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March 09. 2015 12:01AM Letters to the Editor, March 9 Lions in Phoenix I support wholeheartedly retiring exotic animals who have had to work, usually living a terrible life, for the financial gain of others. They should live out their lives in a "sanctuary" that is fully equipped professionally and financially to handle their extraordinary nutritional, medical and privacy needs, and their need for secure, comfortable living quarters. Safety is of the highest priority. In this case, I find that their "owners' " plan to put them on display and have complete strangers bottle feed them so close to their powerful jaws and paws is extremely dangerous for the people and unsettling for the lions. Lions are a pride animal and males are very protective of their females. They are also lightning fast and unpredictable. Lions are very private and do not do well with people staring at them, and being in close proximity. Also, I strongly object to the term "agility exercises," which is just another word for "entertainment." This is just as bad as making them do tricks for films and commercials. If the McMillans are unable to provide for their lion pride, making them do tricks for the public is not acceptable treatment of an exotic animal who has already sacrificed its whole life for financial gain for its "owners." I hope they find another way to fund this questionable endeavor, so these lions can truly be in a sanctuary, where they don't have to work, but rather, live in peace. The fact that these lions are within sight of schools, filled with children is also unacceptable. Lions can jump, and climb. They can, when provoked, use their formidable power to break through all kinds of barriers. I pray this story has a happy ending for the lions and the McMillans, but especially for the lions. D. Lin, Ashland FERC failed In assessing of the Jordan Cove / Pacific Connector natural gas projects, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission failed to perform its duty. At the end of Chapter 4 of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, FERC accepted the responsibility of assessing the incremental cumulative impact of this project and associated past, present and future reasonably foreseeable actions. This means assessing the global warming implications of greenhouse gas emissions from fracking shale, transporting the natural gas to Coos Bay, exporting it, and its final combustion in Asia. However, in Chapter 1 of the DEIS, FERC denied this jurisdiction. I used the data in the DEIS to calculate the overall impact of the project and associated actions. Assuming the average rate of leakage of methane from shale fracked natural gas, I conservatively estimate that emissions from the project will be equivalent to 57 million tons of carbon dioxide. This represents about 75 percent of Oregon’s total greenhouse gas emissions footprint for 2010. Using the Environmental Protection Agency estimate of the social cost of carbon emissions, the annual cost of the project range from $700 million to nearly $7 billion. Any economic benefit pails into insignificance compared to this. Does this serve the public interest? Alan Journet, Jacksonville http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150309/Opinion/150309882 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->