Petaluma Death Camp

Rat lovers were furious Wednesday that a Petaluma animal shelter had euthanized about 1,000 of the rodents taken last week from a man who had been hoarding the creatures inside his home.
Full Story, SF Chronicle, June 29, 2006


My letter to the SF Chronicle:

Dear Editor,

Your story on the slaughter of approximately 1,020 rats at the Petaluma Death Camp serves as another timely reminder of the erosion of meaning in language. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. A place of rampant methodical killing is a "shelter"?

One of my ideas for a science fiction movie consists of beings from another planet landing on earth, and "putting to sleep" all those who have, with the lame excuse of "it's my job", brought so much death to so many innocent sentient beings.

Kant observed that, "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." As the U.S. continues to maim and kill Iraqis in droves, spreading ongoing death throughout the land through the use of depleted uranium, all for oil, empire, and profit, Petaluma is but another reminder of the cancer eating at the heart of our country's soul.

Sincerely,

Terry L. Clark