Not too small to escape the human gaze

Fireflies: already at risk and probably dropping off in number because of loss of habitat, pesticides and other man-made obstacles to their continuing to do what they always did.

Now comes another way humans have regarded fireflies as theirs to use for whatever serves people. A website for Boston’s Museum of Science includes news of a “Firefly Watch” program, and its monthly page sometimes includes Q&As about fireflies.

One person reported learning about a firefly harvesting program, involving the capture of great numbers of fireflies, and asked if this really happens.

The response, from a Museum of Science rep, regretfully confirmed it. “Tens of thousands of fireflies have been collected and sold for their luciferase, one of the chemicals responsible for their light production,” he wrote. “This chemical is used to detect contamination in food.

“At one time, the only way to collect luciferase was to harvest it from the abdomen of fireflies. For the past 20 years however, a less expensive, synthetic form of luciferase has been available, making the need for sacrificing real fireflies obsolete.

“Even so, at least one company continues to sell firefly abdomens for their luciferase in addition to selling the synthetic form.”

(https://www.mos.org/fireflywatch/about_firefly_watch)

This situation seems parallel to that of lab animals and vivisection. Although many more effective ways of testing without using lab animals have been devised, some "scientists" insist on continuing to test on animals. So many humans regard so many animals as existing only to serve them and utterly disposable.
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Oh, lighten up!

So, the 4th of July fireworks – love ‘em! But what threatened to totally distract me last night? A late-arriving member of the family near us in the field brought along the family dog. Geez. Why do people insist on this togetherness with companion animals on the perfectly wrong occasions, when the animals could suffer?

PETA’s recent email alert repeated the old reminder: animals have much more sensitive ears than we do, and proximity to fireworks can hurt them – if the animals don’t panic first, possibly bolting and being injured while running away from the unaccustomed sound and light.

So lucky little “Coco” arrived in time for the show . . . and well before it began, she was barking. The crowd, the kids running in circles, screaming and waving their light ropes and necklaces, the overall hubbub. Weirdly enough, during the fireworks, I didn’t hear a thing from her. (Maybe the show was comparatively restful!)

And then my mind wandered to the creatures inhabiting Centennial Lake on the Rider campus. What did the ducks and other residents make of the fireworks – or vice versa? And how about the myriad birds all over, including in the line of trees between us and the campus?

Then, finally, I said to myself “Lighten up! Enjoy the fireworks! You’re off duty!” And so I was, and did.
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High July (a tanka)

fireflies and fireworks --
night-time opposites, they de-
light both low and high:

floating upward, noiselessly,
or exploding down, in sound.
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They light up my life . . . less

Ahhhhhhh! Lightning bugs! Fireflies! dear familiar glowing and flickering signs of summer. This year, the first one was spotted and noted on June 27th. Now the question is, how long they'll linger this year. Meanwhile, various nature establishments and farms are offering firefly festivals and lightning bug walks.

The happy news is that these events are evidently publicized without fear of throwing a party that no fireflies (can) come to . . . because there are no fireflies. But late last summer, just as I was thinking I'd seen fewer lightning bugs than usual, I was unhappily surprised to hear a radio program on which the fade out of fireflies was the subject.

Reportedly, lightning bugs (like so many others in animalia) are in trouble. They're losing habitat and they're being affected by pesticides. (insecticides? both?) That was sad news but not really surprising once I stopped and thought about it. Beyond the habitat destruction caused by development seemingly everywhere, there's also the array of killers and deterrents that homeowners and communities spray in the interest of perfect green grass without dandelions and mosquito-free backyards, etc., etc.

Sure, individuals can go organic, no-kill and all the other good stuff. Entire communities can do the same. But they'll still be surrounded by those who develop and spray.

The NYTimes recently ran a fascinating science story about the different blink patterns (shades of lighthouses and their "characteristics"!) of male fireflies, and the reaction patterns of females. But so that future generations can see and enjoy this phenomenon, we must "save the lightning bugs!"
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