Posted on 02/27/2010 9:14:01 AM PST by JoeProBono
This was a question asked of the CNN audience by Wolf Blitzer Thursday afternoon--the day after an experienced trainer, 40 year old Dawn Brancheau, was killed in a tragic accident by an orca whale at the Orlando SeaWorld Park.
The response to the polling question, should animals be used for human entertainment--was answered predominately no.
One person wrote of how he was mesmerized by a show at the aquarium, when he was a small boy. Then later, as an adult, he saw a similar show, with dolphins and whales and he felt physically ill for the animals and the life they were forced to live.
Another e-mail respondent told his account of a homeless man, who managed to get into the polar bear enclosure in his home town zoo. The bear mauled him to death. Afterward, the police shot the bear, who was innocently minding his own business and did not ask for a strange man to inter his domain.
One lady said SeaWorld was all about money and greed. The aquarium owners were trying to say that having whales in captivity was all about research. She once saw a trainer surfboarding on a whales back and said it didnt look like research to her. She felt sorry for the family of the trainer, but felt sorrier for the whale.
The fact is SeaWorld and other aquariums and theme parks build their entire brand around the performance of whales, dolphins, and other aquatic life. If they lose their performers, they lose their revenue.
Similarly, the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas built their entire brand around the magicians, Siegfried and Roy, and their Royal white tigers. Unfortunately, in the fall of 2003, in one of the most widely publicized performing animal attacks, a white tiger bit Roy Horn during their show.
Evidently, the tiger named Montecore, had been distracted by a woman in the front row of the audience and bit Roys arm, when he moved between the two. Roy shouted release, release and hit the tiger on the nose with his microphone. But when Roy was released, he tripped over the cats paw and fell. Stage hands further confused the cat, when they rushed the stage to intervene. Suddenly, Montecore picked Roy up by the neck, much like a cat would pick up its kitten, and hauled him back stage. Fire extinguishers had to be used to separate the two.
Horn was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent surgery on his head. Later, he spent many months recuperating from his injuries and a stroke he had suffered during the ordeal.....
Siegfried & Roy with white tiger
They should be kept for education.
I learned that there is a good reason they call them killer whales and not cuddly sea puppies.
I am generally not a big animal rights advocate but it does seem that something is wrong with keeping whales in capativity solely for the purpose of entertaining humans.
Should jourbalists who write shallow screeds about captive animals being mere entertainment rather than also being educational avoid the ridicule they deserve?
The answer to that all depends upon how good they taste.
Where has that ever happened?
These are definitely animals kept to entertain. As I’ve said I don’t mind keeping them for learning purposes but training them for the stupid crap proves that its about entertainment.
Wild animals should not be used for entertainment purposes but those born in captively or in captivity a long time cannot be released into the wild. It would be a near certain death sentence for them.
I don’t think people realize how harsh nature can be to animals that live in the wild.
Should wild animals be held in captivity for human entertainment?
No
Personally I think they should be kept in much larger enclosures and contact with humans kept at a minimum. They really are awesome creatures but you’re right about not being able to release them now.
No it does not.
Your personal attempt to employ a false either/or statement does not make it so.
I not only reject your assertion that if it is educational it must be done in a boring monotonous lecture drone, I challenge you to show that manner works as well for teaching as making it fun.
You prove that, and I will let you off.
Othewise I will call you for attempting to advance a false premis backed by a misplaced emotional appeal, in pretty much the cookie cutter manner that the rest of the environmentalist agenda has been promoted.
is this a peta site?
we’re talking animals here.
a repeat biter dog is put down
Where is the sympaphy for the dead woman?
oh yeah lets retire seeing eye dogs and no more drug sniffing or explosive seeking dogs. why it’s involuntary servitude
central_va ,,,, Just something about being from the SOUTH and animals ,, We love’m on the old BAR-B-Q pit
Okay, here’s my take.
At one time, there may have been an educational value to zoos. Before TV, when books were expensive and literacy was not so common, a zoo was pretty much the only place for the general public to see an animal from outside of one’s own geographical area. Now that we have information available on the Internet, and on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, I view a zoo as an entertainment venue and not an educational one, therefore, not strictly necessary.
Of course, there is always something to be said for seeing a wild animal in the flesh and not as a bunch of pixels. But I’d rather save that option for animals whose habitiat can be re-created in a relatively small space, such as a zoo offers. Go visit the snake house or the monkey jungle at the zoo, but for heaven’s sake leave a creature with the size and temperament of a killer whale out in the ocean where it belongs. You can’t build a new ocean in San Diego.
Just my opinion!
Yikes!
habitiat = habitat
I don’t care.
Unilke many here I do not fret about what animals think (they don’t really)
I like my pets and I like my meat and skins...and I can pick my way through the nuance between those positions
the only concern I would have is decent treatment and extinction concerns but the latter are overused today
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