Dear Editor,
In a city that has outlawed rodeos, banned the use of exotic animals for entertainment and shut down the pony rides at Griffith Park, it is time to end the abuse and exploitation of turtles at Brennan’s bar in Marina del Rey.
For nearly half a century, the bar has been making money off racing turtles, parading them high in the air beneath bright lights and subjecting them to the earsplitting shouts and screams of boisterous, inebriated patrons. This “inhumane” treatment, notes Nicholas Geist, a turtle biologist at Sonoma State University, evokes a stress response with well documented deleterious effects on turtles’ immune systems, growth and reproductive function.
Not everyone may perceive turtles as cuddly as kittens. But would you allow your kitten to be repeatedly subjected to this kind of frightening chaos?
Thanks to a campaign by In Defense of Animals (IDA), 11,700 concerned citizens have sent letters to Brennan’s, urging an end to the racing. Local residents have staged several protests at the bar. But management refuses to meet with IDA to discuss alternative entertainment and sidesteps any discussion of turtle abuse when queried by media.
So it’s up to us: Stay away from Brennan’s turtle racing and tell the bar it’s got to stop. Animals aren’t toys for human amusement.
Alexandra Paul, Pacific Palisades
