Reports of bear attacks keep appearing in the news.
It feels as if we humans have forgotten that we, too, are animals — only a little more clever, and perhaps too clever for our own good.
The alarming term “emergency hunting” has become common, as bears wandering into villages are being shot one after another.
It was reported that the stomachs of the culled bears were completely empty.
They had come down from the mountains in search of food, where the acorns had failed.
As the weather turns colder, we might wish they would hibernate soon, but that seems unlikely.
A hungry bear can hardly sleep peacefully.
If we could imagine how a bear feels, perhaps we could find ways to avoid frightening one another.
Yet the mind of a wild animal is far harder to understand than that of a pet dog.
Humans like to think we can understand animals’ feelings.
But this awareness is, in truth, quite recent.
According to Descartes’ theory of “animal machines,” animals possess no mind or spirit,
and thus cannot feel pain, emotions, or any form of mental suffering.
But of course, that cannot be true.
If that isn’t joy, what else could it be?
We speak of animal welfare as if it were universal,
yet in reality it applies only to a few favored species.
Animals raised for food are mostly left out of that circle.
Eels, for instance, are on the brink of extinction, and still we continue to catch them.
By the time species like otters or crested ibises disappeared, it was already too late —
and still, humanity does not turn back.
Perhaps we justify it by saying we cannot let those who make their living from eels go hungry.
After all, humans are animals too.
Where, then, is the real difference between us and the others?
There is none.
And yet, we fear what we do not understand.
Fragile and vulnerable, humans have long used “intelligence” to survive and to dominate other species.
But now, that very intelligence may have begun to run out of control.
Perhaps the bears are only reminding us of that.
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