Sacramento Bee
It’s come to this
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller called the hearing in San Diego after Sea World asked the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that names five orcas as plaintiffs in the case.
PETA claims the captured killer whales are treated like slaves for being forced to live in tanks and perform daily at its parks in San Diego and Orlando, Fla.
“This case is on the next frontier of civil rights,” said PETA’s attorney Jeffrey Kerr, representing the five orcas.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Free Willy!
Spannerhead on February 7, 2012 at 1:02 PM
If dogs don’t have a case for being locked up, than we can lock up Roseanne Barr and her ilk and never have to concern ourselves about them again.
right2bright on February 7, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Force the PETA attorneys to actually consult with the Orca’s, close up and personal.
Hope you don’t get dragged under, boys, good luck.
Bishop on February 7, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Most of the news involving PETA is indistinguishable from articles in The Onion.
aunursa on February 7, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Shocker. Guess who else agrees animals should be able to sue people?
Kataklysmic on February 7, 2012 at 1:05 PM
Why not?!
Shy Guy on February 7, 2012 at 1:08 PM
Fixed for accuracy
mankai on February 7, 2012 at 1:08 PM
The natural progression of liberalism.
Lost in Jersey on February 7, 2012 at 1:10 PM
Maybe the end of the world won’t be such a bad thing, after all.
DFCtomm on February 7, 2012 at 1:11 PM
Two words: Rule 11.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on February 7, 2012 at 1:11 PM
That’s it. My cats are going to sue Cass Sunstein for supporting policies which are forcing more Americans to have to eat cat food, thus driving up demand and consequently the price.
mankai on February 7, 2012 at 1:11 PM
Somes times “liberals” are against forcing one to serve another against their will, and sometimes, actually most of the time, that are for it.
WashJeff on February 7, 2012 at 1:12 PM
And when can we expect that fetuses will be afforded anything close to this kind of treatment from the left?
Greek Fire on February 7, 2012 at 1:12 PM
As a resident of Orlando and a frequent visitor to Sea World – I can safely say that those whales are the most pampered creatures in a 100-mile radius. They live like royalty and, if my whale-body-language-reading skills are what I think they are, these orcas look pretty damn happy to me.
Of course, my body language reading skills are just as absurd as filing a lawsuit on behalf of a friggin whale.
Defenestratus on February 7, 2012 at 1:12 PM
Democrats just keep their slaves in public housing… but they don’t ask them to perform anything except voting.
mankai on February 7, 2012 at 1:13 PM
These people need to be driven out of the country.
Dack Thrombosis on February 7, 2012 at 1:13 PM
cripe…that slippery slope is getting unstinkingbelievable…
cmsinaz on February 7, 2012 at 1:14 PM
But, you see, the federal government isn’t doing it, so slavery is perfectly acceptable. – Mittbot.
lorien1973 on February 7, 2012 at 1:14 PM
Instead of holding a hearing the judge should have imposed Rule 11 sanctions on PETA.
And PETA kills dogs. PETA is evil.
rbj on February 7, 2012 at 1:14 PM
darwin on February 7, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Upon losing, get ready to write a song about it, liberals – that’s your first step to perverting civilization further.
The Nerve on February 7, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Animals are property, that a bunch of leftists are trying to pauper people by stealing their property under color of law, is simply standard operating practice for the looters.
If these whales are found to be “slaves”, now you’re talking about all the cattle, chickens, pigs, dogs, cats, horses, even fish in fishponds, in America. Trillions of dollars in property stolen with the stroke of a pen, with mass starvation on top of it.
