Hero Falls Kingdom Rises

by Farhat Kidwai

  Omega spent the next month or so bonding with the pride. Roman and Omega made quite the hunting pair. Life for once was simple. Hunt, groom, play, and sleep. He didn’t have to think about having the weight of the world on his shoulders or living up to the hero standards set by the humans. He was away from the UN’s political bull shit. He could just be and live with his new family without having the responsibilities of the fixing all the self-created human problems. He was happy.

  “I thought you had left a while back. I see that you made friends with Roman,” Baraka ran into Omega on one of his patrols.

  “They are the reason I am still here,” Omega responded as they shook hands.

  “Aren’t they amazing? Now you understand why we can’t stop fighting for them. They are being hunted all over the world. Their habitats are being lost. At this rate they will all be gone in our lifetimes. You can change that. The world will listen to you,” Baraka pleaded to Omega.

  “I will do what I can,” Omega responded. It just dawned on him that while he is enjoying the simple life he is not doing anything to help them in the long run. He was supposed to go around the world and see the destruction with his own eyes. Even though he didn’t want to leave he knew he had to.

  Roman and Omega went on an epic hunt to make sure they had enough food. After the hunt it was time to say goodbye to the family. After being around them for over a month Omega had gotten better at communicating with them. They knew he was leaving them. The cubs didn’t want him to leave but the parents understood. They said their goodbyes with lots of hugs and Omega went off to his next destination in the Amazon.

  Omega met with a group of conservationists to learn about the Amazon. Dr. Jacob who was leading the team was a friend of Elliot and took Omega out to see the rainforests.

  “Dr. Jacob, I want to know more about the Amazon Rainforest. I have been told by Elliot that this is critical but I need to know why.”

  “You are in the middle of what we refer to as the lungs of the planet. We are happy that you are taking interest in the Amazon because it is critical to the survival of all life on this planet,” Dr. Jacob stated.

  “How so?” Omega was surprised by that assertion.

  “You see more than 20% of the world’s oxygen comes from the Amazon. This rainforest houses millions of species. We are dealing with rapid deforestation in this area. At this rate the rainforest will be gone in about a hundred years. The loss of biodiversity cannot be replaced,” explained Dr. Jacob.

  “That sounds bad but 20% less oxygen production will not kill off life on this planet,” Omega refuted.

  “If the math was that straight forward then you would be correct. Unfortunately that is not the case. When you cut trees not only do they stop producing oxygen they also release the stored carbon back into the atmosphere which causes global warming. These trees are getting replaced by cattle, factories, mining, housing, and so on and so forth. All of which also contribute to global warming. So you see that it is not just about the reduction in oxygen production, it is about a significant increase in carbon in the atmosphere. Once these forests are gone we will be at a point of no return.”

  “So if it is that harmful what is being done to stop that from happening?” Omega was truly curious.

  Dr. Jacob didn’t have a good answer, “We are trying our best to slow it down but you have to have the support of the locals and the governments to really stop it. Governments in these countries are still giving our permits to cut trees for logging, farming, and mining. Not to mention all the illegal logging that goes on in the area.”

  “The more I learn about the world the more I feel like humans are very short-sighted. They are not able to look past the immediate gain. I am still struggling with the idea because they don’t seem like bad people but still their actions are extremely destructive to their own home.” Omega’s understanding of the human race was changing.

  “Yeah, we are very good at justifying to ourselves that we are good without actually having to be good. We are able to conveniently create a world view in which we are always the good guy. That is why we have so much conflict in society. We don’t have a baseline for universal good and bad. Instead we have our lens of reality from which we judge the actions of others,” Dr. Jacob explained as they approached another recently deforested zone.

  “It might just be the way I think but it sounds easy. Don’t destroy your own habitat. Don’t abuse or torture other animals. It is really confusing to me because it should be easy to follow these guidelines. Maybe they just don’t want to,” Omega shrugged.

  “The indigenous people that live here follow that. Ironically it is the rest of us self-described “civilized” people who are the destructive and barbaric ones. Look at this. This used to be beautiful green forests that used to house millions of animals and now it’s just ash and dirt.” Dr. Jacob’s voice was thick with emotion.

  All of the sudden Omega got out of the truck and flew towards the forest. He landed right before where the forest started. He found a scared, tiny baby monkey holding on to the back of a dead adult on the ground. The baby had red fur and was no larger than four or five inches. Omega moved his hand closer to touch the baby and it grabbed onto one of his fingers and wrapped himself tightly. Omega quickly brought it back to Dr. Jacob to see if he could help.

  “It is a Golden Lion Tamarin baby. Where did you find him?” Dr. Jacob asked.

  “It was holding on to his dead mother,” Omega was angry, “Who would do such a thing?”

  “They are victims of deforestation. When people cut trees or burn down sections of the forests they don’t care about these animals. These monkeys are very small so it not easy for them to escape to safety. It is the most difficult part of my job. Give it to me. We will take him back to the rehab facility immediately. It is not far from here.” Dr. Jacob took the baby from Omega and wrapped him up in a towel and held him close to him as they drove back to the rehab facility.

