Save the Elephants

I went to the circus once when I was ten years old.  I never went back.  I enjoyed the human performers but I hated everything else.  An elephant was strapped down to give rides.  This was her whole existence.  She would allow children to her back and walk in a slow circle.  The only other part of her life involved living in a train car until she would again be tied to another pole in another city.

It makes me angry and sad at the same time.  It frustrates me beyond belief because I could never do anything for that elephant.  She deserved to be running around in gigantic grass fields.  She deserved to know life beyond a train car window. 

I remember seeing a large cat in a cage and I felt so sorry for it.  What could I do for him?  I couldn't buy him or set him free.  And what's more, I could never do anything for any of the animals forced to live in the circus.  I'd always longed for a job with meaning, but what am I supposed to do, quit and save the entire world?  I would barely make a noticeable dent.

We watched "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" a couple days ago on DVD.  Awesome prequel and done quite well.  (If only the sequels were half as good)  A virus wipes out most of humanity while a race of apes develops the world.  I told Shawn it would serve us right if something like that happened.  For what we've done to the animals and their planet, for testing on them, and forcing them to be kiddie play things.

Why did God give us charge over the animals?  Surely He would have known how the majority of us would have treated the critters?  It ought to be the other way around.  Animals do not sexually abuse their young.  They do not torture.  They do not pollute and invent dangerous drugs. 

But what can I do?  I feel like I cannot do anything except be frustrated over it, saddened, and deeply angered.