Life as you see

[Dr Dendrophile]

Why is it that wildlife isn't seen as the greatest creation in everyone's eyes?
how is it that people prefer the concrete jungle over the real jungle?

 

[Osedax]

I have no idea.

 

[Zoofan15]

Why is it that wildlife isn't seen as the greatest creation in everyone's eyes?
how is it that people prefer the concrete jungle over the real jungle?

Because value is about perception and we all have different perceptions. Some people either don’t understand or don’t want to understand the value of wildlife. Some people need to see a direct, tangible benefit of an animal to them; and if they can’t, they may perceive it as worthless.

Even then, it’s not black and white. I value wildlife as much as the next ZooChatter, but the Huntsman spider (with a leg span of up to 15cm) would test even my limits. An Australian man however is delighted to have this arachnid in his home, citing its value for eradicating cockroaches. Others would bust out the biggest can of bug spray they could find.

 

[Jambo]

Even then, it’s not black and white. I value wildlife as much as the next ZooChatter, but the Huntsman spider (with a leg span of up to 15cm) would test even my limits. An Australian man however is delighted to have this arachnid in his home, citing its value for eradicating cockroaches. Others would bust out the biggest can of bug spray they could find.

There is no way that thing would be staying in my house whether it takes care of cockroaches or not!

 

[Dr Dendrophile]

when their natural habitat is taken over or destroyed by humans they tend to invade our habitat.
also creating nature reserves or centres would help these animals and creatures remain in the wild. do you think that spider wants to be in a house no. they have as much right as us on this earth. plus if you show no threat 9 times out of 10 they wont harm you.

 

[Dr Dendrophile]

9 out of 10 of the worlds deadliest animals or creatures can be found in Australia. considering that from 2000 to 2013, only 64 victims lost their lives. that is like 5 people a year in the worlds deadliest country.

 

[Simon Hampel]

Horses are the most deadly animal in Australia in that they cause more "animal related" deaths than any other creature. Typically from riders falling off of them - 77 deaths in 10 years.

Cows are the second most deadly - 33 deaths, 16 of which were by causing motor vehicle accidents, the rest from trampling or piercing.

27 deaths from dog attacks.

If you want to discount people falling off horses or drivers crashing because of a cow, because they are not "attacks", then the animal which causes the most deaths as a result of attacks on humans, is probably the dog.

It's a much more interesting discussion if you don't focus only on deaths, but rather on hospitalisations - serious attacks that don't necessarily result in death. Australia is one of leading developers of antivenom in the world - people will generally survive a snake bite if they can get to a hospital. Nobody has died from a spider bite in something like 50 years for the same reason - plenty of antivenom available.

 

[Greaterbilby]

Because value is about perception and we all have different perceptions. Some people either don’t understand or don’t want to understand the value of wildlife. Some people need to see a direct, tangible benefit of an animal to them; and if they can’t, they may perceive it as worthless.

Even then, it’s not black and white. I value wildlife as much as the next ZooChatter, but the Huntsman spider (with a leg span of up to 15cm) would test even my limits. An Australian man however is delighted to have this arachnid in his home, citing its value for eradicating cockroaches. Others would bust out the biggest can of bug spray they could find.

View attachment 657706

A very conclusive answer

 

[Greaterbilby]

Indeed a lot of people don't see wildlife as something unique. Many would proceed to conserve some animals only where they see that it is useful for their lives (eg they eat animals we consider "bad"). For centuries, apex predatores were seen as a threat for humans and livestock and only when things got to the limit, we decided we need them. Moreover, some nations, traditionally protect or not some animals as part of their culture