Lately, I've been saddened and sickened by a lot of things in the news.
I was particularly appalled and disgusted by the execution of Troy Davis. We call ourselves civilized in this country. I don't think so.
Last April, I was shocked and horrified to learn that the owner of Go Daddy, Bob Parsons, had shot and killed an older bull elephant in Zimbabwe.
Parsons was denounced by animal rights groups for tweeting the gory video in which he proudly posed with rifle in hand next to the bloody carnage. He claimed to do it to help the native farmers because the elephant was trampling their crops. He was quoted as saying, "The tribal authorities requested that I and others like me patrol the fields before and during the harvest." Yeah, right. The jerk just wanted a big-game trophy kill for his mantle.
PETA said they would close their account with Go Daddy and urged others to do the same... so do I.
Come on, Parsons is a millionaire and you mean to tell me all he could think to do to help the farmers save their crops in Zimbabwe was to slaughter this magnificent creature? He went in with twenty or so men armed with high-powered guns and spot lights in the dead of night to kill the poor animal. It didn't have a chance. Do animals ever have a chance against us?
I suppose it didn't occur to Parsons that building a fence for the farmers could have solved the problem.
Great white hunter saves black African's crops... disgusting. More white-wealthy-man's privilege... Rape and pillage and if you have the money you get to go to Africa legally and kill endangered species and prey on the desperation and probable ignorance of the locals regarding their natural resources.
I'll bet my life that the slaughtered elephant's head, tusks, feet and skin are prominently displayed as decorations in Parsons' home. Sad.
A few days ago, every ten minutes the television news reported the story about the obviously unstable man in Ohio who set all those poor wild animals free, then took his own life. Of course law enforcement went in and slaughtered the animals with the exception of a few. They killed Bengal tigers, lions, mountain lions, baboons; leopards, bears, wolves, monkeys... and I don't know what others, because I had to walk away from the television as I couldn't take listening to anymore of the story.
Law enforcement authorities there claimed the animals "acted aggressively towards them." Of course they did... the animals didn't escape, but were released from cages after being imprisoned for who knows how many years, living in God knows what type of conditions. Then they were suddenly set free by their owner/ keeper and then stalked, again in the dead of night, by men with guns and lights and an agenda to kill them. Any living thing would have acted aggressively for self survival given these circumstances.
Somebody please explain to me what this guy, who clearly had emotional and/ or mental problems, was doing in charge of such precious and rare wildlife in the first place. I just don't get it.
Yesterday's big story was about the heartless creeps in Philadelphia who had locked away and chained mentally challenged people in a basement so as to steal their social security checks. Sick.
Humans love to proclaim that we're superior to all living things on earth. Frankly, I don't think so.
Something is terribly wrong with all this heinous human behavior. Something is terribly wrong with mankind that we're capable of such depraved and inhumane acts of cruelty to animals, to children... to one another.
We have to change and become enlightened or we're all doomed. We cannot continue on this ruthless path.
I pray for mankind to find compassion and I weep for all we leave in our thoughtless, selfish, pompous, narcissistic wake until then.
Only love,
Lonette McKee
www.lonettemckee.com
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