A recent national news article written by Nicole Darrah tells the sad story of a dolphin that was discovered stranded on a Florida beach last week.
The rare specimen of a deep-water species known as a “rough-tooth dolphin” was first found on Tuesday of last week beached near Fort Myers. The poor creature was still alive, but was emaciated and in obvious ill health. For these reasons, according to the Fort Myers News-Press, authorities decided to euthanize it on site.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rough-tooth dolphins, whose normal diet consists of squid and fish, live throughout the world in tropical climates. Here in the United States, at least, they are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
While no one yet knows the age of this particular specimen, it is believed that, under optimal circumstances, individual rough-tooth dolphins can live for more than 36 years in the wild.
What is known about this individual specimen is that biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission disclosed on Facebook that they had found two plastic bags full of trash along with a shredded piece of a balloon in its stomach!
Researchers stated that the presence of the garbage inside of the dolphin's stomach was "a significant finding”. They also shared that, at the very least, this trash "highlights the need to reduce single use plastic and to not release balloons into the environment."
But scientists also pointed out that “there are many additional factors to consider, such as underlying illness, disease and maternal separation, before a final cause of stranding and death for the dolphin can be determined."
Florida Fish and Wildlife added that those who come across stranded marine mammals should resist the normal impulse to assist the animal by pushing it back into the water, "as it can delay examination and treatment and often results in the animal re-stranding in worse condition."
According to the article, anyone happening upon any such stranded marine mammal(s) should contact Wildlife Alert at 888-404-3922 instead.
Like most any human being with compassion reading this article, I could not help but feel pity for this poor creature. I know it was in the animal’s best interest to euthanize it; but I still would rather that it had never suffered to begin with.
I do not know whether the dolphin first ate the trash and then became sick; or whether it was already sick and then ate the trash as an easy meal, as it were.
But this much I do know: eating trash under any circumstances is not healthy! Clearly, doing so will inevitably only serve to make one sick, to complicate whatever illness one already has, and/or most likely hasten one’s demise in the process.
For these reasons, I like to think that I myself would never deliberately consume trash. I hope you would not either. Nonetheless, the simple truth is that men and women consume trash all day long!
Now, I’m not necessarily talking here about physical trash. (Albeit, with my own eyes, I once saw a man in Grand Central Station in New York City retrieve a half-eaten hot dog, recently discarded by someone else, from a trash can and eat it!)
I am talking about the trash that people willfully consume through their eyes and ears all throughout the day and night. Simply put, a significant portion of what is paraded before us each and every day by the media, whether in print, electronic, or digital form, could best be described as trash! As such, it is full of filth, stench, and harmful pathogens, especially to our souls!
As a child, we used to sing the little ditty that goes like this:
O be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above
He is looking down in love
So, be careful little eyes what you see!
O be careful little ears what you hear
O be careful little ears what you hear
For the Father up above
He is looking down in love
So, be careful little ears what you hear!
As the master of temptation, Satan knows full well what looks good to our eyes and what sounds good to our ears and what tastes good to our palate! But as Shakespeare said, “not all that glitters is gold”, and not everything that purports to be good is actually good for us!
Little wonder then that Jesus included the following in the Lords’ Prayer (in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 13 at the beginning of His ministry): “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Little wonder as well that He also told His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane (in the same New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verse 41 near the end of His ministry) to: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
For these reasons, I offer this admonishment. Be careful, little eye, what entices you! Be careful, little mouth, what you bite! Be careful, little throat, what you swallow! Be careful, little Christian, what you consume! You may not have the stomach for it in the end!
SOURCE: https://www.foxnews.com/science/dolphin-stranded-florida-beach-trash-belly, published April 28, 2019.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES: https://biblehub.com/matthew/6-13.htm and https://biblehub.com/matthew/26-41.htm.
SEE ALSO: http://childbiblesongs.com/song-12-be-careful-little-eyes.shtml; as well as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_that_glitters_is_not_gold.
