The forbidden forest as a 'dumping ground'

[cunning_spirit]

No: HPFGUIDX 115560



> <ramyamicro at y...> wrote:
 > 
 > snip> On a similar note, why on earth did Hagrid let Fluffy 
 > loose  in the  forbidden forest, when he obviously 
> cares(obsessively) about his  pets, the more dangerous, the 
 > better? Perhaps it was Dumbledore's  doing, and Hagrid just 
 > had to agree... But the fact that he never  mentions Fluffy again 
 is 
 > so strange!<<
 <snip> 
 > Pippin:
 <snippity>
 > I presume that Hagrid, being a conscientious gamekeeper, 
 > made sure that Fluffy was fit to survive in the wild before
turning 
 > him loose. Fluffy's not an ordinary domestic dog, after all.
 > 
> Frugalarugala:
> 
> Three heads have got to be better than one when it comes to
bringing 
> down game. Coming from an area where feral and wild dogs have 
> replaced wolves with the deer population, I can too easily picture 
> Fluffy chewing on a unicorn... I wonder if some of the centaurs 
> hostility has anything to do with "interesting" things being 
> introduced and disrupting the local ecology?


cunning spirit says:

I've wondered a lot about Fluffy and his possible "true' identity.
What if he is indeed really 
Cerberus, the warden of the underworld in Greco/Roman mythology?
Could he possibly 
still have a part to play in the remaining books, especially if Harry
has anything further to  
do with the room with the Veil?  I can't imagine that Hades or Pluto
or whatever  
embodiment Death happens to take in the Potterverse is greatly
thrilled that his favorite 
guard dog is currently romping in the Forbidden Forest.

And, yes, Frugalarugala, I find the wizarding attitude toward
stewardship of the ecology 
questionable. Even though Rowling inserted an amusing story
into"Fabulous Beasts" about 
dodos really being  magical creatures with the ability to
hidethemselves from muggle view, 
I think the WW is just as guilty of ecological arrogance as the
muggles.  I have wondered, 
for instance, about the possible affects the 1692 Secrecy Act has had
to some of the larger 
magical beings, especially the centaurs and theunicorns (this came
after reading David 
Quammen's "Song of the Dodo", a book about the affects of
environmental fragmentation).  

What if, because of the restrictions imposed by the Act, the
centaursno longer find it easy 
to find mates from other forested areas besides their own? They
couldbe suffering from 
inbreeding.  One thing that struck me about centaur culture is
howsimilar it seems to what 
we know about the culture of the Easter Islanders, who also had to
cope with genetic, 
cultural and psychological isolation ....to disastrous results.

I realize that I'm spinning out my own riff on all of this.  There's
no actual support as far as I can tell in canon, but the odd thoughts
do come anyway....

cunning spirit