The Problem with Zoos

Nearly a week has passed since a young man and a tiger died at the San Francisco Zoo. I am equally saddened by the death of the non-human animal as I am saddened by the death of the human, but perhaps the tiger's death freed her from an unhappy existence, confined to a small space (by tiger standards) - not having the freedom to stalk her prey or run through the jungle or take a dip in a river. Tatiana existed for the pleasure of humans and the profit of a zoo.

I recall a visit to the Los Angeles zoo when my daughter was small. As we approached a caged panther restlessly pacing back and forth seeking a way to freedom, a deep sense of sadness washed over me. I didn't enjoy seeing animals suffering and after that I didn't take my daughter to the zoo again.

More recently I've begun supporting a wonderful organization called In Defense of Animals and through them I learned about how animals are suffering in zoos and circuses. The president of IDA was interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle regarding the recent events and this was his response:

"The major problem with zoos is they put the entertainment value at a higher priority than the welfare or well-being of the animals," said Elliot Katz, president of In Defense of Animals, a Mill Valley animal rights group. "Because elephants and tigers are big draws, the zoo creates dangerous situations."

The article continues with the following comments:

Katz helped organize the effort to get the elephants removed from the San Francisco Zoo after obtaining medical records that showed they were being mistreated. He said that both elephants and tigers need much more space than the zoo provides.

Katz hopes the publicity from the Christmas Day mauling death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. will result in the removal of the tiger exhibit.

Lisa Soldavini, a 50-year-old animal rights activist from Petaluma, said she believes animals should not be kept in zoos because zoos do not treat them well. She said many people wrongly believe that the animals are provided enough space and are happy.

"We are brought up in a culture that says zoos are fun, but we should really be angry that these animals are taken out of their natural habitat so that people can gawk at them," she said. "This is done for profit, not education, and it's frustrating that the public doesn't get that. People can learn about wild animals by watching the excellent documentaries available on Discovery, Animal Planet and 'Wild Kingdom.' "

Pastafarian Pirate in Louisville, Kentucky

It's Just a Theory - Ron Paul

Ron Paul, Republican candidate for president, thinks evolution is just a theory, not a proven fact and like a true Texan, he opposes the separation of church and state.

Why do we have so many uneducated (faith-based) people elected to public office? Is it because many of them come from states like Arkansas and Texas where education is poorly funded?

As a resident of the Left Coast, I'm horrified that idiotic Gee Dubya Bush is president and represents our country to the rest of the world.

Pirate Fish Sighted in South America

Are We Devolving?

William Falk's editorial in The Week magazine included the following remarks:

In a lab in Maryland, genetic scientists have built the first entirely man-made chromosome... They've built the complete DNA for a one-cell organism out of inanimate proteins. Some time in 2008, The Washington Post's Rich Weiss reports this week, the scientists will transplant the chromosome into a microbe, where it is expected to 'boot itself up', like a software program, and start running the cell. For better or worse, human beings are developing the ability to create life out of inert matter, much as the Bible describes God creating Adam out of a handful of clay. How curious it is, then, that at this same moment in history, one of the leading candidates for president of the United States says he doesn't believe in evolution -- that everything he needs to know can be found in the pages of the Bible, written two millenia ago. 'If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate', Mike Huckabee says, 'they are certainly welcome to it.' Nearly half of all Americans agree with him; in one recent poll, 49 percent said God created man exactly as he is today, sometime in the last 10,000 years.

These two stories, it seems to me, say quite a bit about the paradoxical nature of this strange and wonderful nation. We are simultaneously post-evolutionary, careening headlong into the 21st century, and pre-Darwinian, scowling suspiciously at the dangerous hoo-ha of scientific and social change. Global warming? Gay marriage? Abortion? For the foreseeable future, we'll reach no national consensus on the issues of our times. How can we agree on where we're going, when we can't even agree on where we came from?