I was disappointed on reading Ammar Kalia’s piece (‘I saw a big set of white teeth coming towards me’: the people who survived terrifying wild animal attacks, 4 January) to see no deeper reflection on what we might learn from these experiences.
This could have been aided by reference to the Australian philosopher Val Plumwood’s reflections on surviving a crocodile attack, The Eye of the Crocodile. After being rolled three times she was released from its jaws and, with appalling injuries, managed to escape.
Plumwood wrote that the encounter made her realise that “we, too, are food … as I looked into the eye of the crocodile, I realised my own vulnerability as an edible, animal being”. She argues that our dominant story, that humans are different from, and higher than, other creatures “has encouraged us to eliminate from our lives any animals that are disagreeable, inconvenient or dangerous”. To see ourselves as prey, she concludes, is key to reimagining ourselves “as members of a larger earth community of radical equality, mutual nurturance and support”.
Peter Reason
Emeritus professor, University of Bath
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