When Nature Protests

The accelerated growth of cities and populations results in the consumption of more and more of the planet’s natural resources. It reduces the space for animals on a global scale and puts species at risk. However, every now and then, nature makes itself heard through curious incidents that make us reflect on the responsibility we have to reduce humanity’s negative impact on the home that we all share.

BY BERENICE GUTIÉRREZ

The Gang of Killer Whales

An orca whale known as “Gladis” has spearheaded a series of attacks on small boats on the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. During May 2023 alone there were 20 recorded attacks by these mammals, and in some cases considerable damage was done and even resulted in the sinking of a yacht.

Alfredo López Fernández, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, has suggested the theory that “Gladis” was hit by a boat and that this traumatic experience could be the reason for the aggression. However, attacks by killer whales are not a new phenomenon and they have been increasing in the Iberian Sea since 2020.

Escobar’s Hippopotamuses

In the 1980s, the famous kingpin Pablo Escobar illegally imported four hippopotamuses for his private zoo in Hacienda Nápoles in Colombia. After Escobar’s death in 1994, most of the animals were relocated.

However, with an agility that would be the envy of any kingpin, the hippos managed to avoid capture, escaped the property and to their pleasure, they settled along the Magdalena River. Since then, they have reproduced enough to increase their population to about 130 specimens, putting the local ecosystem at risk.

Specialists have warned that the hippo population in Colombia must be controlled because these enormous mammals are considered a highly aggressive and invasive species. Among other problems, the hippopotamus plague has impacted water quality for humans and other species in the region.

Chernobyl Survivors

In April 1986, a nuclear accident caused the permanent evacuation of the population of Chernobyl in Ukraine. Now, 37 years after the tragedy, around 300 dogs are the only inhabitants of this exclusion zone, where they have come up with ways to find food and continue to reproduce.

Scientists that study these animals think they are descendants of the pets that were abandoned when the city’s inhabitants were forced to leave. Currently, the researchers hope that studying these canine heroes might lead to some lessons for humanity, including how to survive in the harshest and most devastated environments.

Long Live Stewie

Last March, a lamb that was only four months old escaped a slaughterhouse, causing chaos in the Canarsie neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. One video that went viral on social media shows the lamb running between vehicles along with a crowd of people who were trying to capture it.

After several minutes of intense chase, “Stewie” was recaptured and returned to the farm. That’s when the New Jersey organization Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue intervened. They launched a Facebook petition to allow the lamb to be taken to the sanctuary. Stewie’s owners were inundated with so many calls and messages that they decided to deliver him to the sanctuary. He will live happily ever after with other animals like Freddie, the fugitive cow, who made his own famous escape in 2016.