This was posted under Animal Rights & Welfare and reposted here in case you missed it. 

"For more than 25 years, Zoocheck has been a leading voice for the protection of wild animals. We are the only Canadian organization with a specific focus on captive wild animal issues and problems." ZooCheck.com

by Jasper
I read an interview with Rob Laidlaw in lobbyingactivist.blogspot.com and his beliefs resonated with me so much. I'm a huge advocate that we must begin teaching children around the world a compassionate view of animals. Change will come when a new generation of humans embraces and passes along the fact that animals should not be treated as property. They should be treated as wonderful, beautiful creatures who feel with a wide range of emotions and are born with the right to live a natural life. Animals should not be stolen from the wild or bred in captivity and forced into a life of entertainment.  I coined this quote influenced by John F. Kennedy's words: "Ask not what an animal can do for you but what you can do for animal."

Rob Laidlaw was quoted as saying, "Yes, humane education should be built into every curriculum in every school. At present, science is taught as the science of the dead with dissection of animals and the compartmentalising of nature. ‘Biology' should shift to ‘ecology' where animals are seen in totality as a part of nature, and not divided into tiny components of nature, the reductionist approach to science. We need to inculcate an emotive response in children. We need them to be aware of Jeremy Bentham's words, “they can't talk, they can't reason, but they can suffer.”

FROM http://www.bookcentre.ca :

Rob Laidlaw has spent 30 years campaigning to protect animals of all kinds. His work has taken him from Canada's north to tropical Asia and includes more than 1,000 visits to zoos around the world. He is a Chartered Biologist, avid outdoorsman, cave explorer, and a founder of the wildlife protection organization Zoocheck Canada. He regularly provides commentary on animal issues to print, radio and television media and speaks to groups of all ages throughout the world.

In 2008, Laidlaw’s first children’s book, Wild Animals in Captivity, was released. His second book, On Parade, The Hidden World of Animals in Entertainment, is scheduled for release in 2010, while a third book about rescue centers and sanctuaries is now in the works.

For more information, please visit Rob's websites at www.zoocheck.com andwww.wildanimalsincaptivity.com.