NEWS FLASH: LARGE WILD ANIMALS IN CITIES ARE DANGEROUS

Newsday reports that New York City officials are considering whether to ban the Cole Bros. Circus from its parks after one of its tigers escaped for "a 20-minute stroll in Queens" on Saturday. "They are terrorizing the neighborhood," said Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), who has been increasingly critical of the Florida-based circus because of an attraction that Kruger and some animal rights activists term animal cruelty: making a cat dive about 50 feet into a pillow held by a trainer. "This [tiger incident] is a wake-up call for the parks department and Mayor Bloomberg not to let them use our public parks," Kruger said. "I don't think they have the capacity to conduct business safely." And for good measure, Newsday gets out in front of the "but think of all the revenue we'll lose!" whine: "The city receives 15 percent of the circus' gross receipts at four city parks, which is as much as $80,000 annually for the city, said Ron Lieberman, parks department's director of revenue and concession. The Cole Bros. contract is one of more than 600 deals the parks department strikes with vendors and dealers every year, which bring the city $63 million annually, he added." Yes, taking a life-saving ethical stance would possibly forfeit a full one-twelfth of one percent of the city's parks department revenue!