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So we're good on zoo's...how about Sea World?
I've always always always wanted to go to Sea World. Every trip to FL my family would say "what do you want to do?" and I would say "go to Sea World!!!" - then we would go to Disney or Universal or anywhere other than Sea World. They weren't torturing me, I promise. There were always other kids involved and I just never got my way 
Zoos that education the public, replenish populations, etc. as discussed in the below post are all good in my book...but Sea World? Animals kept in tiny pools spending all their time doing tricks? I so badly want to see these creatures up close, but I don't want to support a company that mistreats animals for our amusement.
So tell me...are they doing anything good or am I forever destined to never go to Sea World?
BFP 11.8.12 * EDD 7.17.13 * MC 12.20.12
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over!
Re: So we're good on zoo's...how about Sea World?
So Sea World is AZA accredited too. When oil spills happen--the marine biologists go out and help get animals and rehab them and then release them. They don't just do this with oil spills either. They help many, many other animals too.
But I don't understand why animals need to be performing for our entertainment...If you really think about it..this is a completely adult idea. Children would never think of seeing a whale "perform" tricks. Of course they are thrilled when they see it but it's not what they would think of. It's for adults--not kids! I have seen parts of "The Cove," and I thought it was such total crap that we are doing this...people who train the animals--and "love," them--going to these places and harassing the animals all in the name of getting them into a position of our entertainment..barf. I can't do it. It's completely hypocritical of those institutions to do that....help some animals while torturing others.
Lurker jumping in:
I just watched a couple of videos on YouTube addressing the validity of some of the claims made in The Cove. Obviously what the Japanese fisherman are doing is horrible and should be stopped, but The Cove leads you to believe that Sea World, Discovery Kingdom, Dolphin Quest, etc, get their dolphins from Japan. The information in the videos I watched says otherwise. No dolphins have been imported into the United States from Japan since 1981 (or somewhere around there) and then it was two bottlenose dolphins and 6 other dolphins. Some dolphinarium applied for a permit in 1993 to get a dolphin from Japan, but it was denied due to the fact that the dolphinarium hadn't sent representatives to Japan to assure that the capture of the dolphins is humane - which it obviously isn't. According to the sources in the videos, only 0.7% of the dolphins captured in 2007 (the year The Cove was filmed) were sold to dolphin parks - and all of them located in Asia. None to the United States, Europe, Mexico, or anywhere else. The other 99.3% of dolphins were sold for meat. I don't know how to do clicky links, but here are the links for the videos:
As a PP said, Sea World is AZA accredited and does a LOT of marine mammal rescue and rehab work. If there is an unreleaseable animal, they incorparate it into their shows, or send it somewhere else to be used for education/entertainment. They also get their show animals from captive breeding programs. Not from Japan.
Now, none of this touches at all on whether or not you think dolphins and whales in captivity is a good thing. Since I visited Sea World when I was in the ninth grade I decided that I wanted to be an orca trainer. I went so far as going to school for animal training (hence my siggy pic). Now I KNOW that I don't want to be an orca trainer - they are just to big for me). But I still want to work with marine mammals. I'm hoping to someday work for the Navy's dolphin and sea lion training program. I know quite a few people who work in places like Sea World, Discovery Kingdom, etc. I know that the trainers working with those animals love them and AZA accredited facilities provide the best environment for a captive animal that is currently possible.
Like I said, that doesn't touch on whether you think these animals should be in captivity at all (except in the case of the unreleasables where the only other option would be euthanasia). I'm still on the fence about how I feel about these intelligent creatures living in captivity, but I know that the AZA facitlites that house them help to further educate people, are constantly working towards saving endangered species, and work every day to help rehabilitate injured animals.
So, in conclusion to this really long post (sorry), don't feel that visiting Sea World supports dolphin slaughter in Japan.
