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Give it to me straight: Sea World
in Pets
Is it a bad place?
Am I supporting cruel practice by taking DS there?
I need to know.
TIA!
Re: Give it to me straight: Sea World
*groan*
That was so not what I wanted to hear. I hate that! I want to support a sweet, humane place where the animals live blissfully and happily. You know, like in a bubbles floating amidst pink cotton candy clouds.
I'll go ahead and be over dramatic and say that I think Sea World is the Devil and I would never give them any money.
Now that I have that out of my system...
I don't support animals for entertainment at all. And I don't mean zoos that work in preservation, etc. But shows that involve dolphins and (especially) whales, are dangerous for both the animals and the trainers.
And while I'm sure the Cove is biased (what documentary isn't?), and even though Sea World defended themselves (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/orl-story-the-cove-condemns-marine-parks,0,1580232.story), I'm not comfortable supporting them. The truth is likely somewhere in between the Cove's "Sea World is EVIL!" stance and Sea World's, "WE ARE BASICALLY RESCUE ANGELS" stance. I'm just not sure exactly where the truth lies.
Side note: everyone should watch The Cove, if you haven't already. But it's depressing as hell.
Snow!
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DTrue - I had to stop and start it a few times because it was really hard to watch, but I'm glad that I saw it.
Okay, I don't support the circus or dog racing or any of that, so sea world is basically the same thing? I went when I was really little, and vaguely remember a dolphin show, but I was hoping maybe it was like a big aquarium! That's not the case though? Hmmm.
What else is 18-24 month old friendly to do in Orlando? I know there is Disney, but he may still be a bit young for that? He LOVES animals and loves the aquarium here and seeing all the fish swim.
I am not sure he would take too well to a costumed mickey mouse type of thing, but this is for the Sept/Oct time frame, maybe things would change by then.
In my mind, aquariums (like zoos) promote conservation and showcase animals in an environment that is as close to their natural habitat as possible.
Sea World uses their animals for entertainment and profits off of them. While some of the behaviors they exhibit are natural, the way that they are trained to do them is not.
Animal Kingdom might still be good at that age. There are all sorts of shows that I think would enthrall him. Magic Kingdom has lots of rides for little ones.
Life and Love at #16 | our married life blog
I LOVED going to Sea World. I would go again in a heart beat.
Yes they are making a profit but it costs money to feed the animals and pay for wages etc. I do not agree with their profit margins. God knows those profits are outrageous and are not being put to good use other than shareholders' fancy cars.... I digress.
I do not think there is much difference in Sea World over a zoo. The bald eagle without a wing at the zoo is on "display" for the world to see while a zoo profits on your ticket sale. Sea World is exactly the same. I'm not arguing that the dolphin/whale show is/is not humane - I'm just saying that those shows were awesome! If you continue to look at the bad things associated with everything you would never do anything. Do you always buy USA made products to promote American employment or do you buy Taiwan because it saves you a dollar? There's good and bad to everything ya know?
I think your child would love it. I totally understand the negative things associated with Sea World, but there are good things too.
I don't care what other people do with their time or money, but the "do you do this this and this, too?" argument makes me a crazy person. No one can live perfectly, it's impossible, so to imply that there's something wrong with taking a stand against one thing because you can't take a stand against ALL THE THINGS is a little ridiculous. So because we can't care about everything, we should care about nothing? Does the fact that someone drives a foreign car cancel out rescue work, buying food locally, and supporting local business in other ways? No. (And yes, that example was me. lol)
That said, I don't understand how you can make a comment like "I'm not saying the shows are or are not humane--but they were awesome!" without realizing how it sounds. Things are infinitely less awesome if they're inhumane. Now, if you had said, "I don't think they are inhumane", okay. I get that, lots of people don't. But there is a difference.
And I'm glad Star jumped in with some ideas of where to go! I have no kids, so I had no options to share.
Snow!
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DI don't know how all zoos work, but ours is owned by the city and county of Denver. It's not privatized. It relies very heavily on the generosity of donors and public funds, it isn't supported by private investors who expect to turn a profit. I feel like this makes a difference, because in one case, you're getting your money from people who appreciate your efforts toward conservation, and on the other hand, you have stockholders urging you to do whatever you have to, to increase the profit margin. It has to effect the welfare of the animals.
That said, I'm not sure if we would do SeaWorld or not, I haven't researched it that much. I'll make a confession, we took Finn to the circus a couple years ago. I wasn't really thinking about it in terms of the animals when we bought tickets, more the clowns and the arial acts and such, which are what I remember most clearly from when I was a kid. I was horrified, and we won't go back. With all the amazing things their human performers can do, I don't know why they can't do a show that doesn't prostitute wild animals they way they do. I myself would enjoy it more, and be a repeat guest, if they'd lose the elephants and tigers. But I guess Sea World doesn't have that option.
