Why did God make only one Yogi Bear?
Because when he tried a second time, he made a Boo-Boo.
Well. Boo-Boos happen all the time. Things go wrong. It is the nature of the game sometimes. Our lives, mostly, feel just swell. Okey-dokey. Honky-dory. But then we hit a glitch. And suddenly, we have a mess on our hands.
Such was the case for an American fighter pilot — one of the early ones. The guy’s name was George F. Smith, a test pilot for North American Aviation. He was flying along in his “F-100 Super Sabre” plane off Laguna Beach. And suddenly, he began experiencing flight control failure. I hate when that happens, especially when you are cruising along at speeds of Mach 1.05.
Anyway, George reached down and hit the old “eject” button and BLAMO! He shot right out of that plane like a whitehead on a teenager’s face. This happened in 1955. He was the first living creature to eject from a supersonic jet. As it turns out, he spent five days in a coma. But he eventually recovered, despite all of his injuries.
But the Air Force doesn’t mention George in their history. They claim that Yogi the Bear was the first ejection of a living creature from a supersonic aircraft. You see, they planned that one.
On this very date, March 21, 1962, the USAF sent a 2-year-old black bear named “Yogi” up in one of those fighter jets. And when he was traveling at 35,000 feet, 870 mph, Yogi was ejected.
“Yogi” survived the test and landed unharmed 7 minutes and 49 seconds later. That brave bear was not killed in the test. But sadly (and this ticks me off), “Yogi” was euthanized so that doctors could examine internal organs for signs of damage from the test flight.
We have a couple of Boo-Boos going on here. George was the first. And in my opinion, the demise of Yogi was the second.
Here is the thing. We put a lot of innocent little lives through animal testing. At least when we eat animals, the methods of slaughter are “supposed” to be humane. But in animal testing, all bets are off.
I have animals. I have seen them in pain. I’ve seen them suffer. Not only do they have physical feelings, but they also experience emotional trauma too. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
So when we humans test animals, we are just being plain old cruel.
The next couple of facts come from DoSomething.Org.
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∆ Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year.
∆ 92% of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don’t work.
∆ Labs that use mice, rats, birds, reptiles, and amphibians are exempted from the minimal protections under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
∆ According to the Humane Society, registration of a single pesticide requires more than 50 experiments and the use of as many as 12,000 animals.
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I know their reasoning. So many of the animal testers release statements such as this:
“Products are tested on animals for three reasons: safety (this includes correct product labeling), efficacy, and liability. Many products undergo animal testing for safety to meet legal requirements to identify potential hazards to humans, animals, and the environment.”
I get that. But it is wrong.
I don’t know what the answer is. Perhaps we should offer to pay humans who don’t mind doing such things as spraying perfume in their own eyes forty times a day. I don’t know.
But shooting Yogi Bear into space and then killing him once he lands safely?
Major Boo-Boo.
We should be ashamed.
And? There are plenty of cruelty-free brands available on the market. It may not encompass everything, but at least it is a start.
We should be kind to animals. They are our friends.
https://www.crueltyfreekitty.com/cruelty-free-101/non-cruelty-free-parent-companies/
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Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
— Anatole France
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Man is the cruelest animal.
― Friedrich Nietzsche
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Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.
— Henry George
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Yogi the Bear and his parachute.
