SELBY’S Favorite Game (Not Really)

Recently I watched one of those ‘cute’ animal videos where a seal was bouncing a ball around and playing catch with its trainer in one of those sea life shows.

I wanted to relf. Seals belong OUTside. They are cute, sure, until you come up close and dirty – if one decided to attack you for some reason, you’d be shit outta luck.

They weigh nine million pounds more than you do, can bowl you over faster than jets, and in case you didn’t know, those cute little flappy things at the end of their arms? They have claws on them. Sharp. That could rip you apart in seconds. Not to mention a mean set of very sharp, very efficient chompers.

Not cute at all. Powerful, beautiful, natural, belonging in the wild – not in a sterile, empty pool, swimming laps and jumping through hoops and playing endless rounds of ball with a human, no matter how ‘well-meaning’ that human might be.

Many years ago, I was at a flea market a friend had a booth at. She had this little stuffed seal, maybe 10″ long, fluffy and white and a cute smile. I named it my Seal of Approval (I know, groan – ). Now THAT is what is OK to play with, not real, live, sentient beings.

Whenever I see petitions about getting animals out of jail, I sign each and every one of them. I donate a few bucks if I can. The idea of captivity makes my belly hurt.

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