On August 18, we asked people to submit letters to the Miami Herald in response to their story  about animal-loving philanthropists who, unfortunately, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Miami Zoo. We hoped that letters, if published, would serve opportunity to educate Miami Herald readers about the inherent cruelty of zoos. A letter from at least one TheirTurn subscriber, Mickey Kramer from NYC, was published. In it, he writes, “Zoo animals, despite any talk of education and conservation, are kept captive for life . . . For those with disposable income and who care for animals, may I suggest donating” to a sanctuary where the animals are not “used as exhibits.”

Thank you, Mickey, for being a voice for those who don’t have one:

Eighty animal rights activists descended upon NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mansion for a protest, but the media homed in on one: 92-year old Natasha Brenner. The Coalition to Ban Horse-drawn Carriages organized the protest to pressure the Mayor into fulfilling his campaign promise to end horse-drawn carriage rides in midtown Manhattan. Ms. Brenner, who has participated in hundreds of animal rights protests over the years and has been an articulate and staunch advocate for the horses, told reporters that “nothing would keep her away” and that she won’t back down until horses are “no longer pulling carriages in the streets of New York City.”

Natasha Brenner speak to the press (photo: Donny Moss)

NYC’s animals are lucky to have Natasha Brenner as an advocate, and NYC’s activists are lucky to have her as a role model.

On Monday, TheirTurn reported that the online grocery giant Fresh Direct, which serves the NYC metropolitan area, is making home deliveries of live lobsters, and we suggested that people ask the company to stop. In response to my email asking them to deliver frozen lobsters in order to reduce the amount of time they suffer, Fresh Direct wrote:

“I can definitely understand your concern. We do not send them frozen, as lobsters are considered fresher when cooked alive. The meat tends to be tougher when eaten any other way.”

Is avoiding “tougher meat” an acceptable justification for prolonging a lobster’s suffering through live transport before boiling him or her alive? How can anyone think any of this is okay? Novelist David Foster Wallace once said, “Is it possible that future generations will regard our present eating practices in much the same way we now view Nero’s entertainments or Mengele’s experiments?” Of course they will. If you haven’t already, please do yourself, the planet and the animals a favor: go veg.

The good news is that the Aspen Art Museum shut down its exhibit of wandering African tortoises and sent them to a tortoise sanctuary in a warmer climate. The bad news is that the international publicity generated by this controversy could trigger other artists and museums to use animals as a way of drawing attention to themselves. The museum, which has, in essence, been rewarded for exploiting animals, says that their decision to close the exhibit a month early was based on the cold forecast, not the protests.

Photo: Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

While the publicity surrounding the tortoises might be the reason why the “exhibit” was shut down, it might also be the reason why other artists decide to exploit animals. In fact, we don’t need to look far to see a more recent example. A NYC-based fashion designer has received far more attention than he otherwise would because he is using horse-drawn carriages as part of his runway show in early September. If the activists ignore the exploiters, then they won’t get the attention they want. On the flip side, the animals won’t get the help they need.

After reading our post about a U.K.-based fashion designer who makes purses and iPad cases out of deer skin, Elizabeth Ohlendorf from Sacramento, California, created a Change.org petition demanding that Rosemary Hobrough “Stop killing animals to create purses and other fashion items out of deer/fawn skin/fur.” The petition also calls for a boycott of her online store, RAH & Co. Thank you for taking action, Elizabeth.

Skin is not a fabric, even if taken from animals who were hunted on the grounds of overpopulation. We have an overpopulation of humans too, but no one is using that as a justification to kill us and turn our bodies into purses. Please sign and share the petition.