For todays blog I am going to talk about both sides of a controversy that is commonly brought up about animals in zoo like facilities and aquariums. In the Pasadena Weekly online news site, this issue is focussed specifically on the captive orcas at Sea World. Many believe that it is wrong for places such as Sea World to keep these animals captive. They feel that their refined living spaces and unnatural lives are a hinderance to their proper physical and mental growth. Many people are also appalled by some of the capturing techniques supposedly used to take young whales from their home to put them into captivity. Animals treated like this are often believed to develop psychological issues, possibly leading to the recent orca attacks on the animal trainers. Overall, this side of the issue has a serious issue with the way they feel that these marine animals are forced to live. From their small unnatural habitats, to being forced to learn confusing routines for tourist show purposes, many think that whales in captivity is wrong.
On the other side of the argument, from those who support institutions like Sea World, they feel that people do not know the true facts of what goes on with the animals and their life styles. Sea World is one of the worlds most respected zoological institutions. They feel that many people quickly judge such a complicated matter, and base their opinions from things like the film industries views of such institutions. They also feel that the fact that they rescue, rehabilitate, and return to the wild hundreds of animals a year.
This issue is a very common controversy in all aspects of contained animals. there will always be those that argue both ways. Hopefully, some time in the future, the zoology community will be able to come to a happy medium between people and animal happiness.
Work Cited
Monji, Jana. "Swimming in Controversy."
Pasadena Weekly. 25 Jul. 2013. 23 Oct. 2013.
I find it very strange that I never thought about this stuff...like how they capture the whales and place them in theme parks and zoos. I find it also really sad that people would basically kidnap baby orcas and take them away from their home for the sake of tourism...that is terrible.
ReplyDeleteYa it is very sad. It makes me really think about wanting to collaborate with organizations like this. But then you also have to think that this is probably not done by all organizations and there is a lot more to the story than we know. Its a confusing situation.
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