All Creatures Great and Small

I'm going to get a little "Anti" here and hope I don't offend anyone. It is something I believe in and cannot find anything to dispute my passionate feelings.

When I see God's creatures I see the same freedom mankind constantly seeks. To soar to great heights like a bird. To run with the wind like horses. To float in contemplation like butterflies. Nature gives us so many opportunities to experience freedom. I feed the morning song birds every day to enjoy their contribution to the dawn of a new day.

I find as I have aged that I am more and more bothered by God's creatures on display. The last time I walked through the zoo I became extremely depressed by the lounging lions in their fiberglass "habitat". Or the overcrowded monkeys sitting around on a stage meant to resemble rocks. Worse than this, is a visit to Sea World, where "Shamu" jumps through hoops in a large fish tank. Or the dolphins swim around their pond so that children can pet them.

Now I am not suggesting that we have an animal 'Bill of Rights", but I do think we benefit more from observing animals in their true habitat than we do from having them trained to put on a show in a mock-up habitat. In this day of 'virtual' everything and the ability to watch anything we want from our computer screen, I can't figure out why we still lock up lions and whales and convince ourselves that they are happy. If you were offered a chance to live in a beautiful mansion with servants to feed you and clean up after you, you would jump at the chance. But if in exchange you were not allowed to leave the mansion, the facade was removed and hundreds of people would view you everyday, would you still take it? Would you act as if you were in your "natural habitat"?

Cameras can be hidden. Why not hide them around wild life preserves and the ocean and allow people to observe and study life as it was meant to be? Zoo's, aquariums and Sea World are made purely to make money. I was very happy to find that Sea World in Ohio has closed. I hope "Shamu" was set free to retire to the ocean, but I doubt it.

Who would trade the ocean for a fish tank? The skies for a cage? The jungle for a fiberglass stage? If you opened the tanks, cages and fences, would they stay in? Probably not. I'm not suggesting we set domestic pets free. Most of them, the ones given love and care, wouldn't leave if they had the opportunity. Sadly, the mistreated ones would probably fare better on the street. At least they would have a fighting chance to survive.

We have to co-exist with God's creatures. Respecting the beauty of their actions in the wild. Keeping the environment clean and friendly to their use. Technology has given us the opportunities to appreciate them in ways that allow us to observe their actions, respect the food chain, and study their natural instincts without turning them into circus acts or live stuffed animals. They are here for a reason. And we must appreciate their beauty and contributions to the earth. All creatures, great and small...except squirrels who are just evil and destructive, which is why you never see a statue or painting of St. Francis holding one.