Wild Animals In Captivity, PAY ATTENTION

reply to post by tribewilder


Very well said and I have seen that beautiful documentary too about the Buddhist monks. It's wonderful.

reply to post by l neXus l


If you let him out of the cage most of the time then it's well and good. I am talking about caged birds who are never let out of their prisons.

I read this article this morning and I totally agree with the writer.
I thought I would share it here. Sorry the trainer was killed, but her friends and family said that she would not wish the whale to be blamed.


Tillikum: the slave whale who chose to fight back


Alexander Cockburn: Orca whales ‘in the wild’ do not attack humans. But in aquariums, it is more common than we think
By Alexander Cockburn
LAST UPDATED 6:11 PM, FEBRUARY 26, 2010

Call him, just for now, Spartacus. He was two years when the slavers captured him in 1982 and hauled him off to the little town of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in the far Canadian west. And there he met his fellow slaves, Nootka and Haida. Day after day in slave school they learned their tricks. Day after day, they did their act for the paying customers. And then, on February 20, 1991, in the tank operated by Sealand of the Pacific, the three struck back at their captors.

Okay, not Spartacus, but an orca whale - Tillikum, the one who drowned 40-year old Dawn Brancheau this week in the Shamu tank at SeaWorld, Orlando, after grabbing her by her pony-tail.

Tillikum was caught off Iceland. Nootka and Haida, both female, were seized in the Pacific. In fact Nootka was the third orca by that name to be bought by Sealand. The first two died within a year of their capture. At that time enslaved orcas had a life expectancy in captivity of anywhere from one to four years. These days they do a bit better. In wild waters, orcas live to be anywhere from 30 to 60. Cont...

See link:


www.thefirstpost.co.uk... ?DCMP=NLC-daily

reply to post by Crakeur


I'm not convinced on that one. I have watched a fair bit of the Grizzly man diaries. There are many times they read sections from his journal. There are also things they sometimes show on camera that just give me the feeling that he knew he would eventually be killed by a bear.

Here's a quote from him for example: "If I show weakness, I'm dead. They will take me out, they will decapitate me, they will chop me up into bits and pieces--I'm dead. So far, I persevere. I persevere."

I think he knew he was playing with fire and one day would wind up dead by bear.

i think it is important that there are wild animals kept as pets.
if not they will be hunted/driven to extinction.

sort of a seed bank for animals.

true it is horrible how some(most?)are treated but is extinction better?

plus I'd be lying if i said i didn't smile every time i hear of a tiger getting loose or an elephant biting a tv host.

I know,I'm a bad person

reply to post by Pimpish

I think he knew he was playing with fire and one day would wind up dead by bear.

Unfortunately, how many bears were destroyed because this idiot was, well..., being an idiot? As I recall, it was several... Big help, wasn't he?

I don't like animals being in captivity any more than most of you, but as someone pointed out...better that then extinct. In an ideal world, these animals, not just orcas, but all of 'em; would be left alone to live, or die, as nature intended... But it's not an ideal world, and some effort must be made to preserve these animals, and part of that, are zoos.

Originally posted by seagull
reply to post by Pimpish

 

Unfortunately, how many bears were destroyed because this idiot was, well..., being an idiot? As I recall, it was several... Big help, wasn't he?

I don't like animals being in captivity any more than most of you, but as someone pointed out...better that then extinct. In an ideal world, these animals, not just orcas, but all of 'em; would be left alone to live, or die, as nature intended... But it's not an ideal world, and some effort must be made to preserve these animals, and part of that, are zoos.

Not zoos but natural parks and animals sanctuary. Instead of keeping these animals in zoos it's better to kill them and end their suffering.

So many things about how wild animals are treated really piss me off. I got my first dose of reality in a foster home where the owner had a capuchin monkey that was kept in a 3ft x2 ft cage 24/7. I felt so bad for that monkey. These same people also raised rabbits and had a whole barn full of tiny cages with rabbits in them.

