[Newsbot]

Title: Vancouver Park Board votes to end display of cetaceans at aquarium
Category: Misc CDN
Posted By: Strutz
Date: 2017-03-10 10:20:06
Canadian

[Strutz]

Good. I'm happy about this decision. They were going to end the whale program anyway in 12 years. Now that the 2 belugas they had have passed away why bother spending a fortune to upgrade the pool just to put more whales in there more or less temporarily. These are creatures that simply do not belong in cages and it's about time we stopped.

Now they can use the existing bigger pool to give the otters that are in rehab a slightly better environment in which to recover.

[DrCaleb]

Now if we can get rid of all the other zoos and wildlife parks!

[Strutz]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

R=UP

Now if we can get rid of all the other zoos and wildlife parks!

Having wild creatures in places for rehab purposes is one thing because it is typically temporary.

Having wild creatures in captivity under the guise of education while in reality making a profit of exhibiting them is another. Besides, you are not viewing them behaving naturally when you consider they are so restricted.

Want to get educated about of the world's most intriguing creatures? Watch some of the amazing documentaries available. For instance I have recently been watching some amazing shows on the BBC channel, seeing footage I have never seen before and I've learned so much more than I ever would seeing them in a cage no matter how "pretty" the cage is.

[DrCaleb]

Strutz Strutz:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

R=UP

Now if we can get rid of all the other zoos and wildlife parks!

Having wild creatures in places for rehab purposes is one thing because it is typically temporary.

I'd never lump a hospital/rehab facility in with a zoo or wildlife park. Two of my favourite charities are the Edmonton Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, and the Edmonton Humane Society.

Strutz Strutz:

Having wild creatures in captivity under the guise of education while in reality making a profit of exhibiting them is another. Besides, you are not viewing them behaving naturally when you consider they are so restricted.

Want to get educated about of the world's most intriguing creatures? Watch some of the amazing documentaries available. For instance I have recently been watching some amazing shows on the BBC channel, seeing footage I have never seen before and I've learned so much more than I ever would seeing them in a cage no matter how "pretty" the cage is.

Back when it was easy to record TV shows, I recorded hundreds of hours of BBC, Discovery and Nat Geo documentaries. Best stuff on TV! Sir David Attenbourough rules!

[Public_Domain]

Zoos really do strike me as a sort of circus/sideshow type travesty

[Thanos]

Zoos are also the last repository for the genetics of hundreds of animal species that are going to go extinct in the wild over the next hundred years. Get rid of zoos and you're essentially aiding in the final destruction of creatures that will never be seen again.

[Public_Domain]

Keeping zoos is coddling capitalism for what it's done

[prairiechickin]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

R=UP

Now if we can get rid of all the other zoos and wildlife parks!

I dunno, I worked five summers in a wildlife park, and the elk, deer and buffalo there were not hard done by. Restricted into pens, sure, but they were well fed and had excellent medical care. Its a trade-off I suppose, they didn't seem too upset. As for whales in tanks, ya, we could lose that.

[DrCaleb]

Thanos Thanos:

Zoos are also the last repository for the genetics of hundreds of animal species that are going to go extinct in the wild over the next hundred years. Get rid of zoos and you're essentially aiding in the final destruction of creatures that will never be seen again.

Zoos are a concentration camp for wild creatures that shouldn't be restricted. If they are at risk of extinction, which is probabally our fault, they should be moved to a rehab/recovery or breeding center like Strutz suggests. Not put on pathetic public display for our amusement.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... mall-pizza

prairiechickin prairiechickin:

I dunno, I worked five summers in a wildlife park, and the elk, deer and buffalo there were not hard done by. Restricted into pens, sure, but they were well fed and had excellent medical care. Its a trade-off I suppose, they didn't seem too upset. As for whales in tanks, ya, we could lose that.

For every zoo where an animal 'does ok', there are ten like these:

http://metro.co.uk/2017/03/02/british-z ... h-6483215/

https://www.thedodo.com/the-5-worst-zoo ... 92319.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016 ... ounis-zoo/

[prairiechickin]

That is brutal to watch. I can only tell you I took my job very seriously, and all animals on my watch were treated with dignity and the best care I could muster. The first thing every day was oats for role call. I got to look at all of them, and if any didn't show up, that was trouble and I'd go looking for them. I get your point about some zoos and wildlife parks are not fit for animals, but I kept my animals well fed and entertained.

