{"id":446,"date":"2013-03-24T18:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2013\/03\/24\/animal-ban-is-a-human-rights-matter"},"modified":"2013-03-24T18:01:00","modified_gmt":"2013-03-24T18:01:00","slug":"animal-ban-is-a-human-rights-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=446","title":{"rendered":"Animal ban is a human-rights matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Texas legislators are considering a law that would ban the possession of big cats \u2013 tigers, lions, cougars, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars etc. \u2013 and \u201cnon-human primates.\u201d<br \/>Animal-rights activists are declaring this to be a good thing, because they don\u2019t want to see wild animals kept in captivity by people who don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing with them. I agree with the legislation, but I also see it as a <em>human-rights<\/em> concern, given the danger these creatures pose to human beings.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2013\/03\/21\/lawmakers-discuss-regulating-ownership-large-anima\/\" title=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2013\/03\/21\/lawmakers-discuss-regulating-ownership-large-anima\/\">http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2013\/03\/21\/lawmakers-discuss-regulating-ownership-large-anima\/<\/a><br \/>Remember the poor woman who had her face torn off by the chimpanzee? Or how about the young woman recently mauled to death by a lion? Both of the animals involved were killed. The disfigured woman has been fitted with a new face.<br \/>But the issue here isn\u2019t just about the safety of the animals, although as an animal lover I consider it important. The more critical consideration is for human beings who are put in harm\u2019s way in the presence of these animals.<br \/>State Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, has proposed House Bill 1015, which would ban possession of these exotic creatures by those who aren\u2019t associated with an accredited zoo. &#8220;The ownership of wild animals are a serious problem and a threat to human safety,&#8221; Guillen told the Texas Tribune. They spread disease and, of course, can turn on their human captors. <br \/>I\u2019ve been exposed only a couple of times in my life to big cats. Once in Oregon, some folks from a wildlife sanctuary in the southern part of the state brought a fully grown cheetah into our office in suburban Portland on a promotional tour. I will admit up front that the sight of that animal scared the daylights out of me \u2013 until he began sucking on my fingers while purring like a 150-pound kitten. The next time came many years later in Amarillo, when the financial institution with which I do business had a jaguar in its office; that cat is the official mascot of the company. He, too, was a big baby.<br \/>I\u2019ve lucked out in my exposure to these animals. Too many others haven\u2019t been so fortunate.<br \/>Rep. Guillen\u2019s bill makes sense because it protects animals \u2026 and humans.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas legislators are considering a law that would ban the possession of big cats \u2013 tigers, lions, cougars, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars etc. \u2013 and \u201cnon-human primates.\u201dAnimal-rights activists are declaring this to be a good thing, because they don\u2019t want to see wild animals kept in captivity by people who don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=446\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Animal ban is a human-rights matter<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}