Animal Rights Activist: Baby Bear Should Be Killed

You know, just when I think I have heard it all, here comes another ridiculous statement from someone that hasn't a clue. Read this article about a baby polar bear rejected by its mother, currently being raised and nurtured by humans.

Berlin Zoo's abandoned polar bear cub Knut looks cute, cuddly and has become a front-page media darling, but an animal rights activist insisted Monday he would have been better off dead than raised by humans.

"Feeding by hand is not species-appropriate but a gross violation of animal protection laws," animal rights activist Frank Albrecht was quoted as saying by the mass-circulation Bild daily, which has featured regular photo spreads tracking fuzzy Knut's frolicking.

"The zoo must kill the bear."

Now, I know there are some that will say that I am not taking everything into account here. But as most of you know by now, I am not a popular person in some circles, anyway. So as always, I'll take the chance in stating my view (mainly because, I do not need validation from others in order to attain self-actualization).

The points I would like to make are fairly simple:

1. The term, animal rights activist, is a misnomer. Animals do not have rights. I do not say this to justify being cruel to an animal, I have two dogs that I love dearly and have a true appreciation for all forms of animal life. Animals, like people, should always be respected as God's creatures. But make no mistake here, there is no provision in any constitution that I know of that guarantees animals certain rights.

2. I bet if we asked Herr Albrecht how he felt about euthanizing animals for fur, he'd be against it. I can hear him now, it would be cruel, inhumane, and outright criminal. He may even be a vegetarian for all I know and not like killing animals for food. But if he is a meat-eater, he gets a double-hypocrite rating here.

3. What about dogs and cats? We nurture them, we love them, we care for them. At some point in man's history, these animals had to be domesticated. They weren't all born to be pets, were they? Somewhere along the line, dogs and cats were wild and were trained to be friends and companions to man. I cannot see any good reason to demonize the Berlin Zoo for wanting to help this little cub to live a long life, even if it means humans will be using their skill and knowledge to preserve it. As long as an animal is not injured, sick, or suffering what the hell can it hurt?

But the bottom line here is this: There are people that are under the influence of a political and social ideology that outwardly proclaim the benefits of preserving life, when it suits their tastes. And the rest be damned. They claim to have more knowledge than the rest of us in certain zoological and other disciplines of interest, and in some cases that may be true. But they do not have an ounce of common sense about how precious all forms of life are, even those that have been rejected by their mothers.

Frank Albrecht is one of those very, very foolish people.