Regardless of how you feel about animal rights, this move by PETA to show up unannounced and uninvited at a Long Island elementary school to convince children that circuses mistreat their animals simply feels wrong-headed. Protesters reportedly handed out coloring books to children leaving for the day with stickers that read, “Circuses are no fun for animals” according to Newsday. “I just think targeting children this age is inappropriate, in my opinion,” Rodney Gilmore, Hempstead district assistant interim superintendent for elementary education tells the paper.
PETA assistant director Kristie Phelps defended the group’s actions, saying there was no harm done to children by showing up at a school to inform them about abuses endured by circus animals. She said that with the circus using “glittery” ads and ticket discounts, children and adults “deserve to know that elephants don’t naturally stand on their heads and bears don’t ride bicycles.”
Others disagree. “These children might go home and be very anxious,” Phyllis Ohr, a clinical psychologist at Hofstra University, tells the paper. “Children are less mature in their cognitive process.”
And of course, no sooner do I write this than I realize that doing so merely rewards this kind of attention seeking, ends-justify-the-means behavior….
