WHY DONT THE PEOPLE WHO STUDY THE WHISKERS HELP THE MEERKATS THAT R IN DANGER LIKE FLOWER?!IF THEY WOULD HAVE HELPED HER SHE WOULD BE HEALTHY AND STRONG AND SHE WOULD PROBALY E ALIVE!!!
The researchers try to interfere as little as possible and let nature take it's course. Remember: Flower died as a wild and free meerkat, not a tamed pet. If I was working on that study I would have become too attached to them and would have tried to save them.
And if they took Flower to a vet to save her, what would happen?
1. They would have to remove her from her home and family while some other meerkat took her place.
2. There is no guarantee that after Flower's body was filled with venom that would take down a 200 lb. man that she would recover without being impaired by brain damage, blindness, muscular deterioraton/paralysis etc...
3. If she did recover many months after the bite and they tried to return her to the Whiskers, they would not accept her. If she was strong enough she might be able to depose the current dom-F, but that is a very slim hope.
4. She could be kept as a pet in a cage and be miserable for the rest of her days.
Remember Flower was an intelligent and higly social animall who was free and lead her own family living a productive and happy life. I would rather see her safe over the Rainbow Bridge than a deformed, lonely pet in a cage.
It is so sad that she is gone, but it is as nature intended.
I didnt mean to take her to a vet but simply remove the snake somehow to help her and the family.They could just give her medicine maybe to help her.AND FLOWER IS STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE DOWN ANY FEMALE IN HER COURSE!
They cant interfer with life.Sadly thats what happends to meerkats.If your so sad about flower draw a picture of her and put it up on your wall. Thats what ive done with shakepheare but on a huge canvas.
THIS ISNT FAIR!THEY JUST SIT THERE AND LET THEM DIE! I CANT STAND IT! IT MAKES ME SO MAD! THEY COULD HAVE SAVED FLOWER! BUT NO THEY WANTED TO LET HER DIE TO PROBALY HELP PROMOTE THEIR DVD'S FOR MEERKAT MANOR! WELL I HOPE THEY ARE HAPPY NOW! THEY CAUSED A MEERKAT HER LIFE AND THEY CAUSED HER FAMILY HEARTBREAK AND SORROW! DONT TRY TO SAY I AINT RIGHT! I KNOW I AM RIGHT! THEY JUST WANT TO MAKE MORE MONEY AND DONT CARE IF OT MEANS LETTING A BELOVED MEERKAT DIE! WELL I AM NOT GOING TO STAND FOR THIS! IF THEY ARE GOING TO KEEP DOING THAT I SAY GET NEW RESEARCHES WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT MEERKATS AND OTHER ANIMALS!
I understand you are upset about what happened to Flower and anger is a part of the grieving process.
It is unfair to say the researchers didn't care about Flower and let her die to promote DVDs.
The researchers cared enough to buy the farmland where the meerkats settled and turned it into a natural reserve where they could study the meerkats in their native environment.
The researchers spend a good bit of their lives following the meerkats day after day, month after month and year after year, since 1993. They saw and named Flower as a pup and followed her remarkable rise to dom-F and her successful reign over one of the biggest and best mobs to ever live in the Kalahari. They cared for her even more than we do and they loved her enough to let her live her life proud and free as God and nature intended.
We don't need new researchers what we need to understand is that knowledge and freedom come at a very dear price and we should respect the people who devote their lives to share that knowlege with us and the animals on this planet.
Pronker is right. Never would they let Flower die for DVD sales. Many other meerkats had died, and there was no way they could save her, out of the rest.
