Good evening, minions. Welcome once again to my lair.

Let’s talk about something that has bothered me since I saw it. At first, I thought, “Maybe she was in her way trying to use humor to explain the situation.” On second viewing, I thought, “Maybe I was just taking it the wrong way and I need to give her another chance.” On the third viewing, I thought, “Nope, this is insulting and vulgar.”

On The Rosie Show, Rosie talked about a picture of her and her daughter causing an uproar because they caught a small shark. Then she said someone dug up a picture that was over a decade old showing where she and her family had caught a 500-odd pound hammerhead shark.

She went on to say some nasty animal people blew up her Twitter feed with hateful messages. And she was going to use her show to shed light on the situation.

This I have no issue with.

Rosie explained she and her daughter captured the small shark legally with a net and released it back into the ocean. She further explained that the picture of them with the 500-odd pound hammerhead was taken over a decade ago when it was still legal to catch hammerheads. And then she also explained that Florida has since made hammerheads an endangered species so they cannot be killed for sport.

Okay. That would have been sufficient. She explained the situation; she shed light on it and told the truth, getting that information out to the people. We understand some people who may not have had the correct information blew up her Twitter feed. Yes, they may have posted hateful messages. I do not condone negative ways because they do none of us or any cause we hold dear any good.

I would have said something along the lines of “People blew up my Twitter feed because they may not have had the true information. I want to tell you that correct information and explain the picture.” Something like that. But no.

She had to go further. And being a life-long animal advocate, an animal rescuer who has worked countless hours to rescue animals and raise money and donations for the cause (my books are all dedicated to animals I have known or rescued and to the animal advocates who work so hard), and as a vegan, I was appalled at the manner in which she handled the situation.

Instead of saying, “I understand there are people who may have taken to blowing up my Twitter feed but not all animal advocates are fanatics or weirdos.”

Reading on her show some of the Twitter posts and making snarky comments to the posters was counterproductive. I personally was offended and in no way found it funny. Yes, these people may have acted in an extreme manner by posting on her Twitter, but I found her actions to be demeaning to those of us who work, and have worked for decades, to help animals around the world and to raise awareness of endangered species and the needless slaughter for profit of animals.

When someone such as Rosie uses her very public platform to make snarky comments instead of simply explaining the situation, it does so much more harm than good. This cast a shadow on animal advocates, lending credence to the misconception that we are hateful weirdos, troublemakers who value animals over people.

To have someone come out in a hammerhead shark costume and pretend he is part of an “Occupy” movement to occupy The Rosie Show was an additional slap in the face to those who work to help the animals and I also found it to be utterly disrespectful to those people who are part of “Occupy” movements to help better our country and our world. What makes this very unpalatable to me is the fact that Rosie found this display acceptable. Is it just my imagination, or has she gone on record on her own show demonstrating her support of the “Occupy” movement? I found this display to be vulgar. Not funny. Not sarcastic. Vulgar.

Some people in her audience may have laughed. I personally feel the laughter was more along the lines of people laughing out of sheer nervousness. You know that awkward laughter when you don’t quite know how to react?

You’ve lost this viewer, Ms. O’Donnell, until you apologize publicly for this display. For all your support of various social causes, I found this behavior to be beyond insulting to me, insulting to my fellow animal advocates/rescuers, insulting to the people involved in the “Occupy” movements, and just insulting in general.

If it weren’t for animal advocates such as myself, many thousands of unwanted cats and dogs would have been euthanized. We have found homes for them. We have raised funds for spay/neuter clinics to help cut down on population growth. Without animal advocates, many beautiful species like the Siberian tiger and the Hyacinth macaw, which are both on the critically endangered list, would have been wiped from the earth like other species have been in the past because of poaching and needless slaughter.

I agree that some people may have posted nasty messages on your Twitter feed, Ms. O’Donnell, and that was inappropriate. But you did no favors for anyone with your vulgar display on your show. The situation could have been handled in a variety of ways, ways that were not offensive, vulgar, and ignorant.