Sickened

I should start off by saying you will never see me at a PETA event. I eat meat, wear leather, and I am okay with that. I do not criticize vegetarians or animal rights activists, but I am not a fan of PETA. And G, well, he tends to get quite worked up about them. Something about him not liking their funding environmental terrorists.

That being said, I am adamantly against some of their messages, and I occasionally watch videos they put out. So today I clicked on the video about animal treatment of the Ringling Brothers Circus. And I about threw up. This is not horrible abuse (if horrible is defined by leaving marks, which I am sure they avoid for the cash flow, but it is abuse. And what on earth would make a relative sane human being say "F*** you, fat ass" to an elephant? What are they doing hiring people like this?

I should mention that my favorite animals are elephants. I absolutely think they are the bee's knees. My dream is to take a vacation to an elephant sanctuary someday. And they are one of the reasons I don't go to zoos. Garret and I love animals. I think there is a food chain, so I am not bothered by animals eating animals (and wake up people, we kinda fall into that category). But I do think that animals, even those destined for my plate, should be treated well and housed adequately. I don't feel zoos house animals adequately. So I don't go. When we have children and they want to see animals we'll look into places where you drive through but the animals run free. I haven't quite figured out what we'll do when our children's classes are headed to the zoo, but we'll figure it out eventually.

I hadn't really thought about circuses until just now, because really, we just didn't go that often as kids. I don't think Garret's ever been. And while I am not sure I really like them, you won't find me holding up signs protesting them either. But I do think more stringent laws need to be set for performing animals. And the smacking the animals? There needs to be heavy fines and you should fire those trainers. Because if you maintain that you treat your animals properly, I am wondering if you know the definition. This treatment is anything but proper.