But You Eat Chicken, Right?

I just saw this story about Tatiana, an endangered Siberian Tiger that escaped her enclosure at the San Francisco zoo. She killed one young man, mauled two more and was then shot to death by police.

This story is tragic on so many levels.Here is a young guy who probably thought it would be fun to check out some animals at the zoo. Most people go to the zoo simply because they like to see the animals.So he and his friends went on Christmas day, and tragically, he was killed. The other two men were injured, but according to news reports, are going to be fine.

What about Tatiana? An endangered tiger, kept in captivity for her entire life, is shot to death. An unnatural life ends with an unnatural death. Terrible. I have been to zoos, and have always enjoy seeing the animals. Still, I have to wonder after something like this happens… Are zoos really as concerned with the welfare of the animals they keep as much as they are with entertainment, tourism and profit?

“This is a tragic event for San Francisco,” said Lt Ken Smith, a fire department spokesman. “We pride ourselves in our zoo, and we pride ourselves in tourists coming and looking at our city.”

I have no doubt that there are some zoos that exist to nurture animals and place conservation at the top of the priority list. I hear the Bronx zoo is excellent in that respect. However, I would also argue that these zoos are few, and the conservation rhetoric is just that - lip service.

It is tragic that this young man met such a horrific, violent death, but Tatiana’s death was just as horrific and violent. This is a wild animal that had been kept in captivity her entire life, never allowed to run, never allowed to hunt, never allowed to be a tiger - killed for following her instincts. Granted, the police had to do something. The point is, she never should have been there in the first place. Now she and this young man are both dead.

As I said, temporary rehabilitation and conservation is one thing, but keeping these animals in captivity for human entertainment is just wrong. The deaths of this young man and Tatiana never should have happened.

So what do you think, are zoos cruel unless they are used solely for temporary rehab and conservation?

On edit: this was a 17 year old boy who was killed.

Hummus is a staple in this house, as it is in many veggie households. Here is my quick and easy recipe!

You will need:

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained
• 1T of tahini paste
• 2T olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed (more or less, depending on what you like)
• 1t cayenne pepper
• 1/2t cumin
• 2t lemon juice
• 1T soy sauce (reduced sodium!)
• about 1T of soymilk*

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. You can eat it right away, but it’s best after it has been refrigerated for a few hours. The flavors really blend nicely, then.

*I just use a splash of soymilk while it is processing. It gives it a nice, creamy texture.

Serve with veggies or pita bread and enjoy!

Michael Vick’s mother, Brenda Boddie, sent a letter to the judge in his case and asked: “PLEASE Your HONOR give my baby Michael another chance.” You can read the letter in its entirety here. It is absolutely amazing to me that anyone can defend this monster’s actions, let alone claim he’s actually a decent human being.

When investigators searched Vick’s home, the site of Bad Newz Kennels, they uncovered several disgusting tools that were used in his dog fighting operation:

pry bars: probably used to break up dogs who wouldn’t stop fighting by prying the animal’s jaws open

treadmills: fighting dogs are often conditioned by being weighted and forced to run on an incline on a treadmill

rape stands: I will let Michelle Tsai of Slate handle this one – “It consists of two steel poles mounted to the ends of a platform that’s often made of wood. U-shaped pieces of curved metal sit atop each pole; one goes around the belly of a female pit bull and the other around her neck. The stand isn’t illegal, but dog breeders don’t normally use it; after all, female dogs in heat aren’t so particular. And most people wouldn’t want to breed poorly socialized dogs that must be strapped down to mate. But breeders of attack dogs place special value on females that are so mean they might bite any male dogs that get too close. People find these stands online or through an underground dog fighting magazine, or they make their own.”

Kids do stupid things all of the time – I know I had my moments growing up, and my parents usually stuck up for me and bailed me out. I remember when I got my license and my mom let me drive her new car. I didn’t even back completely out of the garage before I ripped the mirror off. I think my dad covered for me, and everybody was happier for it.

