This image of dead Sperm Whales will break your heart

Have you heard the story of the sperm whales? And no I don't mean Moby Dick. Over the last few days 17 sperm whales have washed up in Germany, Holland and the UK. Why they've washed up, scientists aren't sure, but rumours of starvation, death by sonar and other awfully slow and painful methods of dying are included among the speculations. What we do know however, is that during an autopsy a 12 metre fishing net was found inside one individual.

We do know that three of the whales were graffitied whilst lying on the beach. We do know that people posed for disturbing selfies with these magnificent creatures. We do know that we have not respected these creatures.

Putting the cause of death aside, whether we were responsible for this tragedy or not, we have not shown respect to these whales. We have defaced them, exploited them, used them for our happy snaps and gossip. We have raped their bodies, stealing skin and teeth.

This photo speaks a thousand words to me. It shows these mighty creatures, vulnerable and exposed in death, surrounded by tiny humans. This photo is reminiscent of ants to a corpse, not of one intelligent species mourning the loss of another.

My favourite quote from Moby Dick sums up my feelings towards this image, "ignorance is the parent of fear". We ignore the damage we are doing. We ignore the pain of other creatures. We ignore these issues because we are scared. Scared that we cannot fix the damage we have caused and are continuing to do to this planet. So we turn a blind eye, we take a selfie to remember the moment, and we smile in it to try and distance ourselves from what we are really doing. Open your eyes. Look at what we have become as a species. Help be part of the change.

This post first appeared on WildAware's facebook page.