Carla Valentine

Carla Valentine Instagram – Today (Sep 7th) is International Vulture Awareness Day and it’s a subject close to my heart. I’m sure it’s obvious that I’d have a soft-spot for the carrion feeders of the world: vultures, hyenas, maggots etc who can only sustain themselves by feeding on the flesh of the dead. They’re misunderstood, often ugly and overlooked – but profoundly necessary to our ‘circle of life’. If it wasn’t for these maligned creatures we’d be knee-deep in corpses, and the work they do ensures the fertilisation of our soil and the capacity for new growth; new life. My husband adopted me a vulture called Cassius very early on in our relationship (he’s at the @hawkconservancy trust in Andover) and we see him often, on our drives to Cornwall and Devon. This is an image of a Tibetan Sky Burial from Asian Geographic, illustrating the practice of leaving the dead out in a specific location to be consumed by vultures and – in a natural way – be returned to the earth. So many cultures have different methods of what we call ‘disposal of the dead’ and while Sky Burial may seem abhorrent to some, imagine what they think of ours. Some cultures used to consume the hearts of their dead in a reverential ceremony, to take in the spirit of the one who’d passed, and would wonder why we afford our decedents the travesty of pumping them full of chemicals, locking them in a box and dumping them in the ground. Its often said that “in death we’re truly equal” but there have been, and still are, many ways for the privileged to illustrate that isn’t the case, whether it’s paying for ‘mort-safes’ during the body snatching frenzy of the 19th Century or interring members of prominent families in marble mausoleums. Whatever a person wants for their final repose I think it’s their choice entirely, and we should make a point of understanding all the options out there with no judgement, and especially look on carrion feeders as the misunderstood little heroes they are 💀 (PS get your kids into this concept early by purchasing ‘The Ugly Five’ by Julia Donaldson)
#vulture #vultureawarenessday #vultures #skyburial #carrion #carrionfeeders #internationalvultureawarenessday | Posted on 08/Sep/2024 05:10:20