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He’s beautiful. So sad that they have these amazing animals in FISH MARKETS!
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It’s actually bestial to catch and eat these intelligent creatures.
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I don’t like seeing them in tanks either…
Often find myself contemplating what our planet would be like if we left God’s creatures to their own business, and if we were to relate to them with higher intelligence and friendship than what this so-called “crown of creation” exhibits in modern times…
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In my 20s my husband had a medical job in far north Western Australia - in a mining town. I’m Australian so I can say that it was the most boring town on the planet. Couldn’t swim even though we lived overlooking the beach - sea snakes, stone fish, sharks, all venomous. So in the afternoons I used to walk around the rock pools playing with many octopus who were looking for a fun time. They were very playful and lovely. They spat at me! So I bought a water pistol to gently spit back. We had range wars! That’s how BORING it was!
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Thanks for sharing your lovely story with us, Gregans28. It sounds like your experiences in communing with octopuses is something you will remember for the remainder of your life.
For many years, I loved reading books by Dr. Marc Bekoff PhD (now professor emeritus), who was interested in the emotional lives of animals. A couple of years ago, he asked marine biologist Dr. Danna Staaf to describe her book: “The Lives of Octopuses and their Relatives”:
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They are so beautiful and intelligent. I haven’t eaten seafood for many years. People are so thoughtless and cruel. Perhaps the cruelty should be experienced by the perps. Humans are destroying the other species and the planet. A rude awakening needed!
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You know, I think our civilization is there, in the “rude awakening” stage.
But I’ve seen a glimmer of hope… , I’ve recently read a book, “Animals in Heaven? A Catholic Pastoral Response to Questions about Animals” by a Catholic priest, Father Terry Martin – that actually speaks to this issue (man’s cruelty to other species and the planet). When we begin to see this topic filter into the churches, then this gives me hope in a turnaround to a different way of thinking about our fellow creatures.
A beautiful passage from a prayer in that book (p. 75)
"What is a charitable heart? It is a heart which is burning with charity for the whole of creation, for men and women, for the birds, for the beasts – for all creatures. He who has such a heart cannot see or call to mind a creature without his eyes becoming filled with tears by reason of the immense compassion which seizes his heart; a heart which is softened and can no longer bear to see or learn from others of any suffering, even the smallest pain, being inflicted upon a creature. This is why such a person never ceases to pray also for the animals…that they may be preserved and purified. That person will pray even for the reptiles, moved by the infinite pity which reigns in the hearts of those who are becoming united to God. Father, give me and all the world a heart such as this [through Jesus Christ our Lord]. Amen. (St. Isaac of Nineveh, ca. 613-ca.700; slightly adapted)
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…looks kind of familiar… 