The Deadliest Bycatch

The thing about trawling for fish is that we all intrinsically understand that it's a messy business, that what shows up in one's net isn't always what one wanted. But the process occurs totally obscured by the surface of the water so it's basically a bloodless enterprise. Almost magical really.

So I tried to imagine a terrestrial version of the wasteful methods used by shrimpers and the image that first came to me was of drowning a valley and eating only the deer that bobbed to the surface, ignoring all the bunnies and squirrels and other cute forest animals who suddenly ran out of air to breath.

You might also bomb a herd of elk, taking home for butchering the dazed and confused, plus any decent-sized chunks that most resemble an elk.

And how about burning a forest to the ground and making fajitas out of the larger, barbequed remains.

Or you could slaughter millions of buffalo and leave them to rot so that the native people couldn't eat them and.... oh, never mind.

-------------

Footnote: A San Francisco-based company claims it has developed a lab-grown shrimp, made mostly from protein powders. The story also makes note of the slavery involved in the real shrimp trade, so this new product comes not a moment too soon.

=Lefty=