Libertarian Librarian

So, an animal rights activists in Germany want a baby polar bear raised by humans killed for it's own good. You've likely heard the story on the wires or online. It's craziness like this that makes animal rights groups a laughing stock and harms the efforts of rational, intelligent folks to advocate for real animal rights.

Bear in mind (Hah!) that the problem isn't that the cub is suffering, but, quite to the contrary, that it is being treated too well. It won't grow up to be a "real bear" according to "animal rights" activists. Pardon my French, but so freakin' what? So, it won't have to survive in -35 degree celsius temperatures. So, it won't have live most of its live alone, ranging through some of the harshest terrain on the planet. So, it won't have to kill all those cute seals that polar bears need to live on. Why is that a problem?

Will the bear feel bad about it all? Will it be pining away in it's safe enclosure wishing it was out hunting like all the real bears do? Will it waste away to nothing because it can't help feeling singled out and exploited by its human masters?

It's a bear. It was going to die if it hadn't been rescued. You can debate the ethics of going out into the wild and capturing animals for zoos-- do humans have the right to take an animal out of its natural environment just to have a showcase for other humans? Personally, I think the benefits are worth the problems incurred, but I can at least understand the thinking of those that say it's wrong. But this bear was born in a zoo and was going to die if nobody helped it. We did not remove it from it's natural habitat, nor did we prevent it from growing up "normal."

On top of all of the idiocy of claiming that letting it die would be better-- more "right"-- than saving it at the cost of its "bearness", add in that the Germans are using the bear to promote efforts to curb global warming. Which, according to animal rights activists, is the single biggest threat to polar bears in the world right now!

To sum up: A cute, fluffy polar bear cub was rescued from certain death at a zoo by some of the staff there. The bear was never going to live a "normal" polar bear life, and now, instead of being dead, it is enjoying a nice life of food, shelter and ample play time. Said bear has also become something of a celebrity, and the zoo is using that celebrity to promote efforts to curb global warming, thus hopefully helping all of the cub's polar bear relatives who may be impacted quite negatively by further global warming.

And animal rights activists think all of that is wrong and we should kill the cub now... for it's own good.

What a world, what a world.

Labels: Miscellaneous, Politics