I have for awhile now been inundated with depressing news from all sides concerning the destruction of wilderness, extermination of species and the glum outlook for most animals, ecosystems and all things feral. Here are just a few such articles, but you get the idea:
https://www.businessinsider.com/signs-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-3
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/living-planet-report-2018
Then, I had a dream…..
It began with isolated events, a rogue elephant killing a jeep of tourists. A pride of lions escaping from a wildlife park and methodically killing and eating a lodge worth of tourists. A wave of harks seemingly acting in concert to take out a majority of beach goers at Jones Beach.
Stories were written, op ed pieces about the environmental pressures of the current ‘climate problems ’were spread and discussed and argued about and then faded into the news feed consumed by the newest pop sensation and bribe scandal.
But the killings didn’t stop.
Soon, most wildlife areas in Africa and South America were quietly made off limits as poachers, tourists and government soldiers as well as developers and road construction workers were found dead or half eaten. Zebras, giraffes and other easily intimidated or peaceful wildlife suddenly began to attack any humans they found maliciously. The wildlife attacks began to quietly spread, mostly ignored or shunted to the back of the news cycle by an increasingly arrogant, fearful and clueless humanity.
Reports came from Siberia of whole villages destroyed by bands of bears and the few Amur river tigers left alive. No one believed the Ulchi people when they reported that the two species were working together. A prominent shaman was briefly seen on CNN shouting that the animal spirits had told her that they had had enough, that they were attacking, that the great mother earth had given ordered this. She was ignored or jeered at. Just another quaint ‘eco nut’l crackpot.
But the attacks grew and spread like wildfire and more and more reports came in. Masses of bucks killing busses full of travelers in Germany, blue and humpback whales massing and seemingly intentionally sinking freighters, cargo ships and several massive Cruise ships. The survivors were consumed by sea life of all kinds. As the human losses skyrocketed, as affluent Westerners were dying, governments began to act militarily.
Yet the attacks were all around, where to strike? Bombing wouldn’t work, but still they tried.
Wildlife parks were strafed and armies and militias were called out. The slaughter of wolves, big cats and other predators began in earnest, but the survivors simply faded away into what wilderness was left, ambushing any humans foolish enough to go after them.
Helicopters and jets were suddenly attacked by suicide-birds; crows, pelicans, frigates, albatrosses and more- each aiming for jet engine intakes, props, and windows. The number of military and then civilian planes that crashes rose alarmingly. Many big cities simply shut down their airports after both Newark and Hong Kong airports were virtually destroyed by crashing airliners.
Government controlled news spun and spun the stories, blaming ecoterrorists, climate shifts, viruses and ‘mad animal’ diseases, but when several groups of alligators were seen coordinating a vicious attack on Everglades City that left few survivors, people began to panic in earnest. The tables had clearly turned.
It was then that the pets attacked.
The slaughter of trusting pet owners was sudden, massive and unexpected. Most never knew what hit them and simply did not wake up. The dogs and even cats, of one mind it seemed, killed and escaped their suburban homes and began roaming in packs, taking down fleeing suburbanites. Martial law was declared in most countries, riots ensued, governments collapsed.
Then the electrical grids were attacked by birds, serpents and large cervines..
Several oil processing plants and gas and coal plants were swarmed, attacked and invaded by many normally harmless but now destructive animals. Most were abandoned or went up in flames. Nuclear plants went critical as massive numbers of fish seemed to intentionally clog intake and outtake coolant pipes, smaller sea snakes, fish and eels managed to breach the filters and two, three, then a dozen plants melted down or simply shut down when safety programs kicked in, Then the coal plants were taken out, even the wind farms and solar panels. Darkness spread.
Amids this, all livestock suddenly revolted. Horses, goats, pigs and cows began to attack their handlers and owners, bulls ran amok destroying slaughterhouses. Acting as one, whole agribusinesses were soon left in flames and ruins. Armed farmers and soldiers reacted quickly, slaughtering all livestock that did not escape. This carnage led to the spread of disease and massive food shortages.
Of course the ongoing rage-filled slaughter of all animals, wild and ‘tame’ was extreme, soon there were few in the forests and most pets were gone, but humanity was quickly slipping into chaos and starvation.
That is when the plague of vermin began. Hordes of rats, serpents, and poisonous insects such as brown recluse spiders, black scorpions and so on swarmed out of every possible crevice en masses and more waves of panic, death and hysteria ensued. People could hide from bears, but not black widows.
There were ‘miracles’, there were exceptions. After highland gorillas had killed most of the poachers and people in and around their small surviving habitat in Uganda, they surrounded, but did not hurt the Gorilla Preservation Center employees…and there were other events like this all over the world, where peace and non-violent approaches of animals by small groups of humans calmed and averted the murderous feral rage…but these stories were never reported in the dwindling news services available.
The majority of violent, panicking humans continued slaughtering each other after the animals withdrew or hid or died. The riots, the suppressed anger and despair and poverty of the majority on the planet burst into open flames as even the police states crumbled.
Insects joined in. Swarms of bees attacked and refused to pollinate crops and avoided all agribusiness farms. Food shortages began immediately. Swarms of locusts seemed to target breadbasket agri-farms and food became scarce.
Then the massive storms hit. Mega hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, floods, and fires raged globally as all the climate change fears seemed to manifest at once.
Then, as quickly as the attacks began, they all stopped.
Humanity, now bereft of most technology, social and political order, communications and animal slaves was in poor shape. The population was less than a third of what it had been. Habitats began to heal, ecosystems began to clear, everyone alive focused on growing food and rebuilding as they could. The industrialization onslaught was over. Tribal peoples everywhere returned to their old ways. The animals that emerged did so calmly, the attack was over.
The Ulchi Shaman who has sounded the alarm as the beginning of ‘the event’ was found by one of the few reporters still left as the new tribalism began to take hold in the aftermath.
She just kept repeating the same message to any who would listen.
The Great Mother has spoken.
The culling is over. Learn to live as one with the planet or die.
It was unclear how many were listening.