COVER N. 237 - USA

Postmark: Lexington MA 02420 - 05.04.2023 

Posted on the 5th April; Received on the 18th April 2023
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Another cover from the lot that was waiting my return from my holiday trip, this time hailing from the USA.

I wouldn't want to be as close to a tiger as to look it in the eye, but on this envelope, the gaze of not one but two examples of the magnificent feline do stare at me as if enquiring "why have we to be on stamps and labels, so that you remember to let us mind our own business and go find rugs and coats elsewhere...."

Thanks, Kurt. Every new tiger in the wild is a victory.

Today only 4000 individuals are believed to survive, 2500 having attained reproductive status, out of the 100.000 that inhabited forests across Asia in the beginning of the 20th century.

This impressive ascertainment clearly illustrates the impact of  human activity on natural habitats and their dwellers, and the pressing need to equate development and progress against sustainability and conservation.

We all know it: a system is as strong as the weakest of its links.... The Earth, Life, is a systemic equation: break the chain and sooner or later someone - everyone - will be impacted by this simple fact.

I am not a great fan of zoological gardens,  but  I do understand the role they unfortunately  play in conservation, these days. Still, I think that better than having magnificent animals imprisoned for life, no matter how good conditions are, is to let them live freely where they belong, just like we, animals too, are entitled to (yes, I know, we could argue about this too, but that's for another post...)

The largest stamp on the cover is a single issue first class auto-adhesive stamp, issued on 11SEP2011, with a facial value of 0.44 + 0.11 Dollars, themed on "Save vanishing species". It depicts the Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica). Classified as Endangered by the IUCN, the Siberian tiger is one of the six tiger populations still existent. its habitat is now restricted to Southeast Siberia.

Polinisators are essential to life. another proof of the systemic nature of our existance. Fruits are the result of the work of armies of generous and hardworking creatures that most times we tend to look at as nuissances, so much so that for yers we've developed chemical ways of killing them, so plentiful and "unnecessary" were they...

Some years ago i saw a documentary on TV. In it peasdants somhwere in china, took to polinisate pear flowers by hand, with a small brush, one by one, since polinisator insects in the region had but disapeared.... is this what we are aiming at

Blueberries, pears and grapes, all need bees, or wasps or butterflies, or any other bug that might do the work of a peasant hanging from a branch or perched atop a stepladder with a small brush....

The three self adhesive definitive stamps on the first row on the cover fruits are part of a series issued by the USPS dedicated to fruits, obviously, the blueberry 4 cent stamp having been issued on  09JAN2022; the red pear  on 17JAN2016, (although the particular stamp on the cover has a little 2017 legend on the bottom left corner, that should indicate that it is part of that year's print run,) and the grapes on 24FEB2017.

The  domestic "Forever" stamp alongside the tiger, is part of a 16 self adhesive stamp sheet themed on Marine Sanctuaries of the USA, issued on 05AUG2022,. It is illustrated with a picture from Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, located in lake Huron, in the State of Michigan. 

Further to the original Lexignton MS manual postmark, the cover was mechanically cancelled at Boston, the State capital, in the same day: the 5th of April.