Opinion

Burning Bush

Now $96 billion more has been approved for the U.S. president, and how much has he already made off this war we should not even be in?

Yet he asks Americans to look past the bloodshed and killings of our people and to look at the progress he thinks has taken place in Iraq.

He and some of his administration should be charged with war crimes, impeached and run out of this country.

This is a president who will not take care of his own country yet wants to go to war to try to run other countries.

Send his little skinny butt to Iraq. I, for one, have no respect for him and look at him as a complete control freak and a traitor to our country.

- JOHN FOUST
Sahuarita

Elephants' needs no small concern

Amy Lynn Glor's March 17 "My Tucson" column ("Thanks to zoo's signs, my visit was guilt-free") shows that other animals at Reid Park Zoo desperately need more space.

If the city gives $8.5 million to the zoo, it should be used to expand enclosures of other animals rather than on another inadequate exhibit for elephants that will not address their needs.

Elephants in the wild travel miles every day. This constant motion keeps them psychologically and physically healthy.

Zoo elephants develop captivity-induced problems that cause them to die at an average of about half their 70-year life span. Our zoo cannot provide the hundreds of acres elephants need.

Glor's column also shows that the zoo misleads the public. The sign at the elephant enclosure compares Connie's compulsive swaying with twirling one's hair. This illness, stereotypic behavior, is caused by the stress resulting from severe confinement. It is not natural or healthy, and the zoo should not misinform people.

Glor jokes that if Shaba gets pregnant, she and Connie will be the "hottest celebrity couple in Tucson." The zoo plans to impregnate Shaba using artificial insemination, an invasive procedure with a low probability of resulting in a live birth but a high risk of complication for Shaba.

The Elephant Sanctuary has generously offered to take and transport Connie and Shaba. This is an opportunity to improve conditions of our other zoo animals that desperately need it.

- NIKIA FICO
director
Save Tucson Elephants