Subject: captive spotted owl
Date: Jun 21 12:50:24 1995
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


Mike Waller wrote: "They have even done some work with our resident
(unreleasable) Spotted Owl."

I have to comment on this, to elaborate slightly on what I wrote yesterday
about the many decisions that are forced upon us by public opinion. You
see, those people, whoever they are, have forced you to (at least think you
have to) add "unreleasable" to your statement that indicates you have a
captive Spotted Owl. As if there's a viewpoint that makes it "evil" to
have a captive bird, endangered or not, so you have to add the caveat that
implies "we wouldn't have it if it could take care of itself."

Zoos shouldn't have to rationalize keeping animals. That's what they are
for, and the educational value of zoos has been long established. If zoos
become places where only crippled animals can be kept, hmmm....

No offense meant to you, Mike, just a comment from a critic of our day and
age. Ten or twenty years ago, you wouldn't have added that parenthetical
word.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416