Sad news: baby elephant has died.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Beverly

The only animal that is as aggressive as humans are is other humans. So the question can only be, do we mourn the loss of others we kill in war? Personally, overall, I don't think so.

I guess to answer this one, we would have to ask someone who has actually killed someone else in a war. I don't want to keep answering for other people but I think you will find some very sobering responses from our war veterans. Even though it is not a popular thought in our hollywood-violence society, throughout every war prior to Vietnam, the recorded fireing rate for soldiers on the front line was 15-20%. That means that 80% of the soldiers would not even FIRE their weapons at the enemy - even to save their own lives. There have been other studies which have shown that even those who did shoot could not possibly have missed their mark as many times as they did unless it was intentional. Of the rifles recovered on civil war battlefields over 20% of the unfired ones were loaded with multiple loads, some loaded with as many as 16 differnt ball and powder charges. This suggests that many of these soldiers merely went through the motions of loading and firing their guns, not wanting their companions to know that they were in fact concientios objectors.
The only way that fireing and killing rates were increased (90%) in Vietnam and subsequent wars was though intensive training that most closely resembles behavioral conditioning ie "Pablo's" ( ) dog. And the prevalence of PTSD amongst these soldiers may indicate the high costs that must be payed for overcoming this natural aversion to killing a member of your own species. (Note: not my own thoughts. Plagerized from a pulitzer prize winning book called "On Killing" by LT Col. Grossman).

- Chad