Sea World, Zoos, Circuses & Peta

[Karma]

Peta has recently alleged that Sea World "enslaves orcas"

SeaWorld Accused By PETA Of Enslaving Orcas

My personal opinion: Peta could be a much more effective & powerfull force for the ongoing crusade against animal cruelty & helping to ensure better protection/treatment of animals across the board but too often they derail themselves w/ their [@ times] questionable or outright bizarre tactics. Still, their basic mission is one that I agree with. Speaking out against animal cruelty.

It's been my belieffor years now that Sea World & many Zoos should be shut down. As early as age 16 i made the descision I would never go to places like that again.

Sea World has had more than one controversy involving the revelation of the care/treatment of the animals there as well as tragedies involving the animals & their human handlers.

Sea World & Zoos to me do a major disservice, providing animals for human "entertainment" & many of these animals, including orcas, simply do NOT belong in settings like that.

There've been real stories in the past about abuse, cruelty & conditions under which the animals are kept & ppl are shocked time & again but seem to forget as quickly. & then when these ongoing situations reach their breaking point, it always ends badly for the animal. Remember that elephant from a circus in california that snapped & went on a rampage after busting out on to the street? the poor thing was shot down & killed. Yes it killed one of its trainers BUT the whole story wasnt immediately revealed until months later when it was shown that the elephant had been savagely abused, starved & tortured all in the name of conditioning it to perform & entertain on cue.

Animals don't have a "voice" like humans nor do they process things the same way we do & to be held captive & abused & starved for a prolonged period...what do you THINK is gonna happen?

So- the questions I'd like to ask you all is:

what is your stance on animal cruelty? do you think peta is helping or hurting?

do you patronize places like sea world, the zoo or the circus? has your view about places like this changed after reading stories about animal abuse or tragic animal/human encounters in places like this?

 

[Clara Oswald]

Zoos are so much more about conservation than abuse. Zoos aren't what they were 50 years ago. They are essential to breeding programs to save endangered species in a healthy manner.

Abuse of animals is terrible, but sometimes in the world we live in captivity is the only way to save an animal. When you think of animals like the Amur Leopard, where there are only 35 left in the wild, captive breeding programs are essential.

As for Peta, I think they would be much more effective if they stopped acting like lunatics and started acting like advocates.

 

[Rampage]

I am for conservation and against animal cruelty in general.

But PETA is nuts. To elevate an animal to human status in terms of rights is ridiculousness. The Michael Vick check is now being cashed. We ran around freaking out over dogs being used to fight and now we will end up with animals with more and better enforced rights than WE have. And as an African-American to assert the 13th Amendment just grates on me at a very personal level.

 

[Persephone]

I agree with both Garrick and Vil. Zoo's are essential for keeping certain species of animals form going extinct. We don't have the land we used to in the world because we keep destroying it, therefore having actual wildlife sanctuaries is unrealistic. Zoo's are the only real way to keep animal species from dying out. Now would I prefer an animal to live in it's natural habitat? Absolutely. But their natural habitats are being destroyed by us, or those animals are being hunted or killed. So there's really very few options, and I think PETA needs to get a grip about it.

However I DO agree about Sea World and Circuses. Orca's are very large, and they need room to swim. The living space that they keep those poor whales in is horrible. They literally swim around in circles they're entire life. What kind of life is that? This is where I agree that this type of place should be shut down and those whales should be set back out into their own habitat. Same goes for circuses. Those animals are abused and mistreated for our entertainment. There was actually a circus in my town this week and I refused to go. It's cruel and inhuman in my opinion.