July 27, 2009

Barker to meet Hicks

TV celeb Barker in Cherokee to protest bear treatment

By Sabian WarrenBarker, an animal rights activist, is meeting with Eastern Band Principal Chief Michell Hicks at Hicks' office in Cherokee.

Hicks this morning confirmed the meeting was set for 1 p.m.

In a letter to Hicks last month, Barker, former host of "The Price is Right," requested the meeting with Hicks out of a concern the Cherokee bears "are not being treated humanely."

Hicks said today the tribe is following regulations in the care of the animals.

"We're complying with tribal laws and standards established by the USDA," he said.
Top StoriesHicks also says he's disappointed by the way PETA has handled the whole thing. He feels the 640 emails the organization sent him border on harassment.And:It appears Barker's friends at PETA will not be welcome at the meeting.

In fact, Hicks says the organization has already broken tribal laws on several occasions, by handing out informational brochures on the reservation without a business license.

If that behavior continues, he says he'll have no problem asking tribal council to permanently ban PETA from the reservation.
Comment:  I'd say 640 e-mails on one subject is well over the border and into the realm of harassment. A dozen e-mails are enough to "border on harassment."

For more on the subject, see Bob Barker vs. Cherokee Bear Exhibits.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Given that PETA believes USDA regulations aren't strict enough for animal treatment (in that meat and milk are legal), well…you do the math.

Rob said...

I believe many animals are treated horribly in slaughterhouses. So I'd say PETA has a point on that issue. USDA regulations probably aren't strict enough.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but PETA wants to outlaw meat altogether. It's in their mission statement.

Of course, any vegan diet depends on supplements to get vitamin B12 at best, and the vegan utopia has its own environmental consequences. (In fact, the new trans fat-free margarines all contain the dreaded palm oil.) And there's absolutely no reason to believe a society that doesn't eat meat is in any way more egalitarian than one that does. And there's the stuff animal rights groups do to Indians. But they've got a fantasy to keep up.

Rob said...

I was just responding to the first comment, not judging PETA overall.

Of course, it wouldn't hurt our society at all if people ate a lot less meat. Raising animals for meat is wasteful in terms of the resources it uses and the pollution it generates.