Insects don’t bug me
August 29, 2018
The newspaper staff encountered a tarantula scaling the window outside of the classroom on the second day of school. The arachnid was met with a cry of terror, looks of disgust and a call for blood.
However, people should avoid killing bugs as long as the creature is not causing harm.
Bugs, just like any animal, are living things. While they may not be as cute as a puppy or a cat, many people keep them as pets. When they are not kept in as such, bugs have a purpose and can benefit the world. They provide much-needed services such as pollination and decomposition of dead animals.
Without bugs like earthworms, spiders and even beetles, many jobs would go undone. They keep the environment in check and even are vital to pest control. Kill a good bug, and you might end up with a few more pests than you had originally. Nature has a balance, and that balance does not include the huge, 120-watt commercial-grade bug zapper hanging outside a porch, which is much more trouble and money than it’s really worth.
In addition, bugs are small creatures that rarely cause major harm. Who wants to get all the way out of bed to walk around the house, searching for a fly swatter possibly thrown away because of underuse anyway? The effort some put into killing insects and arachnids is just impractical. Any individual bug found inside a house will likely die or escape back outside in a few days.
Perhaps bugs do not have emotions or feel death in the same way people do, but they are very complex organisms. Ants, for instance, actually do a kind of calculation to find the fastest route to a particular point. They think more than we give them credit for. We also underestimate their beauty. Beetles may not be the most pleasing to the eye, but that is one of approximately 91,000 known species. Anyone who has seen fireflies flash in sync or heard crickets chirping quietly can admit, it is fascinating to witness at the very least. They are some of the most unique beings on the planet. What other creature can pull up to 1,141 times its own body weight like the dung beetle? Besides all of this, the fruit fly was the very first creature to take a trip to space, which occurred in 1947. Bugs, on every aspect, are a group of organisms to be admired.
While bugs may be a pest from time to time, and infestations must be treated, bugs that do not destroy on a massive level are innocent, and therefore should be allowed to live freely. Simply murdering something just because it’s annoying or inconvenient to have around is a harsh way for humans to live.
Instead of killing bugs to get them out of a person’s space, people should considering removing them using a cup or a different container. With that and a little bravery, the bug escapes alive, and the humans live in a pest-free home.
In short, bugs should not be killed but rather treated as what they are–a vital and beautiful part of the environment we share with them.
