Credit: Vasha Hunt/Opelika-Auburn News
Spirit flies before the first half of the Auburn Tigers' season-opening football game against the Utah State Aggies on Saturday, Sept. 3, in Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn.
By: Opelika-Auburn News Editorial Board
Published: September 18, 2011
Published: September 18, 2011
PETA should thank Auburn University.
It should thank the university for serving as home to the Southeastern Raptor Center, where an estimated 200 wounded or orphaned birds of prey are brought for rehabilitation annually and, if health permits, released back into the wild.
It should thank the university for allowing the Raptor Center to educate thousands about such birds, moving many of them to further appreciate their beauty and necessity in the ecosystem. An educated public helps foster a more caring, generous attitude toward such animals.
PETA should thank Auburn for being home to one of the nation’s finest veterinary schools. The university is renowned for its hospital care toward animals, large or small, and for teaching others how to care for their pets and make them feel loved.
But instead, a member of the organization chose to throw darts through a letter to the Montgomery Advertiser simply because a highly improbable incident drew national attention.
Before last Saturday’s Auburn-Mississippi State football game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Spirit, the Raptor Center’s bald eagle and a symbol of our nation, made a detour never before taken during the 11-year history of pre-game flights. The eagle glided into a luxury box glass window, was briefly stunned, recovered and resumed the flight.
If PETA was so concerned about Spirit’s safety, why did it wait until the bird glided into the window to make noise in the media?
If these flights were deemed so unsafe, why didn’t PETA cry foul long ago? Oh, the incident drew national headlines — and maybe the PETA letter simply piggy-backed on that news in an attempt to draw attention to the organization.
PETA does a wonderful job policing true animal cruelty, where neglect and physical cruelty to animals should be battled. There are crimes committed against animals out there, and we encourage PETA to continue the fight against such activities.
In Spirit’s case, we have a symbolic, well-cared-for bird whom thousands adore and only want to love and cherish — and he simply glided into a window. Somehow here, we see a large difference between a minor accident and animal cruelty.
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