FLOWER DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE! THEY SHOULD HAVE HELPED HER! THEY SHOULD HAVE TRIED! IF THEY CARED ABOUT HER AT ALL THEY WOULD HAVE ATLEAST TRIED! OF COURSE THEY ARE HOPING THIS INCREASES THERE DVD SALES! I MEAN COME ON ITS OBVIOUS! FLOWER GONE THOSE SCENES WITH HER IN IT ARE GOING TO BE PRECIOUS! DONT TRY TO SAY I AM WRONG! ITS NOT FAIR FOR HER TO HAVE BEEN LEFT THERE TO SUFFER ALONG WITH POOR SHAKESPEARE! I CANT BELIEVE THEY JUST SIT THERE AND LET THEM DIE! ITS SO COLD HEARTED! LIKE ITS GOING TO HURT THEM TO RESEARCH THEM! I MEAN I WOULD DO THAT IN A HEART BEAT FOR NO MONEY AT ALL! THEY SHOULD BE HAPPY TO GET RESEARCH THEM AND BE NEAR THEM! I CANT BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO TAKE UP FOR THEM AFTER THEY JUST SIT BACK AND RELAX WHILE A POOR INNOCENT MEERKAT IS SUFFERING AND SLOWLY DYING! WELL I FOR ONE DONT SEE HOW THEY CAN STAND IT! THEY ARE COLD HEARTED FOR LETTING THEM SIT THERE AND DIE AND SUFFER!
There are lots of poisonous snakes in the Kalahari and there are lots of meerkats.
Neither like the other and both will eat each other given the chance.
Sometimes the meerkats win. Sometimes the snake wins.
Unless the researchers were to kill all the poisonous snakes in the desert, eventually a snake is going to kill a meerkat. It's nature, the way it is intended.
It was this way before the researchers came to study the meerkats and it will be the same when they no longer study the meerkats.
I have given you the reasons why it was not possible to help Flower once she was biten. And it is not possible to keep snakes and meerkats apart all the time.
Sometimes the meerkats win. Sometimes the snake wins.
I feel your pain but please stop shouting at us. It is impolite.
Yes both Pronker and Eruth66 are right. Things happen fast and to an animal as small as Flower they most likely couldn't have done anything anyway. And think about Flower, if she needed to spend her last minutes of life wouldn't it be cruel to take her away from her family and the comfort they could give.
We wouldn't want Flower to be taken away and to be in pain and scared only to still succumb to the poison. It is far better that she be allowed to die as she lived--free and with the great family she created in the beautiful Kalahari.
Oh I will miss her, she was such a strong and determined little warrior queen. I still have trouble believing that her life was cut short when she still had so much to give. I will always remember her valiant little soul and I hope that on the other side she is basking in the love of her family members she has met up with there.
@Braveshakespheare4ever, no she didnt deserve to die but it is the way of the meerkats they live and die free. But as you stated they could have done something. Have you thought that maybe they didnt even know she was as bad as she was? they might have thought she would recover like shakes. and you meantioned money. Maybe if they did remove her to help her "if" they new how bad it was they probably would have gotten more money selling flowers to a zoo or exhibitions would you rather pay to see flowers herself or would you rather buy the dvd? And how do we know if she suffered slowly? untill the episode shows us whats happened we dont know it might have been quick and there wasnt enough time to react to it.
P.S. I understand the frustration you must be feeling I think we all feel it, just the way we reacted to it have been different your right to get your anger out if that is what helps you cope with the situation. So rant and rave if it helps none of us should put you down for that but you got to understand other peoples points they might be just saying them to help you cope or least try
Braveshakespheare4ever, yes it is very sad about Flower and when Shakes got bitten, some make it and some don't, Snake bites effect each one differently, but we were not mad at the researchers we know they can't and won't interfere, it's not natural. So we have to move on and think of all the wonderful things Flower gave us especially the pups.
Amen to all that has been posted....even braveshakespeare4ever.
I think *reasons* on paper are one thing, our emotions are another. This was our beloved Flower.
I venture to say there is not one of us that didn't feel like screaming the same words when we first heard the news that Flower was dead from a snake bite. Flashes of C L Shakes crossed in front of our eyes. No, let her scream, reasons be d_____!
And be honest with yourselves. This is Flower we are talking about.