  “Other than being scared and dehydrated luckily the baby was in good health. The veterinarian at the facility informed Omega. “We have a few Golden Lion Tamarins here. We will get him healthy and see if they will accept her in their family. Thank you for bringing her in right away. She will be just fine.”

  “Thank you! Do you get a lot of these cases?” Omega asked.

  “Almost every animal in this facility. So, hundreds at any given point. We try to release them back deeper into the forest when possible. Hoping that humans wouldn’t reach those areas anytime soon,” the vet responded.

  “Something needs to be done about it,” Omega stated.

  “Yes. Something needs to be done. We are doing everything we can but it’s not enough. Maybe you can talk to the government? You have a lot more influence than we do.” Dr. Jacob requested.

  “I will try. It has been an eye-opening experience for sure. I have one more place to visit but when I am done I will do what I can to help,” Omega promised. He spent the next few days in Amazon learning about all the issues and then flew off to his next destination in India.

  Omega landed at the Jim Corbett National Park nestled below the Himalayan mountain range in North India where the tour guide was waiting to show him around.

  “Welcome Sir. I will show you the beauty of this park. Please come. We will take the jeep tour. There are very beautiful animals at this park.” Tour guide Raju Khanna seemed very nervous in the presence of an alien almost twice his size.

  “Thank you. How long have you worked here?” Small talk was not Omega’s forte but he noticed Raju’s discomfort and tried to put him at ease.

  “Five years, Sir. Mr. Omega Sir. Come this way please.” Raju was overly complimenting to make sure he didn’t offend Omega in any way. He just wanted to get on with the tour because that was his comfort zone.

  They went to the different zones in the Park including the Bijrani Safari zone where the tiger reserve was located. The animals seemed to be happy and healthy in the park.

  “Ar
e they safe from poachers here?” Omega wanted to know.

  “They are never safe from poachers. We try to protect them the best we can. They are still able to get some of the tigers every year. It is very sad, Sir,” Raju responded.

  “It is sad. At least their habitat is not being destroyed. If you can stop poaching there might be hope for them,” Omega seemed hopeful.

  After a full day of seeing variety of wildlife Raju took Omega to the Dhikala Forest Lodge to rest for the night before starting the second leg of the tour the next day. Next morning Raju was there bright and early to greet Omega.

  “Are you ready, Sir?” Raju asked Omega.

  “I am looking forward to it. You guys seem to be doing a great job of taking care of wildlife.” Omega complimented the Raju and his team.

  “Yes, Sir. We take pride in taking care of the animals and respecting nature. This way, Sir,” Raju asked Omega to follow him. He informed Omega, “We will be taking an elephant tour. It is the best way to see the forest in this region.”

  “You want me to ride an elephant? Aren’t they wild?” Omega seemed confused.

  “Not these ones,” Raju gave a deep laugh, “They are tame.”

  “How are they tamed?” Omega asked.

  “They have been trained for this.”

  Omega walked up to the elephants with a guy sitting on its neck and huge saddle on its back. Omega could feel the discomfort the elephants were in. Up close he could notice the scarring on their bodies.

  “Why are there scars on their bodies? They seem like they are in pain,” Omega asked Raju.

  Raju stood still and didn’t want to answer. He knew the truth was going to make them come off as complete hypocrites. He also didn’t want to lie to Omega.

  “Sir. They take them from the herd and beat them when they are young to teach them how to ride. That is why they have those scars. I don’t want to lie to you. Please don’t tell anyone that I told you,” Raju explained apprehensively.

  “I appreciate the honesty. So you are also abusing animals to make a little bit of money off of tourists? Does this place actually care about animals?” Omega asked.

  “We do. People who work here do care. These elephant rides have been around for a while and they should stop but tourists demand it. They pay big money to ride them and it helps run the park.” Raju tried his best to explain.

  “Humans always find a way to exploit and abuse animals even when they are trying to help them,” muttered Omega under his breath, the disappointment evident to those in the stall.

  “These rides will end soon because of an Uttarakhand High Court ruling. And other animal abuse will stop as well,” Raju added.

  “What was the ruling?” Omega was curious.

  Raju pulled out his phone to check on the court’s decision. “They ruled that all animals will be acknowledged as a legal person or entity with right similar to humans. So hopefully these rides will have to stop and no elephants can be tamed in the future. It makes me very happy, Sir,” Raju explained.

  “I need to know more about this.” Omega wanted to know what this exactly meant.

  “All animals including birds, fish, and reptiles have rights now. It will be against the law to abuse, beat, hurt them, or take advantage of them. It will be illegal to destroy their habitats. Even domestic animals will have rights and will have to be treated with dignity and their owners are not allowed to hurt them. Things will get better.” Raju added

  “Is this law only for this state?” Omega asked.

