It’s time to give some more money away!
Per the VotK website, "Chelsea is part of the Pittsburgh Tigers a private zoo shut down in Western Ohio. "
Valley of the Kings
You might be aware that there was a tragic event in Ohio a few weeks ago. A man released dozens of exotic animals into the wild and then shot himself to death. While the man’s suicide is a tragedy, the part that concerns me (for purposes of this post) is the fact that there are no wild areas near Zanesville, Ohio–at least none that can support lions, tigers, bears, and other exotic animals the man kept as “pets.” Lions, tigers, and bears (literally) had to be put down1 by sheriff’s deputies in order to protect the local human and domestic animal populations.
Enter Eithrael Viola and the Valley of the Kings Sanctuary & Retreat (VotK). Eithrael, who writes for the Liquid Whispers blog from time to time, maintains a permanent link to VotK in her blog’s sidebar. Both as a display of gratitude for the help Eithrael’s given me on this blog–and also as a way of preventing further animal massacres–I’ve gone ahead and donated another $25 to VotK.
A partial screen shot of my Paypal account
- So what is VotK? Per their website:
Valley of the Kings Sanctuary and Retreat provides a home for abused, abandoned, retired and injured large felids, exotics, and domestic non-human animals.
We give the best available diet, housing, veterinary care and positive human interaction. Valley of the Kings educates the general public concerning the bond between human and non-human animals in the natural world.
We teach that private or commercial ownership, hunting for profit or sport and the destruction of natural habitat will mean eventual extinction for these creatures. Lastly, we believe that when we remove animals from the wild, we take their freedom and wildness, the essence of their being.
That’s a mission statement I can mostly get behind. The only exception I would take would be to point out that, without sanctuaries such as VotK to protect animals from hunting and the destruction of their natural habitat, then non-human animals will be doomed to extinction for sure. I certainly don’t see an end to reckless human behavior coming any time soon.
I doubt my $25 donation is going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. It’s a pretty small amount, after all. But it doesn’t have to be. If you’ve got a little cash that you could kick toward the cause, too, then it wouldn’t take long before a small amount here and a small amount there could begin to add up to substantial money. And money (combined with the hands-on efforts of activists who run VotK) really can tip the odds in favor of a brighter, better future. Click here for a bunch of ways you can help.
Satchel & Jara, a couple of royal residents at the Valley of the Kings Sanctuary
Reminder: I’m still accepting ideas for where to send next month’s Karma Credit money. Send me a message via Twitter or email. Tell me about your favorite worthy cause!
Animal photos used in this post came from the Valley of the Kings’ website.
- read “shot and killed” [↩]
