Tiger

Bengal Tiger

Panthera tigris

In an ideal world, all wild creatures would be free to live their lives as they were intended to be lived.

There would be no commercial hunting for pelts.

There would be no hunting for so-called "medicines."

There would be no barbaric torture of food animals before slaughter. *

There would be no poaching, no exploitation for human entertainment and greed.

And there would be no need for zoos.

But as many of us hope for a renaissance in world thought, the cynic in me says ...

it ain't gonna happen.

* I would love to see the world turn away from the eating of meat altogether, but as this wish is unrealistic, the least we can do is fight to insure that food animals are treated with the dignity and respect we all deserve, and that when the time comes for their dispatch, that it be done in as fast and as painless a way as possible. Cultural practices be darned. Culture schmulture.

Photographs and text © 2003, Carl Cook. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet use without permission. Images are registered with and protected by the Digimarc system. For questions or comments, please email clcook@olywa.net