Open letter to the Missoula City Council,
Please consider your actions on this issue very carefully. People who support the animal rights movement do so because they love animals. They likely have pets. They believe they are supporting a good thing. Unfortunately they are being misled as the animal rights movement is extreme and shameful in the dishonesty of their agenda. There is little modern documented animal abuse by circuses, rodeos, breeders, trainers, etc. versus the millions of animal owners and business ventures that do an excellent job of putting the health, safety and welfare of their charges first. We are in the 21st century. Today animal husbandry has factual science that allows owners and handlers to take nearly as good a care of animals as we have knowledge for caring for our children.
No matter the species, without good care and loving and humane treatment you will not get positive results from animals, children or any living thing. Fear is so easily recognized in the animal kingdom, as is trust and contentment. Animals raised in captivity for circuses, zoos, marine shows, they don’t miss what they have never known. A child living in New York City who has never gone camping in the Bob Marshall isn’t suffering the loss of that experience even if they learned about such an amazing place. Animals have instincts yes, but they also respond like all living things to what is normal in their world and thrive under loving and well informed care. That is why we have veterinarians, educators, and laws all committed to assisting those of us blessed with a life that allows us to have animals as a part of our lives.
It is one thing to see a lion or elephant on the TV but it does not have the impact of that special moment when a child sees one in person. That human connection is what spurs consciousness to protect. Take away the experience of seeing these wonders of nature in a remote city with no zoo and you take away those creatures’ future protectors.
The constant knee jerk reactions to politically correct but factually flawed movements is harming the fabric of this country due to all of the intended consequences. If you bow to the demands on this issue, next you will be banning the use of domestic animals in public events like rodeo, 4-H, herding trials, horse, dog, cat, cattle, and turtle shows, I mean where does it stop after the first step is taken. There are federal, state and local laws in place to protect those unable to protect themselves.
Actually I am more upset that you are stepping up to protect animals yet do not hesitate to allow abortions and dismembering of unborn human babies in your city. Upside down values for sure. If the death of a lion, no matter how sweet and magnificent he was, is more upsetting to you than the torture of a living baby in the womb, then we are no longer a nation who deserves the blessing we have benefitted from since the founders created us.
Suzy Foss
Hamilton