Thursday, April 7, 2011
“Killer” whale is not a misnomer
This article brings up the controversial issue of wild animals in captivity. What responsibilties do zoos have towards the animals they keep, towards their trainers, and towards the zoos’ patrons –the public which pays admission? What should SeaWorld do/have done in this case? Should zoos stop having shows with dangerous animals? In general, what role should zoos have in our society?
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Circuses, sea world shows or any type of animal captivities- they all make me wince. However I believe there is a huge difference between keeping an animal from being free(zoo) and keeping an animal from being free, but also maltreating it(sea world). Imagine a standard zoo. Already the thought that the animals there are there isn’t very pleasant, however at least to some level they’re living a regular life. On the contrary, all the animals in the amusement parks that have to perform in the pursuit of human entertainment live a very unnatural life. Their life is full of stress and obviously much shorter than it should be. My solution to this problem is rather simple: people behave so they will set them free.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you’re telling yourself now “What do you mean by people behave so they will set them free?” However just read on and you will realize my point. All you people who attend these various types of animal shows can find a different entertainment. If you stop attending these shows, the organizers will no longer have a reason to keep the animals from being free; eventually releasing them back to the ocean. And if you are worried about Disney and other organizations loosing a fortune, don’t worry, they will quickly find another way to gain the money back without the need to hurt, harm or torture animals.
All in all, it is important for us to realize that wild animals are not meant to live in captivity. One of the commentators on this article raised a nice thought to think about and with this thought I would like to end this blog entry: Ask yourself this, if something/someone stole you away from your home and held you hostage, made you do tricks for food… what would you do to get your message across… or to get free?
Branislav Skocek IB3
Tilikum the killer whale delivered its first public performance at SeaWorld for the first time since she had killed a trainer Daw Brancheau by dragging her beneath the water. This accident lead to debate whether Tilikum shouldn’t have been killed and whether these shows aren’t too risky. Certainly none wants the accident to repeat, some want to implement safety measures, I and many others want to absolutely ban these shows.
ReplyDeleteThe first aspect to my point is that it would be barbarism if a human child was taken away from his/her family at the age of 2 (as Tilikum was), and then put in a cage for the rest of its life to do tricks, without any opportunity to fulfill its basic instincts. When intelligent animals as orcas are in captivity, their instincts are also suppressed. The name killer whale wasn’t given to them just to make it sound more cool and attractive, these whales have in their instincts to prey on sharks and other predators humans are afraid of. So far I haven’t heard of a show done with sharks, so why in the world they do shows with animals that are even more dangerous? Because of these shows people even started to interpret killer whales as dog- like animals.
I admit that there are always people like Brancheau who are willing to risk their lives in order to work with these animals. We all know the crocodile hunters, whose names are spelled in all newspapers after they get killed - “he is such a loss to the nature community, he taught us so much about nature”. Isn’t it funny, I don’t really know what can a killer whale trainer or a crocodile hunter teach me by making the whales jump synchronizingly or by putting his head into a crocodiles mouth. These people usually have almost no education and are just willing to earn quickly a lot of money by risking their lives. Therefore I absolutely agree with Melissa Ferguson, survival of trainers themselves is only in their hands, they are undergoing a great risk.
All of this points to the conclusion that killer whales are not the animals to make shows with because of their natural instinct to kill. Once in few months, these whales manage to kill one or two trainers at a public event, but this should be anticipated, there shouldn’t such a disquiet about it. None really cares when a free rider kills himself by jumping from a rocky cliff, killer whale trainers also belong to this category of people. That is why, in my opinion killer whales shouldn’t be killed just for fulfilling their instincts. Imagine you were kept in captivity for all of your life, you would be really mad at all people that keep you there. Once in few months comes a chance to kill these people. When you would do so, punishment in form of death would be an acquittal for you.
@ brano_in_peace
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that animals kept in captivity are not all right. I also think that Zoos are a lot better than the amusement parks or circuses. The animals there are kept in similar conditions they live in the nature and they are not forced to entertain people. The Zoos have also a necessary role in preserving near-instinct species. It is shocking how many people are willing to pay for the shows in sea world, just to watch enslaved animal do the tricks for their amusement. It is very similar to gladiator games in some way. This behavior of people is in contrast with the so called golden rule “Do as you would be done by”, variations of which can be found in most of the cultures around the world. If people chose other forms of entertainment the animals would be much happier and the accidents wouldn’t have happened. But it looks that even deaths of three people cannot discourage people to visit this kind of shows.