Chapter 156 Burning (Content may cause discomfort)
Bang…bang…bang…
Gunfire breaks out in northern Kenya.
Along with the gunshots fell the wild animals of Africa. In order to make way for the grasslands, the buffaloes, lions, warthogs, hyenas, leopards, zebras…
All visible animals suffered. The East African colony first started a huge fire that directly ignited the grassland.
The animals were driven around by the fire, and the unlucky ones who could not escape were buried in the sea of fire. Some of them lay half-dead on the burned land, groaning in pain.
There are still some areas that are not covered by the fire, so the East African immigrants have to solve the problem themselves.
At present, the life of East African immigrants in East Africa can be summarized as farming, fighting and arson have become normalized.
Farming is naturally the top priority in East Africa, which is not difficult to understand.
The purpose of fighting wars is to gain land. East Africa often conflicts with indigenous forces, so it would be strange that the East African colonies did not fight wars.
Arson is quite bizarre. Fire is set to reclaim land, to develop residential areas, and even to destroy the living environment of animals.
Nothing is more time-saving and labor-saving than setting a fire on the African grasslands in the dry season. The whole of East Africa presents a primitive wild beauty of slash-and-burn agriculture.
The opening up of East African colonies can be said to have involved conflicts with black people and wild animals. No matter whether they were humans or animals, as long as they were local indigenous people of East Africa, they could be eliminated without any reason.
Ernst wanted to emphasize that he had no prejudice against the indigenous people and that it was simply a conflict of interest.
The masters of this land of Africa are not the black people, but these groups of wild animals, who are evenly distributed from south to north throughout the entire region south of the Sahara Desert.
Except for the tropical rainforest, which is a real forbidden area for humans, no one knows what is hidden inside.
The animals you can basically see on the African grasslands are the regulars, typically lion groups, wildebeest groups, elephant groups, zebra groups, hyena groups, wild dog groups, warthog groups...
The entire African grasslands, covering more than 8 million square kilometers, from West Africa to East Africa and all the way to South Africa, are basically covered by these guys.
Ernst felt no pain at all in killing them, because he could not kill them all, let alone exterminate them.
Ernst actually had no fear for species extinction. In his previous life, countless species had become extinct in the news, but the earth still kept turning.
Moreover, Ernst did not mean to deny these animals a chance to survive. If you wanted to blame someone, just blame them for being born in the wrong place.
The East African colonies followed the principle of completely destroying everything wherever the immigrants arrived.
East Africa is now vast and sparsely populated, and immigrants all choose good places to live. They don't bother to go to those mountain valleys, primeval forests, deserts...
For example, the Serengeti grassland, such a large area (about 30,000 square kilometers), Ernst had no plan to develop it and regarded it as a nature reserve.
To develop Africa, drastic measures must be used, which will inevitably lead to the destruction of large amounts of grasslands and forests.
In fact, Ernst's slash-and-burn farming also had another purpose, which was to destroy the local ecosystem.
Africa is a hotbed of diseases, not just for humans but for animals as well.
The diseases that left the deepest impression on Ernst in his previous life were African swine fever and African horse sickness.
African swine fever is simply the "AIDS" of pigs. It has been an incurable disease for more than a hundred years since it was first discovered in Kenya in 1927. Until Ernst traveled through time, no effective vaccine had been developed.
Moreover, African swine fever has spread over a very wide range. While ravaging the entire Africa, it has also gained a foothold in Europe. The Americas and Asia are not immune, and even the frigid region of Russia has been affected.
In areas where African swine fever has been discovered, the only way to solve the problem is through large-scale disinfection. Basically, all live pigs within a few kilometers of where African swine fever has been discovered will not be spared.
African swine fever is highly contagious, with a mortality rate of up to 100 percent. Once discovered, the only options are to eliminate infected pigs, seal off, cull, disinfect, and dispose of them harmlessly. There are no effective prevention and control measures.
The initial vector of African swine fever is parasites such as soft ticks, and African horse sickness is also a disease transmitted by parasites such as Culicoides.
Africa had long suffered from parasites, so the East African colonies faced the same problem when they wanted to engage in animal husbandry.
Of course, these two diseases did not exist in this era, but Ernst did not dare to take any gamble.
Burning the wasteland is the most economical and convenient means. One size fits all, and that is the condition of the times.
The first blow of Ernst's cut was on the East African animals, which are hosts of various diseases and parasites and pose a threat to livestock themselves.
Therefore, it is necessary to clear the animals from the grassland, and with a big fire, the living environment of those parasites can also be destroyed.
When the rainy season comes, new grass will grow on the pastures, and it will be much safer for East Africa to let the cattle and horses back onto the pastures.
…
"Andre! The pork is already roasted and I can smell the fragrance. What a pity!" Porter Young said as he looked at the warthog that was affected by the fire.
“Haha, don’t even think about it. We’ve ordered that all animal carcasses must be cremated. Although game is delicious, you have to be alive to enjoy it,” said Andre.
"I can't see how this thing can cause any harm. It's just a pig!" Porter Young retorted.
“This is not Eurasia. Just because something looks non-threatening doesn’t mean it’s safe.
Especially these wild animals, when they first arrived in East Africa, they could survive without food, and now they have no shortage of food, so why gamble with their lives?
Don't be unconvinced by what I say. These are the experiences accumulated by the local indigenous people through bloody lessons. Animals in tropical regions have a large number of parasites and diseases in their bodies. Eating them rashly may cause serious consequences.
I once saw an aboriginal. He had no intact part on his body. He was full of parasites. I didn’t have a good meal for three days.” Andre taught.
The natives that Andre saw were not actually infected with parasites from eating wild animals. The unfortunate guy was infected from drinking unclean water. But that did not prevent Andre from using this incident as a negative example.
There are many examples of African natives being infected with various parasites. Unlike the immigrants, the natives don't even wear clothes and are not particular about what they eat and drink. Therefore, the old immigrants are knowledgeable and, with the help of popular science from the colonies, they dare not violate the regulations.
Porter Young was obviously reminded of some bad memories by Andre's story, and he quickly said, "Now that you mention it, I really didn't pay much attention to it before. I also saw a native who didn't wear shoes. His feet were bitten by something (sand fleas) and he couldn't even walk. It's really scary to think about it now."
"Right! So we just need to obey orders obediently. The superiors are much more knowledgeable than us. They said this is science." Andre said.
"You're right, science is indeed a good thing. Many of those who didn't listen to advice at the beginning became sick, but they became well-behaved later. I will also pay more attention to it in the future." Porter Young agreed.
…
In the evening, the settlers piled the collected animal carcasses on the firewood.
The person in charge threw kerosene on the fire and ignited it with a lighter. In the raging fire, the animal carcasses were reduced to dust.
The grassland burned by the fire was charred black, and it would become green again when the rainy season came. However, at that time, none of the original wild animals could be seen on the grassland. Only livestock raised in East Africa were active on the grassland.
(End of this chapter)
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