Animal farm

In response to the Review-Journal’s Oct. 16 wire service story, “Brazil opens Latin America’s first elephant refuge”: It’s encouraging to see more countries acknowledging the trauma and misery that societies have imposed upon exotic animals for the sake of entertainment or other purposes.

Keeping wild animals in captivity induces both physical and psychological harm, especially when the captors are not sufficiently knowledgeable about the needs of these animals.

Even more significant is the fact that once the animal is no longer useful or profitable, there is the dilemma of what to do with it. There are untold stories of unwanted, sick or aging elephants, chimps, tigers, bears and other assorted exotics languishing at roadside zoos and other attractions or chained up in someone’s basement. We can only imagine the tragedy of their lonely, deprived existences.

Those sanctuaries that provide refuge, kindness and care to these discarded animals are to be commended, especially when they do so without intent to profit from these animals by permitting public access. They share these beautiful creatures only by camera, thereby allowing viewers to observe them from afar and grant them the peace they’ve earned after their lifetime of sacrifice.

It’s costly to house and care for them, however, and releasing them back into the wild is not an option after prolonged captivity. The best solution is prevention. We need to stop permitting ownership of exotic animals in the first place. No living being deserves to be treated as a commodity. Bye Week Bliss @lucastabor tweets from experience: I work for UHC and we got absolutely put in a blood bath over ACA. This guy’s a clown.