This is what certain people refer to as "abuse."

I simply have to jump into this one. My oldest daughter is a second-year student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Baylor's mascot is a bear, and they actually have two live bears that they take to football games and such to represent them. These bears are kept in a clean, well-ordered habitat on the campus and a loving group of volunteers known as the Chamber takes care of them. The bears are happy, well fed, they are kept clean, and everyone on campus adores them.

Lately, though, some self-appointed guardians of the public trust have taken it upon themselves to try and "liberate" the bears in the name of "non-human rights." Through a website loaded with explosive rhetoric, selective photos and heavily edited video clips, they have ignited a firestorm directed toward Baylor.

Now I agree that, if the bears are being abused just for the sake of the university's ego, why then, this should be stopped. But are they? Hardly. The website sounds like it would be more appropriate in a supermarket tabloid than anywhere else. It shows very short clips of the bears occasionally pacing; supposedly, this is "psychotic" behavior on the part of the animals. Come again? What does a bear in the wild do when it's in its den? On occasion, it paces! Curiously, there are no clips of the bears playing with their many toys, playing with each other like kittens, or putting on a spontaneous show for the folks who are standing around watching them. I have seen them do all of these things and more, engaging in behaviors that proclaim, in the loudest possible voice, "WE ARE HAPPY!!!

A better look at the bears' home

The website uses carefully-crafted camera angles and looped video to try and make a case. But the careful observer will see through this sham. For example, the shot showing "multiple layers of chain link" is taken from a very oblique angle, not from the front of the bears' habitat where people can look at them. One shot claims that the bottom of the bears' pool is filled with feces, yet a wider shot taken after the bears were supposedly moved shows a perfectly clean pool. The truth is that the entire enclosure, including the pool, are cleaned a minimum of three times a week, and nobody gets paid to do it. All the bear workers are student volunteers. So even this group's own photos are self-contradictory.

Several people have contacted this outfit, known as SHARK, trying to set them straight about the facts. One overzealous individual used some, um, colorful expressions and a high measure of, um, vehemence. Others, including myself, tried to point to the real facts in a careful and irenic way. Unfortunately, we have all now been lumped under the category of "hate mail." In this case, "hate mail" is defined as "any mail that disagrees with us."

SHARK, which is supposed to stand for "SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness," has a very short and undistinguished history. Its founder, one Steve Hindi, apparently had a revelation of sorts while hunting pigeons one day. Being a good liberal who obviously loses sleep over people's individual civil rights (including the right to hunt and eat meat), he immediately decided to try and shove his little epiphany down the rest of America's throat. He has done a fair amount of his writing from jail, where he spends a lot of time because he likes to interfere with hunters who are going about their legal right in proper legal fashion. In other words, his little flash of insight has, in his mind, placed him above the law. Definitely someone who is qualified to shape public opinion!

I've said it before, but apparently I need to say it again because some people just don't get it:

1. Abuse is doing deliberate harm for no good reason. Examples include hurting an animal just to feel superior to it or doing physical harm just for "fun." Another example: one day while I was deer hunting near my former home in Wyoming, an older man came driving by my spot and stopped to talk. He told me all about how he had a couple of kids with him on their first hunt, and they couldn't shoot worth beans because they spooked a nice buck but only "knocked a leg off him" and the buck got away. He was actually laughing about the incident. I wanted to pop him over the head with the butt of my rifle.
2. Abuse is applying discipline beyond what is needed for the situation. An example would be repeatedly pounding a dog with a fist because it had an accident on the carpet.

1. Abuse is not hunting. Hunting is a method of gathering food and/or sport. As long as it is done in a way that minimizes suffering for the animal, there is nothing wrong with it.
2. In the same vein, eating meat does not constitute condoning abuse. Take a look at the teeth in your mouth: they were designed for eating meat, not grass. The Bible tells us that God gave us the animals for food, and the protein that meat supplies is essential for life.
3. Abuse is not raising animals for food. Keeping a cow well fed and contented in order to get better meat is just the opposite of abuse: it's pampering.
4. Abuse is not keeping animals as pets. This is the category into which the Baylor Bears fall.

Anybody with access to a web site can make an accusation. But before you go to this page, keep several things in mind:

1. These people are radical extremists who might very well come after you next
2. The video and pictures are doctored and therefore are lying to you
3. If you email them with a differing opinion, no matter how eloquent and irenic, they will lump you under the category of "hate mail from Baylor supporters"
4. It seems clear that these people, and especially Mr. Hindi, are more interested in publicity for themselves than anything else
5. The comments and quotes from "experts" are apparently based on things that SHARK told them, not on firsthand examination, and we know that SHARK is willing to lie about what's really going on at Baylor
6. You can probably find much better things to do with your time than this

Now I'm going to ask you to do something risky: speak up. If you're as tired of the extremists dictating our lives as I am, let's do something about it. For starters, the administrators at Baylor could use an encouraging word. Names, addresses, phone numbers and emails are below (conveniently supplied by SHARK's own website!); please use them. The list also includes contact information for the local newspaper in Waco; don't be afraid to write to them as well. If you're so inclined but are maybe a bit shy, send a note to me and I'll be glad to pass it along for you.

Thanks for listening.

Here's the contact information:

Dr. Robert B. Sloan, Jr., President
Office Phone 254-710-3555
Office Fax 254-710-3557
Robert_Sloan@baylor.edu
Office of the President
Baylor University
P.O. Box 97096
Waco, TX 76798-7096

Mr. Jerome R. Loughridge, Chief of Staff
Office Phone 254-710-3555
Office Fax 254-710-3557
Jerome_Loughridge@baylor.edu

Tom Stanton, Baylor Athletic Director
Tom_Stanton@baylor.edu

Larry D. Brumley, Associate Vice President for External Relations
Larry_Brumley@baylor.edu

Baylor's Toll Free Number
800-BAYLOR-U (229-5678)
Press 7 for the Athletic Department

Waco Tribune-Herald contact info:
E-mail: letters@wacotrib.com
Box 2588, Waco, Texas 76702
Fax (254) 757-0302
Phone (254) 757-5757
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