Rotary Botanical Gardens Holiday Light Show Hurts Animals

The next several days for me will be filled with student presentations and grading.  Grading programming projects takes FOREVER, so it will be a very long week.  

M's time has been and will continue to be dominated by the Rotary Gardens' Holiday Light Show.  We normal attend with M's family, and often again with a group of friends.  This year, we will not be attending.  When we go, we pay (of course), as it's a fundraiser for the gardens.  Despite the fact that the last three months of my husband's life have been dedicated to this show, we can no longer support the show, and I am asking my family & friends to follow suit, as it is now includes animal mistreatment.

They have a group of exploitative humans bringing in reindeer and camels (CAMELS--WTF do camels have to do with a holiday light show and what kind of fucking idiots think camels belong anywhere near a WI winter?) to entertain those who attend the show and are not bothered by stressed, nervous, uncomfortable animals in unnatural and pointless displays.  They brought the animals in last year, despite having the cruel conditions and impact to the animals explained, and despite the fact that my husband asked them.  Apparently the countless hours (which add up to years) of his life he routinely donates to the gardens and his countless personal sacrifices  are not enough for them to respect a request for empathy and morality.

While he will continue to work there for as long as he is happy, we will have nothing to do with the place, nor will any of my income be involved in any way until the cease to be animal exploiters.

We will have to enjoy the very inferior light show at Olin Park in Madison, which I believe is free, and does not cause any animal suffering.  

This whole situation just sucks, and I am so very disappointed with their lack of kindness and empathy toward the animals and the complete and utter lack of respect for my husband and the massive amount of work he does.  His Holiday Light Show has gotten better every year since he started it at RBG.  It stands alone.  It does not need animal cruelty to draw people in--it is the best light show within at least a two-hundred mile radius, or it was before the added animal cruelty.

Since I won't have light show pictures to add beauty to an ugly post, I have to rely on some ratty cuteness.