I have been watching the news tonight and

it seems to me that there are a lot of people out there are not too bright.

While my heart goes out to the family members of the whale trainer that was killed out in Washington State, one has to look at the plain and simple fact that working with several tons of unpredictible sea mammel isn't really the safest line of work you can go into.

Back in the early sixties, I had a teacher whose son was injured in Vietnam. He was a West Point graduate and took a gunshot wound and survived. I mentioned it to my dad, who commented that the man was a professional and knew what kind of chance he was taking when he enrolled at West Point.

He also commented that what WAS a shame is when some poor bastard that had been drafted took a hit.

Looking back on it, he was right. Being a professional soldier is a risky venture and when you take that route, you know that you are taking a certain chance.

It goes with the job.

Auto racers face risks every time they enter a race. Over the years, there have been quite a number fo accidents involving the motor sports.

The same thing holds true with working with animals.

Steve Irwin was killed at a young age when he got speared by a sea animal.

Roy Horn was the victim of a tiger attack in Las Vegas a while back during a show.

Let's face it, there are risks assiciated with certain trades, and not all of them are like the military or motor sports where the risks are publicized openly.

Let's look at animals for a minute. For one thing, they are somewhat unpredictible. For another thing, when an animal is taken into captivity, they go through a lot of changes and one really never knows what they are going to do next.

While a house cat may simply make a mess, unexpectidly scratch an owner or tear something up, a huge tiger or something else altogether. They are large and powerful and capable of tremendous damage in an instant. You can not let your guard down for an instant.

Working with animals is a risky venture. There isn't a vetinarian out therre that hasn't been bitten or scratched at least once.

The risks are compounded when the size of the animal increases. A several hundred pound tiger is a lot more dangerous than a seven pound house cat.

While my heart goes out to the family of the trainer that was killed, i have to say that it should not have come as a complete surprise.



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http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/