Is the life of a shark useless? To some it seems so. While I don’t really care for any face-to-face encounters in the wild with sharks, I certainly do not wish them harm. I believe in the motto of live and let live. Therefore, I have a hard time understanding why so many people disregard the life of other living creatures. It saddens me to see a blatant disregard for animals. And I’m not talking about walking past all the meat in the grocery store, that’s a whole other story that is even bigger than this issue.
I’m talking about some of the things I’ve seen in recent months that turn other living species into mere objects. I’m referring to the many things that gift shops sell as souvenirs, which really shouldn’t be considered as such. Walk into many gift shops here in Florida and you are sure to see such things like:
-Hardened and glazed baby alligator heads or bodies
-Insects and butterflies preserved and encased in glass for your long-time viewing pleasure.
-Live baby turtles you can keep in a tiny plastic carrier and fill with fluorescent colored stones.
-Beautiful seashells in abundance. Keep in mind that these shells were not found innocently on some beach. The majority of seashells sold in souvenir shops are the result of the marine animals purposely being killed so the suppliers can harvest their shells to sell.
-A whole array of other animal skins, heads, and pieces.
I bring this up because a few days ago while taking an overnight trip to Amelia Island, Fla. (near Jacksonville), I saw one of these examples. As I was strolling through the gift shops in the downtown area I came across dead baby sharks preserved and encased in glass bottles. They were on display and available for purchase as souvenir. I did a quick search online while writing this and they are readily available online as well. Seeing the baby shark in the bottle stopped me in my Teva’s as I just stared at this wasted life. It made me sad that this life was taken before it ever really had a chance to experience living. What a sad thing it is that these baby sharks made it to birth, only to be killed and placed in jars so that humans could buy one, look at it, set it in their home, maybe give it as a gag gift of sorts, etc.
