Feed the wombats, save the whales

We can complain about our recent round of wild weather, being inconvenienced by ice storms and high winds that wreck our trees and put us out of power.

Our weather is unpredictable, but at least we don't have to dive into wombat holes to save ourselves from 100 foot high wildfires that travel 60 mph like they've been having to do in Australia.

And we have it a lot better off than the wombats that have emerged safely from their burrows only to find all the vegetation has been burned up.

Considering all the devastation in southeastern Australia, hungry wombats are probably not the most immediate priority, but it would be kind of some organization to at least haul some hay out into their habitat.

The kangaroos and the koalas are probably not that much better off. News coverage of the wildfires inspires in me a mixture of awe, curiosity, disbelief and despair.

Imagine herds of animals with funny names -- kangaroos, wallabies, koalas and wombats -- running as fast as their feet can carry them away from the flames. Imagine families running from one end of a cricket field to the other surrounded in every direction by a wall of fire 100 feet high.

The catastrophe is so mind-boggling it almost inspires humor, until I think of the people returning home to find not only their house destroyed, but their entire town. Then I think about the people who don't know if family members are alive or burned up in their houses or vehicles. The news of animals with burned paws, turtles fused to their shells and wombats wandering around dazed and hungry almost sure to starve to death in a blackened wasteland really hits in the gut.

News that some of the fires were intentionally set brings on outrage.

Yes, the Australian wildfire catastrophe surely brings perspective to our weather difficulties in Southern Illinois. The trees that fell on the houses here Wednesday can be cut up and the damage to the homes can be repaired. In Australia, some towns have probably been burned into oblivion. Hell on earth is about the only way to describe the situation.

In other wacky international news, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has retreated from Antarctic waters in its ship the Steve Irwin. Capt. Paul Watson said in his blog the ship was unable to compete with the four whaling ships it was disrupting. Watson vows to return with a faster ship to continue the high seas battle.

The fight involved the Steve Irwin's crew tossing rotten butter on the Japanese deck and blocking the harpoon boats from contact with the mother ship. The Japanese defended themselves by tossing hunks of metal at crew members, blasting them with water cannons and firing a Long Range Acoustical Device that dazes, deafens and induces vomiting.

Last week the Steve Irwin and a harpoon boat collided twice with minor damage.

Again, the bizarre battle tactics can make a person chuckle. Then I saw the blood, presumably from a harvested whale, gush from the Japanese ship on a video on the Sea Shepherd's website and was sickened. The Sea Shepherd definitely has its critics and may well deserve that criticism. What's so special about whales anyway that is worth the collision of ships and potentially placing every crew member's life on the line.

Watson's dedication and that of his crew is admirable to me. I'm sure not doing much of anything to stop illegal whaling. They were saving the whales and now are returning to Australia. Maybe there they can help save the wombats.

-- DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.