Senseless Slaughter

“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” [Revelation 12:17]

Passenger pigeons were once the most numerous birds in North America and possibly on Earth. The elegant birds had a slate-blue head, gray back, and a wine-red breast. The eye was scarlet with a short, slender black bill. Long-tailed, graceful, and fast, these pigeons could reach flight speeds of 60 to 70 mph. But they were not fast enough to escape annihilation.

Early settlers recorded massive flocks a mile wide and up to 300 miles long. These clouds of birds were so dense they darkened the sky for days as the immense flock passed overhead, one tier above the other. They were so thickly packed that a single shot from a shotgun could bring down 30 or 40 birds. Population estimates from the 19th century ranged from three to five billion birds.

Then began probably the most severe example of mass wildlife slaughter in history. The young chicks were regarded as a great delicacy, and the adults were killed for their feathers as well as their meat. Commercial hunters harvested tens of thousands of individuals daily, shipping them by boxcar-loads to markets in the East. In 1855, about 300,000 pigeons a year were being sent to New York restaurants. During 1874, Michigan sent over 3,000,000 birds east.

By the late 1880s, passenger pigeon flocks, which once numbered in the millions, contained no more than a few hundred birds. By the 1900s, no wild passenger pigeons could be found. From 1909 to 1912, the American Ornithologists’ Union offered $1,500 to anyone finding a nest, but these efforts were futile. The last passenger pigeon, named Martha, died alone at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914. Who could have dreamed that within a few decades the most plentiful birds would be reduced to zero?

The book of Revelation teaches that in the last days an all-out effort will be made to annihilate God’s people. The image of the beast will “cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:15). But Jesus said, “…My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4). Jesus alone holds the keys to our existence. He will destroy death and give His people everlasting life.