Rebar on February 7, 2012 at 1:17 PM
They are right captivity is not place for those beautiful animals…however, they could feed hundreds at almost no cost…
right2bright on February 7, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Of course, if the left doesn’t get it’s way they’ll start protesting in front of Sea World. They start destroying Sea World property and threaten it’s employees.
darwin on February 7, 2012 at 1:17 PM
That’s the next step. The left is against meat eating . Cass Sunstein thinks we should “nudge” people away from eating meat.
darwin on February 7, 2012 at 1:19 PM
So my dog has to buy health insurance now too? I’m totally stealing his unemployment check, though, because I’m pretty sure he doesn’t grasp numbers.
lorien1973 on February 7, 2012 at 1:20 PM
right2bright on February 7, 2012 at 1:22 PM
It’s not about elevating animals to the status of humans, it’s about lowering humans to the status of animals. Ultimately, then, it should be OK to kill PETA members as long as you eat them.
swinia sutki on February 7, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Freeing the animals is just another way to enslave the people.
RadClown on February 7, 2012 at 1:27 PM
I’m pretty sure nobody forces a whale to perform.
mbs on February 7, 2012 at 1:30 PM
What an insult this is to all the brave people who struggled tirelessly, shedding tears and blood, in the cause of true civil rights.
MassVictim on February 7, 2012 at 1:35 PM
Do they speak whale?
de rigueur on February 7, 2012 at 1:36 PM
Now, the leftists have to find a new group of dopes to have “struggled tirelessly, shedding tears and blood” for their radicalized version of “true civil rights.” That’s the way it works…
The Nerve on February 7, 2012 at 1:41 PM
1235 years 255 days 22 hours 58 minuets and 37 seconds after hell freezes over, approximately.
SWalker on February 7, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Excerpt from cross-examination:
Defense Counsel: “So, Sparky, do you feel your presence at the Brown’s residence is forced slavery?
Sparky: “Woof woof woof…pantpant”
BobMbx on February 7, 2012 at 1:50 PM
Zing!!
+1000
BacaDog on February 7, 2012 at 1:51 PM
Yeah. Since they don’t have opposing thumbs, I’ll have to manage my dogs’ credit cards for them. They gave me power of attorney just this morning.
BobMbx on February 7, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Every time I read something like this, I’m reminded that giving gays marriage is what’s going to kill off Western Civilization.
JetBoy on February 7, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Want to blow a libtards mind? Have this conversation:
“So, you believe that abortion is not murder because its just a lump of cells, and not a person?”
Libtard: “thats right”
“Great. That means that I can head down to the beach and smash the crap out of those lumps of cells contained in turtle eggs, right?”
BobMbx on February 7, 2012 at 1:58 PM
The ancients possessed and communicated, if carefully, a perfectly reasoned account that the human being by nature is compelled to long for and to attempt a transcendence; if, then, what is high or the gods or even the ideas are uprooted or rendered impossible…
kunegetikos on February 7, 2012 at 2:02 PM
Yeah, but you see those Orca have killed and eaten thousands of sea kittens, so, they’re not enslaved, they’re incarcerated without parole.
trubble on February 7, 2012 at 2:11 PM
Nobody’s giving gays marriage – they’re taking it for themselves.
The Nerve on February 7, 2012 at 2:18 PM
Glad to see our resident gay advocate sees the thread that binds this lawsuit with gay marriage. They are just symptoms.
DFCtomm on February 7, 2012 at 2:26 PM
Gays don’t take any straight person’s marriage from them, they just want the same thing as everyone else. Yet you would say “no, only straights can have this marriage stuff…because I don’t like gays.”
JetBoy on February 7, 2012 at 2:31 PM
Guess what else we can do that you can’t…have kids between us…that God guy messes everything up, if only He would have allowed to guys to have kids, we wouldn’t be talking about this.
The fact is, 5% of the population does not get to set the rules that are tens of thousands of years old…wait your turn, maybe in another 10,000 years you can have your say.
right2bright on February 7, 2012 at 2:52 PM
They have the same thing as everyone else. Gay people can get married. Just not to someone of the same sex. Just like everyone else.
Shump on February 7, 2012 at 2:56 PM
Great, so now I’m going to
Hellprison for teaching my dog to sit.There used to be a He!! until liberals took charge.
antipc on February 7, 2012 at 3:20 PM