Science journalist Mike Shanahan took these pictures of dyed chicks while attending a conference in Qatar. He questions how antics like this impact children’s understanding of nature.
Sometimes we come across a story and think “this can only happen in the Middle East.” Renowned science journalist Mike Shanahan, who previously inspired us to consider the antidote to bigger, better, and more, ran across these brightly dyed chicks and bunnies in Doha, Qatar, where he attended the World Conference of Science Journalists, and asked a young journalism student how she felt about the animals being subjected to such kaleidoscopic antics.
Although she sited religious regions for believing that people in Qatar generally consider animals to be superior to humans, that has not been Green Prophet’s experience of how animals are treated in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, or Morocco, for example, where illegal wildlife trafficking is common. Nonetheless, Mike raised another important question: how does this kind of treatment (it’s only cruel if the animals are licking at the dye, and only then if it’s toxic) affect children’s attitude towards animals?
