Before 1900 the Japanese "had done a hellish thing." On one of the Bonins, the "Seven Islands of Izeu," they killed albatrosses for their feathers and for fertilizer as a business venture. A railway was built to the top of the island and a cableway run to the bay. Every man on the island killed 100 to 200 birds a day until, over a period of years, at least 5,000,000 albatrosses had been slaughtered. Then, in 1903, while the remainder of the birds were away at sea, Olympian reprisal took place. The volcano that dominated the island blew up and every one of the 300 human inhabitants lost his life.
By 1932 there were only a few hundred birds left, and in December of that year the inhabitants held one last massacre...The next year the island became a Japanese National Monument, but it was too late. In a finishing action, the volcano again erupted in 1939 and wiped the slate clean.
The only thing the planet hates more than poor stewardship is the Japanese.
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