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hummingbirdmadgirlGrowing up my family always had wolfhounds. They are these huge, majestic dogs with a long and storied past starting off as war and sheep dogs and eventually being revitalized as pets. my father always refused to teach them tricks outside of sitting, staying, and house training, as he felt like it was demeaning to make them behave like circus clowns. I'd always be slightly jealous when I'd see dogs that could do all sorts of ridiculous behaviors, but I was also sort of proud of the fact that our dogs retained the bulk of their individuality. this is something i've carried over into how i've raised my own dog. he's well behaved but he's not trained to perform. He's my companion, he's not around for me to get youtube hits or facebook likes.
When I was 7 Ringling Brothers Circus announced that they would be showing a live unicorn. I was a 7 year old girl so obviously i was all about the horses and the unicorns, and as such i was ridiculously excited. Then my parents explained to me that the unicorn was actually a goat who, somehow, had had its horns surgically manipulated so that they would grow into one horn in the middle of its forehead. I was -horrified-. Even at 7, this seemed far worse than any of the medical oddities I'd seen at various state fairs ("come see the two headed goat, the 5 legged calf") since it was an aberration that was man made solely for the sake of entertainment vs flaws in nature which were not intentional. I never went to see an animal based circus again.
Even though we owned aquariums and I loved marine biology, we never went to Sea World. We went to tons of zoos and aquariums that were accredited but my parents felt like there was no educational purpose behind Sea World and therefore it would be a waste of money and time. I wasn't particularly drawn to going since it looked large and mawkish, though I would've loved to have seen an Orca up close. I'd seen all sorts of sharks and even beluga whales, so the idea of seeing an Orca was super appealing.
Yesterday I went to see Blackfish (http://www.magpictures.com/blackfish/) and in hindsight I am SO happy that my parents opted out of taking me to Sea World as it essentially goes against every single thing I was ever taught in terms of respecting animals. Those animals are treated with less dignity than bettas, and at a great cost, both to them and to their trainers. Sea World is -awful-. I had no idea it included people standing on whales or riding them or making them enact all sorts of completely ridiculous behaviors that they would never come close to engaging in the wild.
Obviously the film has a heavy bias against the corporation but you can't deny the fact that the bulk of the "trainers" have no backgrounds in marine biology and are hired on their looks and swimming ability (something that was attested to by a bunch of former trainers) and all they do is parrot pre determined commands to the whales using operant conditioning. This is clearly not safe for either the whales (who live in tiny pools) or the trainers (who, when the whales do react negatively are essentially on their own since, you know, whales.) Their lack of understanding of the animals coupled with poor living conditions has resulted in numerous trainer deaths or severe injuries.
What really killed me was learning how many of their animals are still wild caught. As someone who was an avid aquarist for years, who still owns lizards, one of my main personal rules was that none of my pets could be wild caught, they all had to be captive bred. Most recently during my horribly failed jellyfish tank experiment, I found out that one of the suppliers for jellies was using wild caught animals and i was enraged. And we're talking about -jellyfish- which are not known for either their intelligence or their pod behavior. But whales and dolphins are...and to realize that these parks are separating families solely for the purpose of entertainment is gut wrenching, especially since orcas travel in pods their entire lives...even whales born in captivity are taken from their mothers in instances where either the babies or the mothers end up not performing up to par as a result of the distraction of the whole mother/child bond. But even just watching/reading how many of these animals live seriously shortened lifespans in captivity made me sick...because again as someone who has owned animals as a hobby, I quickly have come to realize there are some animals I could not care for properly (either do to the environment or something as embarrassing as user error) and in those instances I STOPPED TRYING. Because when you're constantly killing animals that you don't know how to adequately care for, you need to be responsible and stop.
Anyway, Blackfish is an astounding movie. There are absolutely times where the filmmaker's bias bothered me slightly, though realistically they are trying to pack in decades of a story into a shortish documentary. The film easily could have been another hour and I wouldn't have even minded. It's a really great and simple examination into why sea mammals should not be used for entertainment purposes and how companies like Sea World are not being held accountable both for endangering whales and humans. I also can't remember the last time a movie made me cry like that, I think it must've been Requiem for a Dream.