Hands down Wonderworks was my favorite memory from Orlando when we went as children.
So its not all for entertainment & money making.
Maybe you could look into a tour like this & report back to us your findings?
I personally love Sea World. Yes, they make a lot of money. However, Sea World does a ton of conservation and rehabilitation work world wide. I'm not particularly a fan of the performance shows, but those shows and the thrill rides they have added bring in the crowds. Many of their shows are used to highlight their conservation and rehabilitation programs.
My H actually had a chance to learn a lot from the vets at Sea World while he was in his vet tech training. He was quite impressed with their facilities aside from the small tanks the whales are kept in.
Lurker chiming in... husband and I watched The Cove last year right after we had visited the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and watched the whale and dolphin show. We have been having a year-long conversation since then about it and how bad we feel that we potentially supported animal abuse. Sure, The Cove might be biased, but it's fact that a good number of marine parks/aquariums buy their animals from shady sources. That movie will shake everything you believe about animals in captivity.
Our debate has been what to do once we have kids. If we don't take them to the zoo, aquariums, marine parks, etc, how will they see animals in real life? We won't be able to afford safari-type excursions to every place to see different types of animals. But we are so uncomfortable supporting the abuse of animals. It's a discussion we're still having.
I think that any place that acquires animals to display or train for performances should have to disclose how and where they procured them. That way at least the general public can make an informed decision. It'll be a cold day in you-know-where when that happens, I'm afraid. : (
I just wanted to chime in that it's very easy to be torn on a decision as to what is right for you.
Maybe you'll get to see an Orca eat a trainer.
Orcas: 1
Humans: 0
I think the Whack a Kitten video was inhumane but most of y'all thought it was adorable. Using animals for the purpose of cheap entertainment at their expense.
So there you go.
Do what you're comfortable with and do your own research about it.
Yeah that's right my name's Yauch!
I do not support Sea World.
I've never been to Orlando, but I've been to the Keys. There were 2 things that were very animal friendly that we did. One was called Theater of the Sea in Islamorada, which was a facility which rehabilitated animals and also had breeding programs for threatened species. They had an alligator on "display" for example, named Princess, who could not be sent out to the wild because she had been shot on private property and was totally blind. They also kept other injured animals who couldn't be released for educational purposes. The other place we went was an area where we were able to swim with wild dolphins. Dolphins do like humans, and some would come up and encourage people to grab their dorsal fin and give them a ride. But they were NOT trained. They were wild. In fact, the lagoon was usually kept open to the sea, so they could leave as they saw fit. (However, most would return, liking the shelter and food that was available there.) They were not made to perform for people the way they are at Sea World.
In both of those instances, I felt the animals were very well taken care of, and the people running the programs were obviously doing it FOR the animals - and for public education. The money people paid to be educated went back into animal rehabilitation and species preservation.
I'm not sure how prevelent things like this are in other areas (especially since Orlando isn't on the coast), but I know animal sanctuaries and even zoos with good programs exist in many parts of the country.
40/112
A dolphin named Stormy spit on me at Theater of the Sea.
My friend's kid thought it was the most hilarious thing ever.
Yeah that's right my name's Yauch!
Im so glad you mentioned this. I also went on a tour of the rehab facility and we got to feed an injured manatee. I was on a trip with my college biology class so we got to see a lot of Sea World that the average person would never see. Everything was booked by our professors so I dont know how tours work but you should look into it. We watched part of a show while we were there but I definitely remember the manatee recovery area more vividly.
This is the best part of the whole post. lol
I mean, I'm sorry you got spit on.
Snow!
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home D1) Just because an institution is privatized does NOT make it evil or bad or whatever--Many zoos aren't city funded--and it's considered a GOOD thing--because the money comes from private donors and the people--like you (and you, and you and you)--a private institution can also be non-profit.
2) Sea World is an AZA accredited institution. This has several implications and professional standards--including and importantly conservation, education and animal care. The Sea Worlds CANNOT be accredited without participating in these professional standards.
These posts are always really interesting to me...Personally, yeah--I saw the Cove and I am not a super fan of Sea World and their performing shows but not everything is black and white. Sea World has the ability to go out and help a LOT of animals that are injured or endangered due to environmental disasters--they saved sea turtles and birds that were affected by the Gulf Oil Spill and then released them back into the wild. I hate to say this but at least some of the funding for helping those animals comes from Shamu jumping and performing---and drawing people into the aquarium.
I believe but I'm not 100% positive that the Orca's used in the show are now part of the Sea World breeding program and have been for a long time--NOT what you see coming from some shady-ass Japanese cove situation (which again I can't stress enough pissedme off so much. You can look it up on their website and it tells you in generalities how they get their animals.