The rare specimen of a deep-water species known as a “rough-tooth dolphin” was first found on Tuesday of last week beached near Fort Myers. The poor creature was still alive, but was emaciated and in obvious ill health. For these reasons, according to the Fort Myers News-Press, authorities decided to euthanize it on site.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rough-tooth dolphins, whose normal diet consists of squid and fish, live throughout the world in tropical climates. Here in the United States, at least, they are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
While no one yet knows the age of this particular specimen, it is believed that, under optimal circumstances, individual rough-tooth dolphins can live for more than 36 years in the wild.
What is known about this individual specimen is that biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission disclosed on Facebook that they had found two plastic bags full of trash along with a shredded piece of a balloon in its stomach!
Researchers stated that the presence of the garbage inside of the dolphin's stomach was "a significant finding”. They also shared that, at the very least, this trash "highlights the need to reduce single use plastic and to not release balloons into the environment."
But scientists also pointed out that “there are many additional factors to consider, such as underlying illness, disease and maternal separation, before a final cause of stranding and death for the dolphin can be determined."
Florida Fish and Wildlife added that those who come across stranded marine mammals should resist the normal impulse to assist the animal by pushing it back into the water, "as it can delay examination and treatment and often results in the animal re-stranding in worse condition."
According to the article, anyone happening upon any such stranded marine mammal(s) should contact Wildlife Alert at 888-404-3922 instead.
Like most any human being with compassion reading this article, I could not help but feel pity for this poor creature. I know it was in the animal’s best interest to euthanize it; but I still would rather that it had never suffered to begin with.
I do not know whether the dolphin first ate the trash and then became sick; or whether it was already sick and then ate the trash as an easy meal, as it were.
But this much I do know: eating trash under any circumstances is not healthy! Clearly, doing so will inevitably only serve to make one sick, to complicate whatever illness one already has, and/or most likely hasten one’s demise in the process.
For these reasons, I like to think that I myself would never deliberately consume trash. I hope you would not either. Nonetheless, the simple truth is that men and women consume trash all day long!
Now, I’m not necessarily talking here about physical trash. (Albeit, with my own eyes, I once saw a man in Grand Central Station in New York City retrieve a half-eaten hot dog, recently discarded by someone else, from a trash can and eat it!)
I am talking about the trash that people willfully consume through their eyes and ears all throughout the day and night. Simply put, a significant portion of what is paraded before us each and every day by the media, whether in print, electronic, or digital form, could best be described as trash! As such, it is full of filth, stench, and harmful pathogens, especially to our souls!
As a child, we used to sing the little ditty that goes like this:
O be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above
He is looking down in love
So, be careful little eyes what you see!
O be careful little ears what you hear
O be careful little ears what you hear
For the Father up above
He is looking down in love
So, be careful little ears what you hear!
As the master of temptation, Satan knows full well what looks good to our eyes and what sounds good to our ears and what tastes good to our palate! But as Shakespeare said, “not all that glitters is gold”, and not everything that purports to be good is actually good for us!
Little wonder then that Jesus included the following in the Lords’ Prayer (in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 13 at the beginning of His ministry): “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Little wonder as well that He also told His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane (in the same New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, verse 41 near the end of His ministry) to: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
For these reasons, I offer this admonishment. Be careful, little eye, what entices you! Be careful, little mouth, what you bite! Be careful, little throat, what you swallow! Be careful, little Christian, what you consume! You may not have the stomach for it in the end!
SOURCE: https://www.foxnews.com/science/dolphin-stranded-florida-beach-trash-belly, published April 28, 2019.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES: https://biblehub.com/matthew/6-13.htm and https://biblehub.com/matthew/26-41.htm.
SEE ALSO: http://childbiblesongs.com/song-12-be-careful-little-eyes.shtml; as well as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_that_glitters_is_not_gold.