Dear Editor,

I was very appalled by your article ‘Toss another Stingray on the Barbie.’ It is a complete outrage for your writer to say ‘nature hates you’ and other comments like ‘if you see a crocodile, punch it in the nose!’ I personally think Steve Irwin got what was coming to him, not that I hated him mind you, but everyone must admit he was not the brightest crayon in the box. Someone who jumps on the back of crocodiles and swims with the ‘ocean’s deadliest’ has got to be a little loony, don’t we all agree? The people who ‘for whatever reason’ love nature do it so you people who don’t have an appreciation for it, have plants to get your oxygen from and the vegetables who supplement your diet. I think even people who don’t necessarily love nature would be appalled by the comment ‘get out the trowel-it’s time to pave everything before the animals take revenge!’ As for his ‘case in point’ the kitten that destroyed his laptop doesn’t fairly represent the animals of the world who want to eat you. Aren’t you just terrified of the fluffy little kitten who you just know will eat you if not payed proper attention? In my experience and through the copious amounts of biology notes I have taken many animals attack only when threatened. As for the Rogue stingray’ wasn’t this incident an accident? I normally do not mind the others of the world who have no respect for animals or nature but this article has taken it to a new level. To say pave the world so the animals can’t attack us, that simply shows some degree of ignorance. Lastly for the writer to say ‘senseless creatures-haywire meat robots’ is absolutely ridiculous. Then can we say that humans are barbaric and senseless meat robots? Everyday animals are murdered for humans eating pleasure. Is this not the same? Or can we be considered worse because we don’t do it out of fear but cold-blood?

Kelsie Kuhn