Subject: peregrines and zealots
Date: Sep 20 14:43:24 1994
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


I have to second David Wright's concerns about PAWS. I haven't heard
anything much good about them from people who have had encounters with
them. They are apparently quite arrogant and think the animals of the world
are "theirs." The ad against the Burke Museum was absolutely execrable,
although I don't remember either whether it came from PETA or PAWS (both
have progressed from concerns about mistreated pets--very admirable--to
being self-made watchdogs over any human-animal interaction). I suspect
PAWS is the sort of organization to take on almost any other institution
just for the notoriety. I recall a line in a book that I read years ago
that has never left me: "zealots have no sense of humor." And militant
animal-rights organizations, like militant anythings, are zealots.

FRG would not have euthanized that falcon (at least not without trying
their hardest to amputate the wing and save the bird). The bird had great
value to education and to potential peregrine breeding programs.

However, I have been told that the Department of Wildlife has authorized
PAWS to deal with endangered species according to their best judgment, so
what they did was perfectly legal. Because of that, I believe FRG people
are disinclined to make a fuss about the episode.

Dennis Paulson