Cruelty Fest

Well, it's time for our city's annual animal exploitation festival, called RioFest. Dogs, snakes, lizards and turtles were prodded and poked and forced to perform for their human taskmasters. Dogs were made to show off their "hunting skills." Somehow, the fellow forcing the animals to his bidding says in the local newspaper about his show: "It's for the love of animals." Say what? Training dogs to either kill other animals or lead their human taskmasters to the bloody deed is certainly not animal love. In another case of animal exploitation, an exhibitor allows people to hold his 100-pound alligator snapping turtle, so they could take pictures with it. Says the lady who jumped at the chance to hold it: "I’ve collected and hunted a lot of snapping turtles," but she later adds that she "just always loved animals and nature." My idea of love is not killing and kidnapping.