinoconservation.org, which
address the issue more directly.
But think about dear Apollonia’s idea.
Not very good, is it?
But her heart is in the right place.
Go visit rhinoconservation.org,
and see what you think.
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