Existence for a good long time
\n250 million years
\nCreation got it right first time
\nBut now apparently there are some tears
\nWhat is an amazing predator
\nIs falling foul it seems
\nDying on the sandbanks
\nWith, unfulfilled dreams<\/p>\n
They are very grounded souls
\nFearing nothing, they
\nAre very quick to murder
\nBut lay dormant all the day
\nIn the Kruger National Park
\nThey appeared to fall like flies
\nIn Oliphant gorge for some unknown reason
\nCrocs of every size<\/p>\n
Suddenly took to dying
\nAnd looking at them they
\nDidn’t have any enemies
\nSo who was making them pay
\nThere was no outer damage
\nTheir potentiality
\nWas amazing so much life force
\nSo how could this all be<\/p>\n
The keepers and the experts
\nRallied for they knew
\nWhat ever was killing all these crocs
\nThough they were clueless to
\nThe cause they knew whatever it was
\nThey had to really try
\nAnd get to the bottom of all of this
\nBefore more crocs did Die<\/p>\n
Environmental pollution
\nDie offs maybe but where
\nApart from all these crocodiles
\nThey just were unaware
\nOf what could be the answer
\nThe need was then to find
\nTo carry out autopsies
\nSo as not to be so blind<\/p>\n
They looked into their stomachs
\nAnd noticed rapidly
\nThat their fat deposits were yellowing
\nThey all collectively
\nHad developed a condition
\nWhich curtailed their movement so
\nCreating possibly a lot of pain
\nWhich crucially did grow<\/p>\n
But why had it, suddenly happened
\nIt was quite a quiz to see
\nOne after another these ancient beasts
\nDying in purgatory
\nThese monolithic monsters
\nWere really everywhere
\nFlaking out and dying
\nIt was driving people spare<\/p>\n
Then it was discovered it was
\nPansteatitis and they
\nWondered how the crocs had caught it
\nThere had to be a way
\nBut with very little evidence
\nIt became a mystery
\nThat needed a lot of extra work
\nTo see how this could be<\/p>\n
It was thought it could be algal blooms
\nFrom pollution way up stream
\nThat had some legs but they were not sure
\nNothing is what it did seem
\nThey decided they would check the crocs out
\nAt night check and tag
\nThey were trying to find out where they sourced
\nTheir food to find a flag
\nSomewhere quite a puzzle they caught
\nA lot and found
\nThat actually the crocs were sick
\nWhich again, did astound<\/p>\n
The keepers of their castle
\nTo know that way out there
\nWas something killing crocodiles
\nThe supreme ones who did share
\nThe river the gorge the sandbanks
\nSomething was now not right
\nThey were living with this vile disease
\nSomething in plain sight<\/p>\n
They had been born survivors
\nWith immune systems that were
\nAltogether wonderful
\nThe millennia confer
\nto this
\nTheir true existence establishes this fact
\nAnd now with so many dying
\nIt was so hard to react<\/p>\n
There were mining and manufacturing
\nPlants down stream that was true
\nSo they analysed the water
\nTo see if that might do
\nSomething to the animals
\nBut although it was found to be
\nA great cocktail of chemicals
\nIt was not apparently<\/p>\n
The problem back to the drawing board
\nClose by in Mozambique
\nA dam had been erected
\nAnd really as we speak
\nMore sediment was reaching the river
\nRoundabout
\nWith deaths now at a peak
\nMore silt and thus more water
\nAgain a lot more doubt<\/p>\n
They thought it led to cannibalism
\nSick crocs were eating those
\nDead or dying crocodiles
\nUnderneath their nose
\nAnd perhaps that caused
\nAn acceleration of their disease too
\nSo they set to work to clear the dead
\nAnd do what they must do<\/p>\n
The deaths surely diminished
\nThey sacrificed some HIPPO
\nAnd fed the crocs on their meat
\nThough fatalities were minimised
\nStill it did unseat
\nThe numbers some still died in fact
\nAnd they then realised
\nAs the weather changed to winter
\nAnd it got colder it surprised<\/p>\n
Them all because the crocs
\nWere dying once again they saw
\nThe figures rising steadily
\nMore and more and more
\nWhat were the crocs consuming
\nCat fish they could see
\nMassive Giants at the bottom
\nOf the rivers so a key<\/p>\n
To really understanding
\nIt was cat fish foraging and
\nOn the bottom of the river where
\nAll this extra sand
\nAnd silt was becoming thicker
\nAnd sick cat fish would then be
\nEasy prey for sick crocodiles
\nAnd cold weather tends to be<\/p>\n
Very very stressful and the dam
\nCreated flow
\nMore water covering sand banks
\nWhere crocodiles lay low
\nSo additional stress was evident
\nAnd the crocs just could’t be
\nEating a stressful diet
\nAnd not lying comfortably<\/p>\n
The sluice gates had raised levels
\nThe Massinger Dam would be
\nPartly causing stress of course
\nAnd few places to lay Free
\nSo crocs shut down their mechanism
\nTo help them beat the stress
\nUnsaturated fatty acids
\nLacking VITAMIN E no less<\/p>\n
We are all part of the great big whole
\nEach creature big and small
\nRemember the old song we sang
\nThe Lord God made us all
\nWhether you believe that or not
\nYou really have to feel
\nEach soul touches each soul
\nAnd that my friends is real<\/p>\n
Behold the greatest predator
\nCan be cut down In flight
\nBy a bug the size of a pinhead
\nAnd lots of bright white light
\nArrogance is a fault of man
\nAnd ignorance as well
\nNATURE has the answers
\nHas the heaven and the hell<\/p>\n
And it’s up to us to realise
\nOur mother is out there
\nTo balance all the components
\nAnd as long as we all share
\nWhat we were all put there to share
\nNot steal some away
\nThen everything’s is kept in balance
\nEvery single day<\/p>\n
Hunters kill and brutalise
\nThe order they destroy
\nEach animal has its path in life
\nOne that leads to joy
\nThe young the old all have their plAce
\nAnd it’s not for us to say
\nWe want to come and blow a certain
\nGroup now clean away<\/p>\n
The domino’s fall and imbalances
\nHappen and we see
\nKnock on effects that harm us all
\nDetrimentally
\nWe must all have faith in Nature
\nThe great mother nurtures those
\nWho seek out and are respectful
\nTo her as this story shows<\/p>\n
Knocking out the predator
\nIs a harmful state for they
\nAre created in the scheme of things
\nAnd everyone does play
\nA vital part in balancing
\nA fusion of the whole
\nMan unkind so deliberate
\nIs truly a lost soul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Existence for a good long time 250 million years Creation got it right first time But now apparently there are some tears What is an amazing predator Is falling foul it seems Dying on the sandbanks With, unfulfilled dreams They … Continue reading