Zoos: Myth And Reality By Robert Laidlaw

What if you were a trainer at SeaWorld and you were the one who got attacked? Do you think animals should be in captivity? Animal captivity has become a serious and dangerous problem all over the globe, for example, being used as breeders also, zoos claiming that they are helping species re- enter the wild through breeding in captivity but there efforts have been initiated by government not zoos. Lastly, taking babies from their parents. Some people think it is okay for animals to be kept up in a cage for most of their lives, other think it should be banned.Although animals in captivity may lead to people providing for their families and making a living, the animals deserve better lives in their natural habitats than in cages miserable, deprived,

According to the text, “Only 16 species have established self- sustaining population in the wild as a result of captive breeding efforts, and most of those programs were initiated by government wildlife agencies- not zoos” (Laidlaw). Secondly, Laidlaw helped support his claim by listing different ways that animals can suffer in zoos. For example, “Studies have shown that animals can suffer physically, mentally, and emotionally” (Laidlaw). One time I went to the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee and it was around 100 degrees and there was no running water. I am not a supporter of animal cruelty, so if these are ways animal are being hurt, I will not support it. Lastly, Laidlaw presents the problem that of all the zoos in the world and all the money brought in by the industry, a small amount is used toward breeding in captivity. In the article it states, “...an estimated 10,000 organized zoos worldwide, representing tens of thousands of human worker and billion of dollars in operating budgets, only a tiny percent allocate the resources necessary participate in captive propagation initiatives, and fewer still provide any real support for the in situ protect of wildlife and their natural

For example, “It’s just like kidnapping a little kid from its mother, everybody’s watching, what can you do? It’s the worst thing I can think of, I can’t think of anything worse than that” (Crowe). In John Crowe’s statement he compares kidnapping a little kid to kidnapping a baby orca, both are in my opinion unacceptable anyway you choose to look at it.Not all captivity of animals is bad, sometimes they really do release them back into wild and rehabilitate then in the meantime. Secondly, in Blackfish they include to tell the public that the way he was treated was inhumane and unfair on all levels. As follows, “If that is true, it’s not only inhumane and I’ll tell them so, but it probably led to what I think is a psychosis. He was on the hair trigger to kill” (Balcomb). Also this statement led us to think that they had an idea that he could attack, they just ignored it. Finally, they presented the problem to us that animals are not being treated in the right manner that they should normally be, and in Tilikum’s case it led to insanity from being mentally depressed also deprivation from his basic needs. “All whales in captivity have a bad life. They’re all emotionally destroyed; they’re all psychologically traumatized, so they’re a ticking time bomb. It’s not just Tilikum” (Marino). In conclusion, in the documentary, Blackfish,