If one tells children these days that lions and other predators can eat people, they laugh insanely. The reason simply being that first of all being they have never seen these creatures roaming around free at least and there has been no reported case of any of these animals actually have done this in recent times.
Humanity has been very proficient in eliminating these creatures from the face of the planet - now the only predators are people and their machines. It is more likely to be run over by a car than to be eaten by a tiger. No matter fearsome these creatures may look, children and many grown ups have stopped thinking of them as a threat. Kids collect T-Rex figurines and just because of the movies they enact how they growl and devour people - but since they know such creatures just does not exist they are just having fun, they could easily have other predator figurines it would make no difference whatsoever
Perhaps a few hundred years ago, would be terrified when wolves howled at the moon. They were afraid for their loved ones and themselves, children or a full grown person being snatched away by these animals and turned into a meal. Now no one hears the howling of wolves and the roar of lions. No one is afraid of such creatures. Snakes are very few. The only creatures which are bothersome are insects, but fumigation takes care of them.
The entire concept of being eaten by any animal sounds ludicrous, people laugh instead of being scared out of their wits. Now the only danger from other human beings - the criminals and the warmongers no one else. Cannibalism is a very rare crime. The chances of being robbed is far greater than being eaten by someone.
What a strange development - the absence of animal predators has transformed human beings into predators. Perhaps nature hates a vacuum. In form or another a predator has to exist. Perhaps the number of people in jails and who are executed for a variety of crimes around the world is exactly the number of wolves, lions, tigers which have now vanished. Those animals are never going to come back, but people will be doing their job - preying on other people. The only roars and strange noises are that of 18 wheeler trucks speeding on our roads - these pose a real danger to lives, getting crushed under their wheels.
So kids have every reason to laugh when they hear that some animals eat people - it is truly funny - because it can never really happen. Or could it?
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