When I first heard about “the zebra on the freeway” in Atlanta (I was listening to Sean Hannity when a “breaking news” segment interrupted the show), I immediately felt sick to my stomach. It was a harsh reminder of the problems with using animals for human entertainment–an even harsher reminder of the enormous cruelty that exists in circuses every day. When I worked in downtown Atlanta, I used to see the elephants shackled out in a parking lot near CNN Center. They looked broken. Defeated. I imagine what it must be like to be forced to dance and wear ridiculous costumes out of fear of torture, to be whipped regularly, to be chained to another group of my fellow species, to travel in hot, dark, sickening circus trains as a regular part of life, to have my child ripped away from me after her birth. Hell is what it is.
If we catch anyone treating human beings in such a manner, we arrest them and put them in jail for the rest of their lives. The perpetrator becomes a hated outcast from society. We talk about how cruel they are and wonder how any human being can possibly be so horrible. When animals are treated that way, we laugh and cheer, munching on peanuts and cotton candy. It is the Greatest Show on Earth.
As an immigration attorney, I sat through hundreds of hearings where I listened to people from other countries talk about how they had been cruelly treated and they had come to the United States for protection. Many of them were granted asylum in the United States and were allowed to stay here so they would not have to return to a life of suffering. Although I agreed that some of those people deserved asylum, none of the stories I ever heard in court were as bad as what those animals endure. And we continue to laugh and cheer at the suffering.
When Lima escaped from that nightmare world, when he finally broke free, we corralled him and sent him right back. That zebra deserves asylum–a reprieve from his agony. Think of Marty the zebra. Would you choose to chain him up and force him to perform unnatural acts? How cruel is that?
Lima deserves his freedom.
Zebras do not belong on interstates, and they don’t belong in circuses.
Set Lima Free!
