Charles W. Stenholm's objections to a law that would prevent elephants, tigers, zebras and other animals from being hauled around the country like freight makes sense when one considers his agenda ("Wrong approach to animal rights," Commentary, Monday). Mr. Stenholm serves as senior policy adviser for the lobbying firm that is working to stop the U.S. Department of Agriculture from conducting mandated inspections of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. If the bill puts anyone's job in jeopardy, it's Mr. Stenholm's.
Readers can see for themselves exactly how Ringling abuses animals by reviewing volumes of documentation, including government and whistleblower reports, investigative exposes like the one by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author in the November issue of Mother Jones, and watching undercover video footage.
There is ample reason for the groundswell of public support for banning circuses from using wild animals: elephant babies ripped away from their frantic mothers, tigers being whipped until they hop like pogo sticks and wild animals spending their lives in small cages and in chains. The time for animal-based circuses is over.
DELCIANNA WINDERS
Director, Captive Animal Law Enforcement
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Norfolk, Va.
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By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
