Earlier I wrote about a discussion topic that had been put on the NZ Lionman - Craig Busch Fanpage on Facebook in an earlier blogpost. This discussion topic is titled "Peter Dickinson - Old Fart or Seasoned Expert. You decide!" Mr Dickinson had been quoted in article that had appeared in the Northern Advocate 19 October concerning the declawings on 21 Lions and 9 tigers at Zion Wildlife Gardens - these procedures were carried out between 2000 - May 2008 on the animals concerned. Below is the part of the article from the Northern Advocate where Mr Dickinson is quoted

Zoologist Peter Dickinson, who produces the ZooNews Digest and is now working in Thailand, said declawing was "barbaric and inhumane".

"Euthanasia would probably be a kinder and more considerate option than declawing. It permanently maims the animal, affecting the big cat's natural behaviour and instincts and its long-term mental and physical state," he said.

- Northern Advocate 19 November 2009

At no time in the article does it show Mr Dickinson making any personal attacks upon the person who had requested these declawing procedures to be done. (ref: p4 MAF Enforcement Directorate Investigation Summary 24 February 2009). However it seems that the person who started the discussion was more than willing to slander and victimise Mr Dickinson over both his experience in the zoo industry and on his sexual preferences - along with some other members of the Craig Busch fan page.

Below are some of the examples of the type of commentary being made about Mr Dickinson

"I have seen Peter Dickinson throw his bloody weight around in other places, like he is the one grat guru that everyone MUST listen to. Bollocks! He is nothing but a anal-retentive control freak who wants a name for himself! I dont give a crap how knowledgeable or how experienced he is! That doesn't even come into it!"

Please pass on a message for me Mr Dickinson to Patricia Busch - tell her that every dog has it's day. And one day when she is sitting all on her own she will look back and regret everything she has done to Craig - her son. I plus nearly 26,000 fans support Craig Busch 100% and we all believe that how he has been stabbed in the back by his Mother is beyond belief.

I think I might just start a protest against Peter Dickinson and denigrate and defame his position to see how he likes it. I am sure with a little digging I can find some professional's who cannot stomach this old fool!

I think Peter Dickinson should be kindly and humanely euthanised, because he has clearly passed his prime.

I am also informed that Mr Dickinson has quite a few enemies he has made over the years. I will be posting some personal testimonies from people who know/knew him later. Watch this space..:)

I will also point out that there are also people, while disagreeing with Mr Dickinson's comments made their replies with reasoned thought - I commend them for that. But for those who made the above comments I am seriously questioning their ethics. What kind of people use threats, insults and slander not to mention base comments to victimise one person on a major social media network such as Facebook is.

The question I will pose is this so-called discussion ethical at all? Is it right to talk about another person in the manner Mr Dickson has been talked about. The Facebook Terms and conditions are clearly laid out as follows:


Safety

We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to do that, which includes the following commitments:

1. You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook.
2. You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access Facebook, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our permission.
3. You will not engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as a pyramid scheme, on Facebook.
4. You will not upload viruses or other malicious code.
5. You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.
6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
7. You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.
8. You will not develop or operate a third party application containing, or advertise or otherwise market alcohol-related or other mature content without appropriate age-based restrictions.
9. You will not offer any contest, giveaway, or sweepstakes ("promotion") on Facebook without our prior written consent. If we consent, you take full responsibility for the promotion, and will follow our Promotions Guidelines and all applicable laws.
10. You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.
11. You will not do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of Facebook, such as a denial of service attack.
12. You will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Statement.

I believe at least three of these terms and conditions have been clearly violated by some of the user members taking part in the discussion topic. This "discussion' is not a discussion it clearly is an attack upon an individual person. Completely unethical, highly inappropriate and clearly it breaches Facebook's terms and conditions - it should be removed instead of being left to taint Mr Busch's Fanpage. What kind of message does it send?

Take time to peruse this discussion topic on the Facebook site and make your own conclusions. I doubt very much that the person these users are fans of would approve nor condone such behaviour if he were aware of it. It's an appalling example of how things on the internet can go terribly wrong when people get carried away and forget they are posting on a publicly visible social media network.