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Do you feel guilty re: animals in captivity?
A Sea World expose book recently came out, so I've seen a few opinion pieces about wild animals in captivity.
I've taken DS to the zoo once or twice since he was born and I always feel pangs of guilt when I see the animals in their small enclosures. I've heard people argue that by giving those animals a slightly-less-good life, you garner public interest and therefore public support for protecting them in the wild, thereby giving their population an overall-better life. But I have my doubts.
Do you feel guilty taking LO to the zoo? Would you ever not take LO to the zoo because of it?
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Re: Do you feel guilty re: animals in captivity?
No. Many of them would have been poached to extinction or have lost the land they lived on due to deforestation so they wouldn't even be here at all if it weren't for zoos.
I wish zoos had the money to build proper habitats for every animal, but I understand that resources are limited. The zoo here has done a great job recently of creating new "natural" habitats that give the animals much more space and a better environment.
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The zoos I go to do a lot for wildlife research and support. One takes in very ill animals and rehabilitates them.
However, I will not support circuses. I went to a couple with the boys but the more I found out about them the more I realized I can't support them.
I haven?t felt this way at the Zoo but I did at the Shed Aquarium! They have whales in a very small area they just swim circles all day long. And a sea lion or walrus, I can?t remember but it was obviously not happy it was making an awful noise basically crying. It had no toys or anything in its area, I remember just staring at it for a long time. Then I was so mad that I just spent $20+ to get in to see that. DH and I left right after that and I swore I would never go back.
I will never go to Sea World or any other park that has whales or dolphins in captivity again. Watch "The Cove". I cried. Like a lot.
Zoos are a bit different. Our zoo does a lot in regards of conservation and improving life in the wild for many endangered animals.
Marine mammals are my weakness.
We have one of the best zoos in the country. They are dedicated to research and the animals that do not already have wide open habitats in which to roam are slated to get them in the next 2-3 years as the zoo expands.
We get a membership every year and I like knowing that the money goes to help the zoo continue to provide a high level of care to the animals.
When was this? I feel guilty at some zoos, but have never felt bad for the animals at Shed.
The NC zoo is wonderful, so I wouldn't feel guilty taking DD there. According to wikipedia: At 1,371 acres (555 ha), it is one of the largest "walk-through" natural-habitat zoo in the world, the first in the United States, and only one of two state-owned zoos in the United States.
But, I think I would feel bad for the animals in a small zoo, where they are in cages. Animals aren't meant to be keep in small confines like that.
Yeah, I definitely feel worse about marine mammals. They're also forced to do tricks whereas most land mammals aren't, that seems worse than just letting them chill.
We have two zoos about equi-distance from us and one is financially much better off than the other (and therefore much better to it's animals). I always feel more responsibility support the one in the more economically depressed area, but that also leads to seeing animals in smaller habitats.
It breaks my heart even more that they have to preform. Extra punishment for being intelligent.
The zoos we go to are actually run by a Conservation society and the money earned by the zoos goes to research and animal protection, so I don't feel guilty. Also, they do have large enclosures designed to be like a natural habitat, not tiny cages.
I will not take my children to the circus.
Yeah
Free Willy clearly influenced my childhood.
Not the only one. I struggle with this a little bit but I do know that that a lot of zoos and aquariums do a lot of good to support wild life organizations/animals. Also I "believe" (correct me if I'm wrong) most of these animals are born in captivity so its actually safer for them to remain that way.
I agree with all of this but I still do feel guilty sometimes. My mom is dating one of the cheetah keepers at the National Zoo and he has shed light on how important zoos are. They are ultimately turning the National Zoo into more of a research facility as time goes on and I think that is beneficial. People can still learn about and see the animals and the zoo strives to keep the habitat as natural as possible.
Small zoos (like what we have here in the Valley) are completely inappropriate. There is a drive-thru safari park, a reptile "zoo" with a tiger, etc. Those are ones I have major issues with and do not support.
The zoo I grew up by specialized in threatened and endangered species. Many of the animals there probably would not be alive if not kept in captivity thanks to a loss of habitat. It also was in the suburbs, so they had plenty of land to enclose most of the animals.
I think there are good zoos and bad zoos. There are organizations that run more like non-profits, while Sea World feels more like Disneyland with animals.
We went in September of 2010.
I have to disagree, the tank the whales I saw swimming in is NOT the largest indoor tank in the world. There is no possible way, unless they have done some upgrades since I have been there. The tanks at the Atlantis are probably 10x bigger, if not more then what those whales were in.