The problem is not just about using endangered species, it's killing individuals in the name of art and money. So whether he's using an endangered bird of paradise or a rat it really doesn't matter at all for the individual who had his or her life taken away. It's equally immoral in the same way that we'd consider equally immoral to kill a chinese human and an icelandic human - both are individuals with their own lives and desires and both are equally deserving to live their lives without suffering in the name of something dispensable.

They are so beautiful and smart - pity people treat them like property, like objects, castrate them without anesthetics, cut their tails and teeth also without anesthetics, keep them in crates so small they can't move, then transport them for hundreds of miles to a slaughterhouse where a low skilled worker needs to kill as many of them as he can in a minute, often resulting in very slow deaths. Not to mention that these same workers, so desensitized by their jobs, often will torture them just for fun - there are many reports of such things, including one from Ozzy Osborn who used to work in a slaughterhouse.

All for what? Bacon, ham, and other completely dispensable items which give a little bit of pleasure to you yet cause a hell lot of suffering to them.

So I'm glad to see these guys roaming free, swimming in nice waters and having a good time. I just wish they all had that opportunity to be free.

I read Netorama every day and at least once a week I see an article that saddens me for the lack of respect for non-human animals. I wish everyone, including the editors, had as much compassion for pigs, lambs, fishes and cows as they do for cute creatures, dogs and cats.

I recommend checking out www.watchearthlings.com to learn about speciesism.