To Whom it May Concern:

When will the Vancouver Aquarium cease imprisoning and killing animals for profit? The days of keeping animals behind bars is long over. The public has been deceived for many decades, chosing to believe the publicity mongers when they present these captives as 'cute' and 'interesting', and themselves as protectors.

Animals were not made for human entertainment. They have their own societies, and we have removed them from their specific environments for our selfish needs. Decades ago, some creatures were made to be beasts of burden, at which time humans could justify using and abusing them for our convenience. Over the years, we have come to accept that they are ours to keep, display and to put money in our coffers.

Shame on those who continue to capture and enslave any creature they deem profitable. And shame on those who attend the shows and circuses and aquariums and zoos and take carriage rides, where helpless slaves to humans' will are exhibited until they no longer survive or serve our purpose. By attending these functions, you are not becoming part of a solution to cruelty, you are becoming part of the heartless problem.

Please be a part of the solution to this heinous problem, and cease supporting the expansions of aquariums and the like. Show your disapproval by writing letters such as this; by appealing to your friends and family to boycott all functions where animals are incarcerated and missused for entertainment. Your heart will feel better for it, I guarantee.

Sincerely, Diane Esther. Coombs, BC.

'You can judge the heart of man by his treatment of animals' Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, 1724 - 1804

'A dog teaches a child fidelity, perseverence, and to turn around three times before lying down' Robert Benchley, 1889 - 1945, American humourist and journalist,