We take photos of animals as if our lives depended on it. Truth is, it’s their life that’s in question:

We love to share photos of Wildlife in town…then Shoot ’em the next day.

In Boulder, we’ve been doing it for years.

A moose appeared in my backyard’s backyard, two days ago.

Today, it’s dead.

It was a young, huge female. Tons of folk surrounded it…

…as they did a baby bear outside our Elephant HQ in downtown Boulder a few years ago, stuck in a tree because smartphone gawkers couldn’t stop taking photos of it, though it was peeing and pooping, shaking in fear, dehydrated, alone. All day.

Then, tons of us shared the photos of the moose on social media. It’s almost as if we’re all hungry for things to share to Zuckerbergland, Twitterville, Next Door.

Then, yesterday, the moose was shot. We do the same with mountain lions, bears. And…

 

View this post on Instagram

 

We in Boulder love sharing videos & photos of moose in town, mountain lions in town, bears in town. ⁠ ⁠ Then, we shoot them—whether because we hit that young moose today with our car, or a lion ate our Fido who lives in *their* backyard just off Open Space, or because we couldn’t be bothered to take our trash out the morning of (bears get shot 2nd time?). ⁠ ⁠ We poison our lawns, killing insects–butterflies, bees. We poison mice, then birds. 50% of bees have died. 30% of birds and insects.⁠ ⁠ There’s an alternative. Create a society in harmony with Nature. That sounds like, or idyllic, but it’s better, and harder than that. Boulder has done so for generations. We encourage biking, walking, carpooling, bussing. We encourage real density, and creative, interesting, eco, community-benefit architecture–not just developer-driven luxury condos. Now, with lack of affordability driving out many young and environmentalists, along with our minority community members, artists, and weirdos who helped make Boulder truly great, which is to say eco, innovative, progressive–we’re becoming a town of unaware folk who like to complain on Twitter, FacebookInsta ( ? ) & Next Door about, say, homeless folks. ⁠ ⁠ We can create solutions, and actually dialogue, and actually create an amazing town here for another generation—instead of investing in acrimony. Those of us who are born here, we can help. Those of us who are minorities, we need you desperately. Those of us who are poor, like my mom, we need your guidance. Those of us who are successful, we need you to care about what made this town great. We need everyone’s ingenuity, and elbow grease, and heart, and if we all do that–wow, this town will be fun.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #bouldercolorado #environmentalism #makeboulderweirdagain⁠ Read: photo, story at @boulderdailycamera

A post shared by Waylon Lewis (@waylonlewis) on May 19, 2020 at 5:21pm PDT

We in Boulder love sharing videos & photos of moose in town, mountain lions in town, bears in town. ⁠

Then, we shoot them—whether because we hit that young moose today with our car, or a lion ate our Fido who lives in *their* backyard just off Open Space, or because we couldn’t be bothered to take our trash out the morning of (bears get shot 2nd time?). ⁠

We poison our lawns, killing insects–butterflies, bees. We poison mice, then birds. 50% of bees have died. 30% of birds and insects.⁠

There’s an alternative. Create a society in harmony with Nature. That sounds like, or idyllic, but it’s better, and harder than that. Boulder has done so for generations. We encourage biking, walking, carpooling, bussing. We encourage real density, and creative, interesting, eco, community-benefit architecture–not just developer-driven luxury condos. Now, with lack of affordability driving out many young and environmentalists, along with our minority community members, artists, and weirdos who helped make Boulder truly great, which is to say eco, innovative, progressive–we’re becoming a town of unaware folk who like to complain on Twitter, FacebookInsta ( ? ) & Next Door about, say, homeless folks. ⁠

We can create solutions, and actually dialogue, and actually create an amazing town here for another generation—instead of investing in acrimony. Those of us who are born here, we can help. Those of us who are minorities, we need you desperately. Those of us who are poor, like my mom, we need your guidance. Those of us who are successful, we need you to care about what made this town great. We need everyone’s ingenuity, and elbow grease, and heart, and if we all do that–wow, this town will be fun.⁠

From a few years ago, that poor bear (I didn’t video or photo him intentionally)