[Thanos]

I'm not defending the idea of zoos-as-entertainment or for profit. The fact remains these animals are all going to be exterminated out in the wild. Zoos will be the only places that they'll still exist. Let's not be Pollyanna's here. The poachers are not going to stop, and they're too well armed and funded by the hoax-medicine industry in China and India. Habitat destruction is ongoing across the entire world and won't be stopped due to the pressures of over-population, especially in places like Africa where the animal population declines are most pronounced.

You can have animals in zoos and keep them alive, with some minimal hope that the human race might smarten up someday and allow them a second chance to live as nature designed them to. Or you can do nothing to preserve their genetic diversity, get rid of zoos as well, and watch ineffectually as they're destroyed once and for all, never to be seen again. There really are no other options.

[prairiechickin]

Thanos Thanos:

I'm not defending the idea of zoos-as-entertainment or for profit. The fact remains these animals are all going to be exterminated out in the wild. Zoos will be the only places that they'll still exist. Let's not be Pollyanna's here. The poachers are not going to stop, and they're too well armed and funded by the hoax-medicine industry in China and India. Habitat destruction is ongoing across the entire world and won't be stopped due to the pressures of over-population, especially in places like Africa where the animal population declines are most pronounced.

You can have animals in zoos and keep them alive, with some minimal hope that the human race might smarten up someday and allow them a second chance to live as nature designed them to. Or you can do nothing to preserve their genetic diversity, get rid of zoos as well, and watch ineffectually as they're destroyed once and for all, never to be seen again. There really are no other options.

Good post, I would not want to be a tusked elephant or a tiger right now, there's a certain sense of madness in China.

[Public_Domain]

There are better wildlife population rehabilitation programs than zoos though

People shouldn't get the privilege of just walking down the street and visiting all the animals we've so horribly crippled that their only hope is a concrete camp where we exercise some slight mercy on their species. Those animals should be rehabilitated and away from common mans eye.

Also animal rehabilitation shouldn't be a private capitalist venture...

[DrCaleb]

prairiechickin prairiechickin:

That is brutal to watch. I can only tell you I took my job very seriously, and all animals on my watch were treated with dignity and the best care I could muster. The first thing every day was oats for role call. I got to look at all of them, and if any didn't show up, that was trouble and I'd go looking for them. I get your point about some zoos and wildlife parks are not fit for animals, but I kept my animals well fed and entertained.

There are probabally a lot of people like you. But there are also a lot of problems in the world like Gaza, where I'm sure they meant well but funding dried up and animals still needed to be fed. The only way I see to end the suffering is to change the paradigm. Get rid of zoos, put the money into saving species at risk.

Thanos Thanos:

The fact remains these animals are all going to be exterminated out in the wild. Zoos will be the only places that they'll still exist. Let's not be Pollyanna's here. The poachers are not going to stop, and they're too well armed and funded by the hoax-medicine industry in China and India. Habitat destruction is ongoing across the entire world and won't be stopped due to the pressures of over-population, especially in places like Africa where the animal population declines are most pronounced.

You can have animals in zoos and keep them alive, with some minimal hope that the human race might smarten up someday and allow them a second chance to live as nature designed them to. Or you can do nothing to preserve their genetic diversity, get rid of zoos as well, and watch ineffectually as they're destroyed once and for all, never to be seen again. There really are no other options.

It doesn't have to be a 'zoo' though. You don't have to sell tickets, and put them on display. There are many facilities that breed or rescue at risk species, and rehabilitate them for release into the wild. Poaching can be stopped, I believe, but not in our generation. Send a few people like Bart or 2CDO out to poach the poachers, then see how popular the lifestyle becomes.

There has even been talk of introducing some species that migrated west after the last ice age and were native here, back here where they would be protected. Some big cats, like the Siberian Tiger or Snow Leopard might be candidates. Places in India too have learnt to live with Lions, Leopards and Tigers. They just breed a few more buffalo than they need, and accept a few losses along the way. So long as the cats stick to livestock, everyone goes home safe.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/indias-w ... ode/14114/