Pete had been a particularly paunchy penguin. He’d lived in perfect waters long ago when polar bears played, and plankton and pilchards were popular. He’d partaken of these around the Peregrine Peninsula before the polar ice caps were plundered for plentiful fossil fuels.
Back then the waters had been more pristine than putrid, pretty not poxy.
How did it happen that we’ve pandered to powerful, parsimonious politicians and their pals who’ve pilfered and pillaged pretty much everything of importance that had been plentiful? They’ve plummeted us into purgatory.
A pox on people who prevented restraint and poured scorn on peace.
***
My husband took this phone photo of a Fairy Penguin* rounding up fish next to the Mornington jetty, Victoria. They're rarely seen here, and provided school holiday entertainment for a couple of evenings last week. At the top of the photo you can just see the float from a fishing line, and the curve of the line coming up to the fisherman on the jetty. The greyish line at the bottom of the photo is the jetty - you can see how close he is, only a metre or so away! I hope he didn't disappear because he mistook the bait for safe fish.
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| Phone photos: I. Travers. |
Additional info on Fairy Penguins: they look ever so cute, but get really, really cranky when they're covered in oil, are rescued and need to be cleaned off. They're amazingly strong and muscly for a small creature, and have dangerously sharp claws. Definitely better for them to be in clean water, and not need to be rescued! Please take note all cost cutting and careless owners of leaking oil tankers...grrr.
*For some reason the powers that be have renamed them Little Penguins (boring name IMHO). To me they'll always be Fairy Penguins.
A Drabble is a story told in 100 words No more, no less.
Here tomorrow:
Quinces
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Over at
traverselife, I'm spending the month looking at different aspects of bullying.
5 comments:
All I could think of the whole time I was reading this was "Happy Feet".
We have had our fair share of oil spills here. Both my children have volunteered for clean up work and it is a big job! I like fairy penguins too, maybe if everyone said, "I believe" at the same time it would help. Just a thought :)
Dafeenah, Fun movie!
Siv Maria, Norway? The cleanups are huge aren't they, and heartbreaking in their devastation of land and wildlife. Choking birds and fish aren't a nice sight. I LOVE your idea of "I believe" ... now I'll head off and dream on that, thankyou.
I get sad at what our so-called progress does to wild life. I must have seen a live penguin at some time in my life but right now, I'd say, "no." Who can resist your list of "P's."
Manzanita, so called progress is definitely the right term. I suspect we're going backwards.
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