| The PETA people are truly nuts. I'd ask where this ends but clearly it would never end... |
US 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, Florida.
“This case is on the next frontier of civil rights,” said PETA’s attorney Jeffrey Kerr, representing the five orcas.
| This is the next frontier of Orwell's worst fears... |
“With all due respect, the court does not have the authority to even consider this question,” Shaw said, adding later: “Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the ‘We the people’ ... when the Constitution was adopted.”
Miller listened to both sides for an hour before announcing that he would take the case under advisement and issue his ruling at a later date. The judge raised doubts a court can allow animals to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit, and he questioned how far the implications of a favorable ruling could reach, pointing out the militaryÂ’s use of dolphins and scientistsÂ’ experiments on whales in the wild.
Kerr acknowledged PETA faces an uphill battle but he said he was hopeful after MondayÂ’s hearing.
“This is an historic day,” Kerr said. “For the first time in our nation’s history, a federal court heard arguments as to whether living, breathing, feeling beings have rights and can be enslaved simply because they happen to not have been born human. By any definition these orcas have been enslaved here.”
| While Mr. Kerr is all wound up about 'enslaving' animals, the Left has no problems with enslaving people to the will of their progressive masters. |
“We’re talking about hell unleashed,” he said.