It’s normal for parents to believe that their children make mistakes and stick up for them. Most people, however, don’t consider the systematic rape, torture and murder of dogs normal behavior.

I’d like to take a look at a few astounding remarks in Brenda Vick-Boddie’s letter to the judge:

“Your Honor, Michael is a very, very good person with a huge heart…”
Really? I don’t think so. The last time I checked, slamming a dog’s body against the ground until it was dead was NOT a qualification for one being welcomed into the good-person association. Electrocuting one doesn’t cut it, either.

“Michael is not a M-O-N-S-T-E-R nor a criminal, he just made a wrong choice with what he thought were friends.”
While I am sure that Michael’s friends forced him to participate in and fund the business that was operated out of his home, that doesn’t change the fact that a person who would use beagles as bait is, by my definition, a monster. Oh, and by the law’s definition, that makes him a criminal too, lady.

“I know he wants to continue being a role model for the kids.”
I am sure that he does. Shame on the judge for not recognizing that millions of Americans are now screwed because their children will now have no suitable role models.

“He has helped so many people, that’s just the kind hearted person he is. He is so far from the bad person the public make him out to be.”
Kind hearted person? And now it’s the public making him out to be a bad person? After Vick serves his sentence, he can show the public just how wonderful he is by using his fame and money to help animals and put an end to dog fighting. We’ll see in twenty-three months just how kind hearted he is.

“This was blown all up by the media. I don’t know if it’s personal that people have something against him…”
That must be it. It was all a big misunderstanding.

“I’ve seen him cry several times. He’s hurting, I’m hurting.”
Cry me a river. What about the animals that he brutally tortured? Let’s wait for Michael to suffer the same agony that he inflicted upon those dogs and then whine about being in pain.

Apparently, nobody ever told Michael or his mother that excuses will get a person nowhere. Neither of them are actually willing to own up to the severity of the crimes; they both continue to make excuses and blame other people. It’s pathetic. How about a sincere apology without the excuses? I guess if he or his mother actually believed that what he did was wrong, it might come across as more authentic.

Does anybody actually believe that Michael Vick is sorry? Sorry he got caught, maybe.

Several years ago, my husband and I were visiting Baltimore’s beautiful Inner Harbor. It was a blustery winter day, and after walking around for a few hours, we decided to take a ride in a horse drawn carriage before heading back to the hotel.

The beautiful horses mesmerized me. Sure, I had seen horses before, but never really that close. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in West Virginia lives on a farm and raises livestock. As we started our ride, my fascination with the horse was quickly replaced by my disbelief at the utter hostility of the drivers the horses had to contend with. They swerved around the horse while honking as if there were no possibility of harming or scaring them. I immediately began to feel guilty for taking the ride.

I have no doubt that the horses must have been terrified; I know every car that went by made me flinch for the poor animal that was being forced to drag my large butt around for fifteen minutes. That was my first and last ride on an animal.

A few months ago, a New York City carriage horse was startled by music in the park and ran into traffic; he didn’t survive. While I do realize that there are jobs at stake, I can’t help but be more concerned with the welfare of the animals involved. Any person who can look at the photo at that link and still approve of this industry is probably of the frothing, anti-animal rights variety.

This Wednesday, a New York City council member is set to introduce legislation that will ban the use of horse drawn carriages in the city. Naturally, there is a huge opposition; to supporters of the industry, the horses are irrelevant - think of all of the money that will be lost! Opponents of the bill, including Mayor Bloomberg, claim that the carriages are symbolic of New York City and it would be a mistake to stop using them. In other words – think of all of the money that will be lost!

Tourists love them, right? Sure, the horses are beautiful and people love the romantic idea of a carriage ride. Most of them never even consider that the animal may be scared, mistreated, wishing he were eating grass on a farm where he belongs…whatever. I know I didn’t. It took a ride for me to figure that out. Nevertheless, if there were no horse drawn carriages in New York, people wouldn’t start abandoning their reservations en masse. Let’s get real.