PETA Calls On Joliet Priest To Stop Abusing Foxes
By Kevin Robinson in News on Aug 25, 2010 7:30PM
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Bishop J. Peter Sartain, the Bishop of the Diocese of Joliet, urging him to take action to stop Joliet pastor Rev. Richard Ross. According to PETA, Ross has been running a fox farm where dozens of the animals are kept confined to rusty cages, exposed to the elements and left with unclean drinking water. PETA sent the Bishop both photos and video of Ross's fox operation, showing as many as five foxes confined to rusty, wire-bottomed cages, in both snow and extreme heat. In the video a fox can be seen spinning in circles in its cage, the result of the intense stress of confinement. According to PETA, Ross told the organization in a phone conversation that he has seen his foxes cannibalizing their young and defecating in their sleeping spaces.
"Reverend Ross is making a mockery of the teachings of the Catholic Church, which advocates respect for all of God's creation and the elimination of needless animal suffering," says PETA senior research associate Dan Paden, who is Roman Catholic. "These foxes are forced to live in misery and desperately unnatural conditions, and we're urging Bishop Sartain to crack down on Ross and pressure him to shut down this shameful operation." In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks explicitly to the treatment of animals, in its discussion of the integrity of God's creation:
2415 “The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives.2416 Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.”
Our calls the the Bishop of Joliet for comment have not been returned.