Kill It With Fire

As I've mentioned in a few past posts on this blog, I've never been a big fan of spiders - particularly the larger, hairier varieties.  I've gradually been able to increase my comfort level around them (I've even handled them on occasion), but I don't think I'll ever really enjoy their company.  One of my biggest fears every time I go to the tropics is finding myself in very close company with one.  As it stands, the only time I've ever encountered on in the wild was in Texas.

A lot of people don't like spiders.  Or scorpions, or roaches, or a host of other arthropods (though I've yet to meet anyone scared of butterflies).  I can respect that.   I personally have always been enamored with snakes, but I understand that those are animals that terrify (or at least discomfit) a lot of people.  Again, I can understand. 

What I don't like or respect is the frequent refrain of "kill it with fire," or any of its associated, overdramatic howls.  

From the Nintendo Switch game of the same title...

Partially this is out of respect for colleagues I have who do really care for and value insects and arachnids, and not wishing to upset them.  I know my jaw clenches every time I hear someone say that the only good snake is a dead snake.  The main part of it, however, is because that's not how I actually feel about spiders.

I don't especially like them.  I really don't like being surprised by them.  I certainly don't want them on me.  But that doesn't mean I want them to die.  And it's not just because I know that most of them are harmless to humans - because I don't wish death on the dangerous ones either.  It's not just that they have important roles to play in the ecosystem, limiting incest numbers.  It's that they are living things.  Now, I'm not a vegetarian, nor am I inherently opposed to hunting or fishing (sustainably).  I'd be ready to shoot an animal of a species that I really love if it was necessarily to save human life, like if a person fell into an exhibit and was in immediate danger.

It's just that I don't like the idea of killing something just because.

At zoos, aquariums, living museums, and nature centers, we shouldn't just be in the business of conservation and education.  We should be all about building empathy for living things.  That means rejecting sensationalism and drama (exhibits playing up how dangerous or scary some animals are).  Instead, it means teaching visitors to view all animals, not just the fluffy ones (or, including the fluffy ones that happen to have eight eyes and eight legs) not as monsters, but as living creatures deserving or respect, compassion, or - at a bare minimum - tolerance.