Letters to the Editor
NY Times
July 12, 2004
I believe the NY Times is suffering from a collective
schizophrenia, and should immediately consult a psychiatrist en masse.
How else to explain the appearance on your pages of a
heartbreaking story about a homeless dog in Astoria being cared for by the
kindness of strangers (A HANDSOME STRANGER, 7/11), on the same day as an
article that lauds Fred the Furrier, who made his living as all furriers do,
by keeping wild animals in tiny, feces-encrusted cages, and killing them by
shoving electric probes into their mouths and anus'?
The animals Fred killed for vanity have the exact same
pain-producing nervous system as 'The handsome stranger' - EXACTLY THE SAME.
Their sentient status is IDENTICAL. There is always an outcry when stories
appear indicating other countries use cat and dog fur on clothing sent here
- what is the difference between the dog and the mink? I give dog biscuits
to the little racoon who visits my porch a few times a week, such a precious
little being with his little 'bandit's mask' - I look at him and wonder in
horror how anyone could kill him, strip off his skin and put it on their own
back...and imagine they look beautiful!
That Fred devalued these animal's lives to capitalize
on women's faulty notions of status symbols is his further disgrace. And as
far as his efforts to memorialize the Holocaust, I strongly believe that
people like Fred and I, who've known the horror of oppression, must NEVER
oppress other living beings, just because they can't say "No!"
Kiley Blackman
Animal Defenders of Westchester
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