The Monkey and the Parachute
A Seattle balloonist's aerial act for the Humane Society's consideration.
That love and regard of ancestry is a strong trait in humanity has been forcibly demonstrated at Seattle. An aeronaut there has been giving attentions and dropping from the balloon a parachute to which a monkey was attached. With this, the Humane Society has interfered, and the practice will be discontinued. No objection has ever been raised against an aeronaut coming down on a parachute, and none is likely to be. When solicitude for the feelings of the simian race becomes so marked, and disregard of the human species so pronounced, one begins to suspect that the millennium is not distant more than a million years or so.
“When solicitude for the feelings of the simian race becomes so marked, and disregard of the human species so pronounced, one begins to suspect that the millennium is not distant.”
Early Seattle was a hub for traveling daredevils and carnival performers. This brief snippet highlights the emerging influence of the city's early animal welfare advocates, who were already shaping the boundaries of public entertainment.
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