CHAPTER 19
The animals of the land and sky fought the contaminators of the environment in this way:
When corporations whose operations would pollute the land, water, or air constructed things—whether they be business offices, factories, refineries, plants, mines, mills, bridges, dams, or what-have-you—these animals would allow the corporations to build these things (so that the corporations would spend their money and time and effort on these projects) and then destroy them before they could go online or become functional.
For example, when a business park or office campus was complete and ready for workers to move into it, a large flock of Australian Pelicans would drop a continuous volley of rocks on top of the buildings, raining down a payload that caused so much racket—and eventually so much strain on the buildings due to the combined weight of all the stones—that the buildings became uninhabitable, due to the noise and the danger of imminent collapse.
When men with rifles came to try to shoot the Australian Pelicans as they were carrying out their acts in defense of the ecosystem, Emus, Kangaroos, Goannas, Echidnas and their friends came and attacked these sharpshooters, ruining their aim, confiscating their weapons, and causing their togs to become tattered and torn. Their ripped clothing would have been fashionable in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but it was not in the late 1700s.
And this was just the light infantry, so to speak. If necessary, Dingoes, Snakes, Lizards, and even Duck-billed Platypi would arrive as a mop-up force. The Platypus, as funny-looking and tiny a creature as it is (they are smaller than a house cat), may not seem like much of a threat to humans, but in actuality they sport venomous spurs, or claws, on their back feet, and they aren’t afraid to use these to scratch their antagonists when pressured by force of circumstances to do so.
If it came to that, Beetles (who are small, but by far the most populous of all members of the animal kingdom) would crawl up from out of the ground and out from under rocks, trees, leaves and logs—seemingly arriving from everywhere at once!—and soon they would be covering the walls, floors and ceilings of the buildings; floor-to-ceiling vibrating blankets of Beetles would be enough to dissuade practically anyone from entering those edifices.
As for the factories, bridges, dams, and all the rest of their support structures, similar tactics were used: the animals combined forces to harass and harangue and wreak havoc. For example:
Crocodiles and Platypi would work together to disassemble bridges and dams; Australian Pelicans (similar to the work they did on office parks) dropped stones down smokestacks until those giant cancer tubes were rendered unusable; Kangaroos kicked everything that could be broken, shattered, or bent by them, including signs and logos belonging to these corporations; Emus scratched the paint off any cars parked on the property, while Bearded Dragons and various other lizards as well as rodents crawled up under the hoods of these vehicles and chewed the wiring all to flinders.
You get the picture: It would be simply impossible, or at least unsustainable, untenable, and unfeasible, for those corporations to do anything but abandon their plans when confronted with the mighty defensive force of the combined animals.
The beasts proceeded from victory to victory. At first, these wins came only after much despoliation, but soon the mere appearance of the first wave of them was enough to hasten a speedy withdrawal on the part of the corporations and their minions. The owners and stockholders were livid, but there was nothing they could do about it. Any vengeance they took on animals was repaid to them many times over until their instinct for self-preservation finally forced them to cease and desist their retaliations.
Dolly the Dolphin was to be left in overall charge of these sea, land, and air operations by Albert, but there was one thing she didn’t know, regarding which she needed Albert’s help: Which vessels were to be harassed and turned around, and which were to be left alone? Which buildings on land were to be targeted, and which ignored? In other words: How was she to know who was friend, and who was foe?
As long as Albert was there, he could simply tell her. But Albert would soon be leaving, and Jacques—although in sympathy with the Eco Defenders and willing to help out on occasion, when he was needed for short periods of time near his home—did not want a permanent position of leadership in the group. So what was to be done? Albert came up with a plan.
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