When I was 7 Ringling Brothers Circus announced that they would be showing a live unicorn. I was a 7 year old girl so obviously i was all about the horses and the unicorns, and as such i was ridiculously excited. Then my parents explained to me that the unicorn was actually a goat who, somehow, had had its horns surgically manipulated so that they would grow into one horn in the middle of its forehead. I was -horrified-. Even at 7, this seemed far worse than any of the medical oddities I'd seen at various state fairs ("come see the two headed goat, the 5 legged calf") since it was an aberration that was man made solely for the sake of entertainment vs flaws in nature which were not intentional. I never went to see an animal based circus again.
Even though we owned aquariums and I loved marine biology, we never went to Sea World. We went to tons of zoos and aquariums that were accredited but my parents felt like there was no educational purpose behind Sea World and therefore it would be a waste of money and time. I wasn't particularly drawn to going since it looked large and mawkish, though I would've loved to have seen an Orca up close. I'd seen all sorts of sharks and even beluga whales, so the idea of seeing an Orca was super appealing.
Yesterday I went to see Blackfish (http://www.magpictures.com/blackfish/) and in hindsight I am SO happy that my parents opted out of taking me to Sea World as it essentially goes against every single thing I was ever taught in terms of respecting animals. Those animals are treated with less dignity than bettas, and at a great cost, both to them and to their trainers. Sea World is -awful-. I had no idea it included people standing on whales or riding them or making them enact all sorts of completely ridiculous behaviors that they would never come close to engaging in the wild.
Obviously the film has a heavy bias against the corporation but you can't deny the fact that the bulk of the "trainers" have no backgrounds in marine biology and are hired on their looks and swimming ability (something that was attested to by a bunch of former trainers) and all they do is parrot pre determined commands to the whales using operant conditioning. This is clearly not safe for either the whales (who live in tiny pools) or the trainers (who, when the whales do react negatively are essentially on their own since, you know, whales.) Their lack of understanding of the animals coupled with poor living conditions has resulted in numerous trainer deaths or severe injuries.
What really killed me was learning how many of their animals are still wild caught. As someone who was an avid aquarist for years, who still owns lizards, one of my main personal rules was that none of my pets could be wild caught, they all had to be captive bred. Most recently during my horribly failed jellyfish tank experiment, I found out that one of the suppliers for jellies was using wild caught animals and i was enraged. And we're talking about -jellyfish- which are not known for either their intelligence or their pod behavior. But whales and dolphins are...and to realize that these parks are separating families solely for the purpose of entertainment is gut wrenching, especially since orcas travel in pods their entire lives...even whales born in captivity are taken from their mothers in instances where either the babies or the mothers end up not performing up to par as a result of the distraction of the whole mother/child bond. But even just watching/reading how many of these animals live seriously shortened lifespans in captivity made me sick...because again as someone who has owned animals as a hobby, I quickly have come to realize there are some animals I could not care for properly (either do to the environment or something as embarrassing as user error) and in those instances I STOPPED TRYING. Because when you're constantly killing animals that you don't know how to adequately care for, you need to be responsible and stop.
Anyway, Blackfish is an astounding movie. There are absolutely times where the filmmaker's bias bothered me slightly, though realistically they are trying to pack in decades of a story into a shortish documentary. The film easily could have been another hour and I wouldn't have even minded. It's a really great and simple examination into why sea mammals should not be used for entertainment purposes and how companies like Sea World are not being held accountable both for endangering whales and humans. I also can't remember the last time a movie made me cry like that, I think it must've been Requiem for a Dream.
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no subject
Date: 2013-07-31 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-31 05:42 am (UTC)i've also heard "the cove" is a really great documentary in terms of getting one's ire up about how we treat the ocean.
no subject
Date: 2013-07-31 12:59 pm (UTC)We did go to Seaworld once (Orlando) but steered clear of the Shamu stuff. Just doesn't sit right with me. We did do the behind the scenes tour though. They do a lot of marine life rehab there, mostly a lot of sea turtles that are hurt in boating accidents.
I was quite conflicted about them, because (at least the Orlando location) does a lot of good work in animal rehab, and is the only place in that region set up to do that kind fo work. They said, that they do release back to the wild when able. The Shamu thing though, just sad/wrong.
I definitely need to check out this movie!
no subject
Date: 2013-07-31 01:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-31 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-31 08:05 pm (UTC)