NPR covers Chicago's Lincoln Zoo animal deaths

On Thursday, May 19, the National Public Radio show, "All Things Considered" included a four minute segment on the many recent Lincoln Park Zoo deaths. You can hear it on line at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4658982

Unfortunately while the director of the zoo board was interviewed, as was a representative of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, no member of the animal protection community was interviewed for the story -- we only heard a chant from activists, and then the suggestion from the board director that activists just want to hang somebody, with no good reason.

The story gives no background as to the controversy over the elephant move.

In 2003 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals warned the zoo director that the choice to import three elephants from San Diego would lead to their deaths. Debbie Leahy, from PETA, has been quoted in various reports saying, "We need a new director at Lincoln Park Zoo who's going to work with, not against, animal protection groups."

A reasonable request.

Please suggest, politely, to "All Things Considered," that balanced coverage of protests about animal deaths should include interviews with members of the animal protection community. You may wish to add your own comments about zoos.
Please try not to use any of my exact wording -- the less similar our letters, the better.

All Things Considered takes comments at:
http://www.npr.org/contact/

Select "NPR Program." Then from the pull-down menu select "All Things Considered."

You will receive the following in a confirmation from "All Things Considered": "Thank you for writing to NPR's All Things Considered. We depend on your comments to assess the integrity, quality and accessibility of our program. We read all our messages but because of the volume of mail we receive, we are unable to reply personally to everyone."


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)