  “Yes Sir. But hopefully Indian Supreme Court will make this a law in India. Maybe someday the rest of the world will follow,” Raju seemed hopeful.

  “That would be nice but I don’t see that happening. But I am glad things will be better for the animals in this state.” Omega added

  “Yes. People are greedy. It will be hard to pass it everywhere because a lot of people will lose their incomes. Animal exploitation makes a lot of money.” Raju alluded to the unacknowledged human nature that put its short-sighted self-interest at the expense of all other species.

  Even so this was an overall positive trip for Omega. He learned that there were ways to improve conditions for other species on the planet if the powerful were willing. He could walk away from here being hopeful that the rest of the world could follow their footsteps.

  He spent the next few weeks learning the details of these new animal rights from local state authorities. He wanted to understand the reasoning behind each one of these rulings and how they would be enforced. He had to understand the differences in the rules for domesticated and wild animals. They were trying to strike a delicate balance when it came to domesticated animals. How to maintain the basic rights and dignity of these animals while still serving a human purpose. It was never going to be perfect but it was a huge leap in the right direction. It was a compromise that the society could live with.

  After learning about the new ruling in Uttarakhand, India Omega headed back to Kenya to see his pride. He had spent a month witnessing the some good, mostly bad, and ugly side of humans and he just wanted to get back to the simple life for a few days. He wanted to play with the cubs and go hunting with Roman. It was the only place he had ever truly felt happy. He went to the part of the savannah where the pride lived. He flew around for a while but could not locate them anywhere. He expanded the search area in the hopes that they had moved to a different part of the savannah to look for food but there were nowhere to be found. After searching for hours he decided to go to the Sanctuary and talk to Baraka. On his way down he heard a roar from the sanctuary. It was Kira. Omega knew right away that something had gone wrong. As soon as he landed Kira jumped up to give him a hug. Two of the cubs ran up to him and grabbed on to his legs. They were not the same pride Omega had left a couple of months back. There was sadness and fear in their eyes and it crushed Omega. He didn’t see Roman anywhere or the other two cubs.

  Omega went over to Baraka to find out what happened.

  “Welcome back Mr. Omega.” Baraka greeted him.

  “Why are Kira and the cubs in the sanctuary? And where are Roman and the other two cubs?” Omega asked.

  “Roman was hunted by some big game hunters. It was a legal hunt. I don’t know why they keep giving licenses to hunt these animals but they do. It’s all about money. We found Kira and the two cubs by themselves and knew right away that we couldn’t leave them out there. Other lions or hyenas would have killed them off. We brought them here because it was the only way to keep them safe now.” Baraka explained with sadness in his voice.

  Omega’s worst fears were realized. He was in immense pain. It was a feeling he has never experienced before. “What happened to the other two cubs?” Omega gathered himself and inquired.

  “We are trying to figure that out. It could have been hyenas or poachers. They can smuggle them out and sell them in American or the Arab world for a lot of money,” Baraka described the possibilities.

  “So they could be alive? We can’t give up. How do we find out?” Omega needed to know.

  “If they were taken by poachers someone from the village would have been involved. We can start there,” Baraka suggested.

  “Let’s go. If there is a chance they are alive I need to do everything to find them.” Omega requested they leave for the village right away.

  Baraka went and spoke to the people in the village with Omega right behind him. The villagers were scared and didn’t want to get involved. Baraka informed Omega that the villagers don’t want to get involved.

  Their response had made Omega angry but he gathered himself. “Tell them they have no choice. If the cubs are alive I need to know where they are.”

  Baraka tried again but didn’t have any luck. Omega was done playing games. Every minute was precious so he asked Baraka to gather the entire village. He didn’t know how to process his guilt over leaving Roman and cubs so he reverted back to the one thing he knew how to do. A mission to save the cubs.

  “I will
kill all of them one by one including children if they don’t tell me where the cubs are,” Omega demanded Baraka translate. Baraka told the villagers in their native tongue not knowing what was about to happen next.

  Omega grabbed the villager by his legs and swung him over his head and back towards the ground with vigorous force until the fall was stopped by his head crashing against a rock. His skull exploded like a watermelon with blood splattering all over the gathered crowd. All the guilt and pain turned into rage towards anyone who would stand in the way of finding the cubs. It was a side of Omega he didn’t know existed until now.

  The villagers started to run away but were stopped in their tracks, “STOP!” yelled Omega.

  Baraka told the villagers not to run and give up the info they have on the cubs before it gets any worse. One person came forward and told Baraka that they were taken by poachers across the border in Somalia. Poachers would have handed them over to a terrorist group known as Al-Harih who had the means to smuggle them out of Africa.

  Omega immediately headed off to Somalia to look for the cubs. He was determined to get them back at any cost.

  It didn’t take long before the news got ahold of what Omega had done at the village. The village and the Sanctuary were crawling with reporters. No one informed the reporters where Omega was heading next after seeing what he could do. The reporters were able to figure out that Omega was angry about the killing of Roman and the stolen cubs.