Elephants in zoos play a vital role

While the writer of the letter "Captive pachyderm no reason to rejoice" (March 25) is entitled to her opinion, I must respectfully disagree with her views about elephants in zoos.

The role of the modern zoo is threefold: education, conservation and entertainment. In order for people to want to give money and time to efforts to reduce habitat loss and decrease poaching, they have to care about the animals. When people come to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and see a herd of elephants with a baby, they will be captivated.

The zoo has a first-class exhibit, with plenty of space for the elephants to walk and play. These elephants will never be subject to thirst and starvation because of a drought, which sometimes happens to their wild cousins in Africa. They get top-notch veterinary care, and so don't die prematurely of diseases that routinely kill animals in the wild. While it is true that they will never roam far enough to meet up with another herd of elephants, they are well fed, exercised and cared for.

They serve a hugely important function in educating children and adults about elephants and the challenges that they have to face in the wild. By coming to the zoo and seeing these magnificent animals, people learn to care about them. When they care, they will be inspired to help save elephants and other endangered species in the wild.

Welcome to Felix's calf. May he live long and happily, educating and entertaining millions of people, and may his wild cousins live long and prosper.

Barbara L. Pilert

Baltimore

The writer is a docent at the Maryland Zoo who frequently gives the "Trunk Talk."

Md. board regulates every funeral home

In an article Tuesday, the Maryland Board of Morticians claimed that corporations must not be allowed to own funeral homes because the board has no authority to regulate corporate funeral homes, only licensed morticians ("House examines funeral home industry," March 25.

This is simply not true. Every funeral home in Maryland must have a supervising mortician who is held accountable to the board. In fact, there are 58 corporate funeral homes in Maryland, and every one is subject to direct board oversight.

The board's misrepresentation is part of its continuing effort to perpetuate a broken system that protects morticians from honest competition and forces consumers to pay up to $800 extra per funeral.

Jeff Rowes

Arlington, Va.

The writer is an attorney with the Institute for Justice, which represented entrepreneurs in their lawsuit against the state's Board of Morticians.

Afghan mission: NATO's raison d'etre

In "Afghan alarm" (Opinion

Commentary, March 25), Karl F. Inderfurth rightly cautions against NATO's possible failure in a country where the stakes for international security and the chance for success have never been as high in the recent history of post-conflict international intervention.

We know from 9/11 and other terrorist attacks that threats to global security are increasingly transnational in nature. Non-state actors are more dangerous today than state actors were during the Cold War. Thus, securing Afghanistan embodies NATO's post-Cold War raisons d'etre, which must be strongly reaffirmed at the Bucharest summit.

A word of caution, however: Achieving victory is neither cheap nor easy in Afghanistan, a country destroyed for the past three decades. But Afghanistan is not Iraq, and key to international success in Afghanistan is the continued optimism and support of the Afghan people for the NATO forces in the war against terrorism and drugs. With the Afghan people firmly on the side of the international community and their forces, victory against a desperate enemy - who has failed to articulate anything resembling a national vision in seven years - is only a matter of strong international unity, resolve and recommitment.

Ashraf Haidari

Washington, D.C.

The writer is the political counselor of the Embassy of Afghanistan.

Dismayed at anger over artist's fence

I am dismayed at the negative attention the gold chain-link fence has received ("Can exclusion be a form of art?" letters, March 26), and I am impatient with the schoolyard bullies in Mount Vernon Square who have neither the interest nor the community spirit to tolerate a temporary, experimental exercise in public art.

Why are those who have to walk another quarter-block to get to their destination - or who have to change a dog-walking routine - so rabid? Spitting on the artist? Shouting epithets? Tying bags of feces on the fence?

I'm ashamed of the Mount Vernon denizens. I thought they were polite, tolerant, receptive and much more imaginative.

Rosemary Eck

Baltimore

Thank heaven for young creative minds that present new ways to look at things. The gold fence is not permanent. It is asking us to look differently at spaces taken for granted. Isn't that a good thing? Isn't it healthy for all of us to have what we assume challenged - if even for a short time?

Deborah Winston Callard

Baltimore

No reason to attack those who retire early

As one of the "selfish, unpatriotic" early retirees (I am 62), I find Andrew L. Yarrow's commentary uninformed at best and disingenuous at worst ("Early retirement selfish, unpatriotic," Opinion

Commentary, March 26). Mr. Yarrow should get out of his ivory tower occasionally and into the real world.

No doubt there are some retirees who are bone-idle. But hundreds of thousands of retirees contribute millions of hours worth billions of dollars through volunteer activities (unpaid encore careers). I am fortunate to be able to work with such a group of retirees, ranging in age from 55 to 91, who volunteer with the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate. Each one of them gives hundreds of hours of his or her time each year to Habitat, and almost every one also volunteers with other organizations as well.

Ask the folks in the Gulf states getting help after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At their own expense, tens of thousands of volunteers have traveled to the area to help people rebuild their lives and thereby contribute to the economy.

Volunteers provide valuable services to our society that the government cannot or will not fund, at no cost to the taxpayers. Cost avoidance is cost savings.

Surely even Mr. Yarrow would agree that private organizations, especially nonprofits, can deliver some services more efficiently than the government. He should also look at value of the services provided by volunteer retirees rather than merely at the costs. It might change the picture a bit.

Society also gets the full value of the volunteer's labor, and no profits are extracted.

Craig Herud

Aberdeen

Andrew L. Yarrow's arrogant commentary reveals a total lack of understanding of the working lives of most Americans. People who have worked hard for more than 30 years are not "leeching trillions of taxpayer dollars from the economy" if they are able to afford to survive on incomes that are currently losing buying power as a result of ruinous economic and military policies.

Many of these Americans have worked more than 40 hours a week at demanding jobs that take a physical toll.

The well-deserved and often-delayed retirements of truck drivers, nurses, public school teachers, firefighters, police officers, construction workers, social workers, waitresses or other U.S. workers cannot be blamed for America's debts and crumbling economy. The blame lies with the greed of Wall Street and the disastrous Bush presidency.

Janet Bush Handy

Bel Air

I read with great interest Andrew L. Yarrow's commentary about early retirement. What he proposes sounds great, and he is right to encourage people to continue working. There is, however, a serious flaw in his assumptions and conclusions.

What Mr. Yarrow fails to notice is that a large number of employers are not interested in hiring people over 55.

I am about to be 59 years of age. For the past five years, I have been unable to find a stable job. Earlier in my life, I held managerial positions with some prominent corporations. I was loyal and worked for at least three companies for more than eight years each. Today, at 59, I am finding it nearly impossible to find work.

Companies only look at the bottom line: If they can get someone with less experience for less money, they choose that person.

I am ready, willing and able to take on the challenges of a good job. I can start right away. I am not looking for more than the going rate for the position. Maybe Mr. Yarrow would like to assist me in finding one.

Marc Bass

Reisterstown

The commentary by Andrew L. Yarrow is a clear example of how far this country has fallen into the Marxist, Big Brother philosophy. It shows a complete contempt for a free society.

The idea that the reason for working hard and making money is to support the government is an example of the communist principles that are being taught in our colleges today.

The concept that the elite academicians and political fat cats should tell me how to live my life and spend my money is a travesty to all freedom-loving people.

Alfred W. Gillette

Baltimore