So I didn't watch the videos listed here...but on the show "Blood Dolphins," Ric O'Barry is addressing that the dolphin trade for aquariums and shows does not just happen in Japan--but it is happening world wide. He was pretty clear that the trade for shows/aquariums is linked to the meat trade--but obviously most of the dolphins are going to meat (how many shows can there be in reality?)
I believe in "The Cove," he also exposes just how tough it is for any dolphin/whale to be in captivity--and how their health is affected...that they have many problems ranging from depression to stomach issues..isn't there a scene that shows how the dolphins often have to take LOTS of stomach antacids?
The difference between a place like Sea World and a regular zoo (I feel--after working in one) is that BOTH do animal training and both will show the public how they do it. But at a lot of zoos it's behavioral enrichment that prevents boredom, negative or destructive behaviors, mimics natural behaviors found in the wild or is used to help the keepers move or care for the animals--it is NOT for the sole purpose of the public's entertainment...when the public "Gets" to see the behaviors--it is for an educational purpose...On the flip side--at Sea World or other aquariums the purpose IS for entertainment--a whale or dolphin wouldn't let humans ride on their backs and jump off and do flips for example...and there are VERY few zoos that will let the public get so close as many aquariums are now--to let people have these "dolphin experiences."
I think that when people boycott a place like Sea World--they are saying "No," to the dolphin trade in general--AND to dolphin SHOWS in general--which ARE happening in the US. But I agree that you can't just look at SW and go "EVIL!" It's not black and white--they are a for profit institution...they make a ton of money and have the ability to give it BACK to the environment--and they do!
I agree completely with this statement and I think it is a very legitimate reason for boycotting. I'm just addressing the part of The Cove that leads people to believe that dolphins in the U.S. came from Japan.
I think that the trainers and keepers in Sea World and other oceanariums do the best that they can to give the captive animals an enriching life. I also know that training is a form of enrichment. If an animal doesn't want to perform in a particular show, they don't have to - and I'm pretty sure that if a dolphin or whale didn't want a trainer riding on their backs, they wouldn't do it. You can't force an animal that large to something like that if it doesn't want to.
Again, none of this matters if you don't believe that these animals should be in captivity in the first place. I'm not addressing that issue at all because I'm not sure which side of the fence I'm on at the moment.
Having worked in zoos--and knowing that trainers at Sea World and other aquariums have masters in marine bio etc--I also don't doubt that they are good people, and I also agree that training is great BE--AND that as part of positive training..it is standard practice to not force animals to do behaviors
What I think is at the heart of the matter--is sort of like the pet trade..if the public stops going to these types of shows and even aquariums where dolphins are featured...then the "trade," will eventually end--both the wild capture and the captive breeding programs.
I totally agree with you. I think that captive breeding programs should continue when species are endangered and zoos are helping build the species numbers and release them into the wild when possible. Captive breeding where the animals go right into a captive entertainment industry I perhaps don't agree with. We can never make animals that are as intelligent as marine mammals (and many other types of species) as happy and fulfilled as they would be in the wild.
So, I used to work for Sea World.
They do put a lot of resources toward conservation, but my job there was basically to peddle junk made of plastic. In their defense, while the shows are meant to entertain, they are also intended to educate. To be honest, I think they could be doing more.
The Sea World that I worked at wasn't entirely sea animals. They had a "mutt show" where all of the performing dogs and other small animals were from local rescues, and encouraged people to adopt pets. There were other shows that didn't have animals, like a water skiing one.
There are always downsides to animals being kept in captivity. I think there's some bad and some good to Sea World, so it's up to you. I haven't seen The Cove yet, but I don't think Sea World quite equates to the circus. At the same time, they are an amusement park with the goal of making money. If it makes a difference, SW is owned by Anheuser Bush, the beer company, which also operates Bush Gardens.
It's more expensive, but if you're interested, there are other ways to see these animals "up close," like taking a zodiak ride to seee dolphins in Hawaii or watching seals along beaches in California.