ANIMALS IN ENTERTAINMENT
_I'd like
to see animals removed from the entertainment business. Chimpanzees
and apes won't perform unless you beat them. Circuses keep elephants
in chains 90 percent of the time. Elephants need freedom of
movement. In circuses, they live in cramped quarters, which is not
the life intended for them by nature. Some are beaten daily, forced
to do ridiculous tricks and robbed of every shred of dignity.
~ Barker, Bob |
The person who kills for fun is announcing that, could he get away with it, he'd kill you for fun. Your...life may be of no consequence to anyone else but is invaluable to you because it's the only one you've got. Exactly the same is true of each individual deer, hare, rabbit, fox, fish, pheasant and butterfly. Humans should enjoy their own lives, not taking others'.
~ Brophy, Brigid_ |
What is it but deliberate massacre when tens of thousands of tame, hand-reared creatures are every year literally driven into the jaws of death and mown down in a peculiarly brutal manner? A perfect roar of guns fills the air; louder tap and yell the beaters, while above the din can be heard the heart-rending cries of wounded hares and rabbits, some of which can be seen dragging themselves away, with legs broken, or turning round and round in their agony before they die! And the pheasants! They are on every side, some rising, some dropping; some lying dead, but the great majority fluttering on the ground wounded; some with both wings broken and a leg; others merely winged, running to hide; others mortally wounded, gasping out their last breath amidst the hellish uproar which surrounds them. And this is called 'sport!'
~Dixie, Florence_ |
Whether hunting is right or wrong, a spiritual experience, or an outlet for the killer instinct, one thing it is not is a sport. Sport is when individuals or teams compete against each other under equal circumstances to determine who is better at a given game or endeavor. Hunting will be a sport when deer, elk, bears, and ducks are... given 12-gauge shotguns. Bet we'd see a lot fewer drunk yahoos (live ones, anyway) in the woods if that happened.
~ Lerner, R._ |
The idea
that it is funny to see wild animals coerced into acting like clumsy
humans, or thrilling to see powerful beasts reduced to cringing
cowards by a whipcracking trainer is primitive and medieval. It
stems from the old idea that we are superior to other species and
have the right to hold dominion over them.
~ Morris, Dr. Desmond_ |
_Animals
give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they
ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight. And after I've finished
"shooting," my unharmed victims are still around for others to
enjoy. I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them
fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be
violated any more than those of humans.
~ Stewart, Jimmy |