Yesterday and the day before there was much death, chaos and mayhem. In France, the specter of religious extremism and hate reached out its ugly, violent hand and people died. In the frozen north in Michigan and western New York State, areas all too familiar to me and to my husband, traffic pile-ups caused by the weather killed and injured and placed many more in danger. My heart still hurts for all the dead and injured.
My heart hurts just as much for a tragedy that won't make the international news. Early, yesterday morning, an electrical fire started in a barn used to house primates at a small, locally-owned "zoo" in Wellford, SC, just north of Spartanburg, SC, my home town. 28 animals, all primates, died of smoke inhalation. 14 lived. One of the victims was a 34-year-old female chimp named "Rosie" who loved to paint and knew no other home. I probably saw her and fed her when I went to that zoo about 28 years ago.
PETA and other animal activists have been after these people, hoping to shut them down and have the animals placed in better, larger facilities. To their credit, the owners of Hollywild did try to clean up their act and improve the lot of the animals. But keeping animals in unnatural and confined spaces is just wrong in my view of things. I guess zoos have their place in education, maintenance of endangered species and scientific observation, although observing animals in the wild would be more productive. But placing animals in cages to entertain people is not exactly being animal lovers. Hollywild also had christmas light displays and a picnic area. It was a draw for locals who didn't have a lot of money but wanted to have a day out.
Understand that these were not domesticated animals. You can't tame these creatures. These were animals that should have been roaming free in jungles and on savannas, living as their natures intended. I am, sadly, hoping that this tragedy will shut the operation down. I am not a member of or a supporter of PETA. Their stances seem too rigid and their actions too over-the-top for me, and I am an unrepentant carnivore. But I agree with them about Hollywild. If there is such a thing as benign cruelty, an oxymoron for sure, that was what I felt when I visited that place.
So, in the past couple of days, there has been death and there have been injuries, fear and trauma. Let's not place Rosie and her friends lower on the ladder than the other victims. They didn't ask to be where they were and they were the most innocent of victims.
RIP Rosie and all who died with her. Here she is, painting a picture for a keeper.
How sad!
ReplyDelete