34 



THE OSPREY. 



What the Bible Has Done for the Protection of Birds. 



BY OTTO WIDMANX. 



SOME years ag-o, while in the country, 

 I became g^reatly provoked by 

 some boys who took pride in killing- 

 every bird which their g-uns could reach. 

 My remonstrances were of no avail, and 

 knowing them to be children of ver^' 

 religious parents, I begged the priest to 

 use his influence, saying, that I felt 

 sure a word from him would have the 

 desired effect. At the same time 



i ventured the question, whether he 

 ever pointed out in his teachings the sin- 

 fulness of wanton destruction of God's 

 creatures, such as the killing of birds for 

 the mere fun of it, as the boys call it. 



This answer astonished me greatly. 

 He said: "There is nothing in our relig- 

 ion which makes the killing of animals a 

 sin. We hold that God has created all 

 thing-s for man, plants and animals, in 

 fact everything in existence has been 

 created for man; if he finds pleasure in 

 killing birds, we can see no sin in it. 

 Do we not hear that our presidents are 

 going hunting every now and then? How 

 could it be a sin? If it is no sin to kill 

 ducks, why should it be a sin to kill 

 smaller birds? These poor boys cannot 

 hire steamboats or railroads to reach 

 what you call game birds, but they take 

 as much pleasure in shooting- as the rich 

 men who can afford such things." 



This was a complete surprise, almost 

 stunning, and like a drowning man tak- 

 ing hold of the last thing within reach, 

 I took recourse to the plea that these 

 birds render good services to husbandry- 

 by destroying noxious insects; but he 

 replied coolly that in his estimation one 

 pound of arsenic is worth more as an in- 

 sect destroyer than all my birds. 



This conversation was quite a revela- 

 tion to me. In the simplicity of my heart 

 the idea had never occurred to me theit 

 anything was created for me, so that I 

 should find pleasure in destroying it. I 

 had always entertained the highest de- 

 gree of respect for everything in God's 

 beautiful creation. I knew that the law 

 of self-preservation compels us to take 

 the life of animals in order to provide 

 the food necessary for our sustenance. 

 We are also forced to kill those animals 

 which are robbing- us of our stores, or are 

 destroying our crops in the fields, menace 



our lives, our health or well-being. But 

 all this is done as an act of necessity and 

 in strict accordance with the law of self- 

 preservation. Can we say that all the 

 things which are appropriate for our 

 use. are especially created for us? With 

 the same right could the grub that bores 

 into the heart of the beautiful oak say 

 that the oak is created for the grub; or 

 the wheat and corn for the chinch bug. 

 It is true that the Bible says that every- 

 thing is created for man; but it does not 

 say that it is created for man to be destroy- 

 ed at his pleasure. It is created to be ad- 

 mired, to be loved and protected by him. 

 The same superior intellect, which makes 

 man the master of the earth, and gives 

 him the power to destroy, g-ives him also 

 the power to protect. It is not the Bible 

 that teaches that everything is to be 

 destroyed by man; it is the false inter- 

 pretation of the Bible. The Bible also 

 teaches to love the beautiful works of 

 nature, because it says that God has 

 made every little thing with His loving 

 hands. It is only the interpreter who 

 seeks to suppress this love of Nature be- 

 cause he is afraid that it opposes, or at 

 least detracts from the only desirable 

 love, the love of the church. 



If I expected the priest to take my view 

 in regard to the slaughter of innocent 

 birds, I was mistaken, I might have 

 known better. Were we not told that 

 the Pope himself found pastime and re- 

 cre.ttion in netting- and killing the song-- 

 birds on their way from the north of 

 Europe to Africa, though in mitigation 

 of the seeming barbarity we hear that he 

 ate but few himself and gave the rest to 

 the poor. 



Sheer decency rebels against the 

 acceptance of such axioms as those, that 

 everything is created solely for man, to 

 be destroyed at his will, and that the 

 killing of birds is an innocent pastime. 



Such a teaching not only fosters arro- 

 gance and injustice, but it produces cru- 

 elty and encourages the lowest instincts 

 in man, destructiveness and murder. 

 How much injurious influence this false 

 doctrine has exerted on the moral devel- 

 o])ment of mankind can only be surmised, 

 but that the birds have suffered greatly 

 under its dominance is only too obvious. 



