http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/letters/story.html?id=92d86f7e-8d3a-4046-ab0d-f869fcab08ff
Readers react to zoo editorial
Letter
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Re: Humans have a responsibility to protect other creatures, Editorial, Dec. 29
Let's expand for a moment on that scary logic that we have the "right of the might" and "the right to dominate other species." School bullies, wife beaters and warmongers would reign supreme. Oh, but I guess since they would have the "responsibility to protect" their victims, that would make it all justified. I shudder at the thought.
It also follows then that we would equally accept sharks and bears killing people. After all, they can since they have the might.
Thankfully, I have a bit more faith in humanity's evolution beyond this arrogant display of chest-beating. Taking the liberty of domination should not be confused with having the right to it. We need to give up this false sense of entitlement. It would serve us and our children much better if we would respect other species' equal right to live their lives freely.
Marianne Verigin
Burnaby
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/letters/story.html?id=f747cfcd-9297-4c87-bbbe-f2e0cbf21387
Readers react to zoo editorial
Letter
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
It is argued that humans can use other animals for our enjoyment because of right of might, because we can.
So how is that working for us so far? Despite the so-called conservation efforts of zoos, the rate of species extinction around the world is at an all-time high and is steadily increasing. Sure, we can raise animals for meat but, according to a 2006 report by the United Nations, raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Sure, you can pull fish from the sea by millions, and as a result there will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century.
No doubt we are the only species with the ability to drastically remake our environment and because of our actions, the planet is in a real pickle. Global warming, deforestation, cancer rates, pollution -- we have made a real mess of things. To quote Albert Einstein: "You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that caused the problem." It is time we question how we have been using animals and the environment. Do the benefits outweigh the costs?
Trish Holden
Vancouver
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/letters/story.html?id=bf63d4f6-b0c1-4873-b41d-1f917688d78f
Readers react to zoo editorial
Letter
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
The main issue of breeding wildlife in captivity is that zoos want to get babies to get tourists to get money. The animal families do not live happily ever after. They are split up to be sold anywhere in the world for exhibit, experiments or hunting, sent to rendering plants or end up on someone's dinner plate.
Captive breeding will always depend on captures from the wild and continue to threaten wild populations. In addition, the release of captive-bred species can endanger wildlife as in the case of golden lion tamarins that picked up a mouse virus in the zoo, and it nearly destroyed an entire wild population. Zoos and aquariums have also directly been the cause of driving species to the point of extinction. For example, the Vancouver Aquarium started the orca slave trade that led to approximately 50 per cent of their families being killed. This Southern Community and others are now an endangered species.
Zoos and aquariums must be phased out so the scarce time and money can be spent on truly protecting wildlife and ecosystems. If these entertainment businesses continue to exploit animals they will be showing videos rather than live animals in the future because our species will have failed to protect nature.
Peter Hamilton
Founding director,
Lifeforce Foundation
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/letters/story.html?id=170a9745-f87e-4af0-bd1b-818126da64a7
Readers react to zoo editorial
Letter
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Elephants, lions, tigers and other wild animals live in the wild and survive as best as they can. They don't blow up buildings or shoot people. Nevertheless, if they have the misfortune to be trapped, they find themselves serving a life sentence behind bars in a zoo.
Terrorists, dictators, fanatics and warmongers live freely among us, causing untold harm, and being, if anything, rewarded for their crimes.
A proposal: take the wild animals out of the zoos and return them to their natural habitats; then, when the zoos are empty, trap the terrorists, greedy dictators, heartless fanatics and warmongers, and put them in the zoos. Tranquilize them, feed them, but under no circumstances breed them.
History and civics teachers will escort schoolchildren on frequent field trips to the zoos. The children will be taught to appreciate how close the world came to being destroyed by these medicated, seemingly harmless specimens.
Then, perhaps a hundred years from now, with patience, perseverance and luck, our world may return to peace.
Nomi Kaplan
Vancouver
© The Vancouver Sun 2008