I stopped going to zoo's when I saw several chimanzees in a tiny cement room with glass for visitors to watch. They had nothing but cement and some straw thrown on the floor. I couldn't stand watching them confined like that.

Years later, while in Europe I saw two elephants halfway inside a small enclosure ( front end first) and their legs were chained to each other and then to stakes in the ground. The chains were so tight, they could not even take one step in any direction. You could see the marks from the chains on their ankles, obviously they were chained often. I was so disgusted I felt like throwing up.

I support sanctuaries where wild animals are in their natural habitat, or as close to it as possible. I can't stand to see a wild ( or a domesticated) animal caged.

Reply to post by timewalker

that whale has been in cativity for 30 years. it is THE alpha male of all captive orcas........he's too valuable to sea world to let back into the wild. also- would his 30 years in captivity affect his ability to survive in the wild? probably a lot.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

As far as Wild Animals are concerned I feel if you can afford to keep Exotics then GO FOR IT, this is just another LAME ATTEMPT by P.E.T.A. to try to get normal people to listen to the diatribe they spew.

I alone have about 15 exotic species ranging from Birds to Reptiles and a few real gems I must add and as far as I'm concerned if it offends somebody well then F**K EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Threadstarter, what were domesticated animals before they were domesticated?
What makes one species (mammals) less suitable for domestication than another?
While I agree with the basic Idea of your post, you paint with a very broad brush.
Im sure you and I can cite bucketfuls of cases where 'wild' animals have lashed out, sometimes fatally, at owners, but where do you draw the line?
How do you define 'wild' exactly? How do you determin 'suitability for domestication/pet, or lack of'?
"Wild' is a pretty vague label that could apply to countless species, successfully and humanely kept for many purpouses, education, pets, breeding programs for reintroduction to the wild etc.

reply to post by December_Rain


Ordinarily, I'd agree with you. But so many species are in such grave danger of extinction that it's safer for them to be in a zoo. Ideally? Yes, a game preserve, or national park is the ideal solution, but most countries lack the money, and all, seemingly, lack the interest to do what is necessary to protect them from poaching, and other dangers...

It's a real issue that needs addressing. Safer in the zoo, but at the loss of freedom, or a semblance of same... Or out in the wild, which for some species would be a sentence of death/extinction.

Last summer I recieved a phone call asking me if I would take in a baby deer. This fawn was 8 days old. Her mother was killed on the interstate and some nice people took her in and tried to care for her. When I got her, she was in terrible shape. She was urinating blood, malnourished, scared... I brought her home, fixed her a bed in my laundry room and started her on the proper formula. She was up and about in a few days and I moved her outside. Not to a cage! I live in the sticks so to speak and she free ranged all over the place. I would go out at night with my spotlight and find where she was bedded down, just so I would know.
She instictively came home several times a day for her feedings and then off she would go to the woods. She is grown now and I see her less and less...January 20th was the last time she came home... but she has been spotted with a herd. She has a family and that makes me proud. She is where she needs to be, she just needed a little help getting started! I would have never caged her.

I've seen wild animals adjust to domestication, of course these particular examples where not bound to the cage or leash.

I've seen pet fox, bobcats, raccoons just to name some.

The fox (named peach) is actually allowed to run wild, she always returns in the evening and is very friendly and playful, but again isn't restricted to a cage.

My next door neighbor growing up had a pair of bobcats. They where allowed free but never went beyond the confines of our neighbor's yard (don't ask me why). They where also very friendly and reminded me of (very) large house cats. There was an incident however where these bobcats mauled a man to death. To their defense, he was breaking into the house and had a gun.

I only know of one raccoon. I wouldn't have one as a pet though. They get into absolutely everything!

reply to post by DaMod


Raccoons make great house guests. I have raised several. They are easy to litter box train. They are very curious and as you stated do get into the everything.They love to climb curtains too! They take patience! But they are also very loving creatures. We have raised them and then turned them free on the game preserve so that they are safe from hunters. They make some really cool vocalizations. I love to hear them.