It is cathartic and humbling for all of us more restrained individuals to feel her anger and ours. I am not ashamed to admit to this. I cared about and for Flower.
eruth66 every word you write is truth. Your odes are your screams, be they for Blossom, Flower or whomever; for others of us our *screams* arise from instinct rather than though thought. Chastisement of any one is not necessary.
Everyone is calm including braveshakespeare4ever, but no one should be told how to express their grief, anger, devastation, feelings of loss and being alone when learning of our beloved Flower, or perhaps a cherished pet or person who has died. It is often an emotion that is directed at those caring for the one who has left us, in Flower's case, the researchers, or perhaps a doctor, vet, another family member. Is it appropriate, most often not, but it happens.
We know that we can not bring them back, but neither should we be denied the right to express our feelings. We are not all clones of one another, we are individuals and responses differ as do perceptions of these responses.
I think this is what ccats is saying and my perception is that she is right. To be honest there is no wrong in any of these posts.
braveshakespeare4ever was not *attacking* us. Her anger was not directed at us. It was her raw dispair and I suspect it made many feel uncomfortable. As for me I wish I had her honesty. queenflower also expressed the same sentiments. Bravo.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: atillahon,
What is "impolite"? Is it not a perception? Because someone on this thread says it is, does not make it so. What you consider impolite, I may not and the reverse is true. Atillahon's comments are almost poetic.
Yes, there are conventional standards of conduct, but I hear no shouting...just hearts hurting, mine, Atillahon's braveshakespeare4ever's, even yours.
Enough said on my part.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: ccatz,
I understand what you are saying but, children today are very computer savy and know that to put on caps is "SHOUTING". There have been other posts but they were not all in caps or shouted.
In netiqette a message in all caps is shouting.
Because someone is angry or hurting does not make it right to shout at everyone else. It is impolite behavior that needed to be pointed out.
This is a quote from my poem dedicated to all Meerkat Fans.
"A time to die for humans is an appointed day maybe for animals it's the same way"
I came across these two short poems.I thought of Flower. I posted them on the other site along with some others where we all posted our feelings about Flower.
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal Love leaves a memory no one can steal"
"If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever"
eruth66
This message has been edited. Last edited by: eruth66,
please remember why we are here! we all love the meerkats. we all suffer in our hearts for them. we must honor flower for who she was and the many lessons she taught us. but even though she was little on size, she was a lion when it came to love. we must all grieve and remember her for the matriarch that she was.
Shouldnt argue between ourselves we all cope in different ways i dont think she is being distructive and idont see eruth being distructive the way she posts back, I think there might be a age barrier and eruth is wise in what she is saying. What you screamed to all of us braveshakespeare4ever is what we all wished for and thought. Some of us cant let out our emotions to friends and such cause they dont understand this is a place we all come to cause we got a love for the meerkats so even though what some state are facts and general knowledge the age barrier is different between alot of us so it comes across as being pushy or to strict things got to be said in a more educated way for some and a level so that our younger readers and posters can understand. :0)
I will say the same thing I always say when this discussion comes up. What if you were watching a show about the life cycle of snakes and when the the snake slithers into a meerkat burrow to get food for her starving babies, one of the researchers grabs the baby meerkat from the snakes mouth so it doesn't eat the meerkat. Then they show the snake slithering back to its burrow only to find that three of her babies have died because they have not been fed because the researchers keep taking food from their mother? You would be screaming that the researchers caused the death of three snakes and not saving the life of one meerkat. Your passion for meerkats is not unlike all the other people who watch the show. Keep in mind this is a documentary about the life and death of meerkats which is being filmed on a private ranch where the scientists are studying cooperative behavior in a social society.
hmm change the example to a jackal or something else and you got it on the nose, snakes dont raise their young that i know of they give birth then the young is on its own, it sent shivers down my back if i was to run into a family of rattle snakes travelling together "i live in rattle snake country."
