Elk

Front page in the local paper is a story about an elk that was found shot in the neighborhood.  I sense a sadness in the article about this death.  "It was such a beautiful animal," was a quote.  That the elk was menacing or bothersome was also noted, but the story was more about "who did this?" since no one seems to know.

Not on the front page, was another story about a women found dead in a park in a nearby town.  It seems that it was from exposure to the cold.  Read "street person."  Nothing about "such a beautiful woman."  No particular pathos about her death.  Just another street person found dead in a park.  

I sense more concern for an animal than a human being when comparing these two incidents as they were reported.  If the Indians were more concerned with the elk than with the tribe, they would have starved, or become vegetarians.  In this country, rarely, it seems,  is a wild animal shot without permission or hunting season.  Lots more humans are getting killed without permission.  It seems we are pretty good with animal rights, but not so good with human rights when it comes to living.