Big-Game Hunts of Zoo Animals

This is in regard to your two articles about the Patterson ranch “hunts” (Part A, April 25-26). I find the whole matter very sickening. Floyd Lester Patterson III did something that was illegal and justified it by saying the animals were not worth very much and that he was just trying to get by this year, the fifth year of the drought. I wonder if other ranchers are considering selling drugs, or something as equally despicable. Luckily, I think most ranchers have a greater sense of ethics than Patterson possesses.

For some reason our country places more value on one-of-a-kind items such as paintings or vases. If a thief were to sell these artworks to a collector who videotaped himself destroying them, we would think the collector insane. I feel that killing endangered animals is insane, and we need more enforcement of existing laws. The zoos take these animals from their homes, make a feeble attempt at breeding them in captivity and then send these crippled, old toothless beasts to grisly deaths.

I hope that Patterson receives the maximum fine and sentence for each of the counts filed against him.

TRACI M. GUYNUP

Glendale