I find myself very confused by a huge contradiction in our city. We in the Asheville area see ourselves as forward-thinking, yet we continue to allow the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to come and perform in our city.
Ringling Bros. has been cited almost continuously by the USDA for numerous acts of animal cruelty. They have ex-trainers who have gone on record with PETA concerning the cruelty involved in training the elephants. Animals are left in their cages (which have been cited by the USDA for being too small) for between 26 and 100 hours at a time. After all of this, we not only allow them to come perform, but we buy tickets and support this company.
Is it too much to ask that we extend the kindness our city is known for to these defenseless animals?
— Max McDaniel
Asheville
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I hope the day comes soon when the specter of taking animals out of their habitat and cruelly exploiting them for the so-called 'entertainment' of people is relegated to the dust bin of sordid history. The practice is indefensible and barbaric.
By Dionysis
04/06/2011
I am opposed to animal cruelty but animals do not have rights. I was glad to read that the writer does not actually make that claim in the letter. This wrong concept was apparently inserted by the editorial staff. Right?
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By timothypeck
04/06/2011
"I am opposed to animal cruelty but animals do not have rights."
That's half of a responsible view. Animals (meaning other than the animal 'man') clearly do not have their own version of the Bill of Rights, but to deny that any living creature has (or certainly deserves to have) the fundamental right to be free to live in its natural habitat and from being exploited by the (supposedly) most intelligent animal on the planet is simply wrong, IMO. That humans have decided that animals don't have rights of any sort is just another artificial construct by and for the whims of the most destructive animal on the planet: homo sapiens.
Humans and chimps are genetically 96% the same, yet simians of all kinds are on the decline, and we continue to destroy habitat, capture and exploit, kill for little or no reason without compunction. Call me what you will, but I would strongly support some kind of basic rights bestowed upon all of the creatures that make up this world, and gladly so.
By Dionysis
04/06/2011
The homo sapien is the only rational animal is and most productive animal on the planet. Hurray. Long live us homos.
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By timothypeck
04/07/2011
The homo sapien is the only rational animal and is and most productive animal on the planet. Hurray. Long live us homos.
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By timothypeck
04/07/2011
The homo sapien is the only rational animal and is the most productive animal on the planet. Hurray. Long live us homos.
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By timothypeck
04/07/2011
I'm so glad we homos created the computer by exploiting the Earth. Orange you?
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By timothypeck
04/07/2011
It appears timpeck likes to see his photo in print, and that he feels his witicisms are worth repeating...and repeating...and repeating.
As far as the specious claim that homo sapiens are the "only rational animal...", hardly. Name one other animal that has a history of irrational behavior (excluding lower animals with rabies and such). History is replete with examples.
By Dionysis
04/07/2011