I was and continue to be disgusted by this story.
As I get older, I seem to be developing a greater empathy for animals and a diminishing one for fellow humans. Perhaps that is not uncommon. I don’t know how this creature’s life could be devalued in this way, and how a mob of humans living in the 21st century could be so thoughtless, so savage and ignorant. The baby was left to die in the sand once the selfies were taken. This dolphin’s age was the equivalent of a two year-old human child.
It died miserably, no doubt scared. It died alone.
Humans have been inherently cruel for as long as we’ve been around. The amount of pain we inflict on each other and the rest of the life on this planet knows no bounds.
It bothers me that there seems to be no empathy in many of us towards so-called lesser lifeforms. It bothers me to know that there are people still hunting for pleasure. The story has been with me for two weeks and I wanted to do or say something about it, to at least get it closed in my head.
I don’t know why it impacted me as it did, but this simple image is my way of giving a memorial to this little innocent, to this terrible incident, and to maybe let it live on a little longer in this imagined place, with this passive and non-interfering person watching it, perhaps protecting it, or at least mourning its passing.
Life is not trivial, it is rare in the known universe. If you can’t feel compassion for animals, it you find it in yourself to regard them as playthings, as inferior to you, then you are part of a very large problem in this world. As for selfies and the rather obvious and somewhat pathetic psychology behind them, I can only say that your obsessive need to document every fucking event in your life is your problem to work out, but it should never, ever result in a loss of life.
Michael Bilotta
March 1st, 2016
Sig Nordal 