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Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

cbc.ca

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Re: Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

#51

Post by maxxxxx »

fatbird wrote: post #35
kypro wrote: post #8

Is there evidence all these creatures dislike captivity and would prefer fending for themselves in the wild? Genuinely curious. Not that it means anything, but dolphins have always seemed happy in captivity so long as they are being cared for appropriately.

Upvoting because legit question offers an opportunity to inform. Most whales have a natural range of thousands of miles over the course of a year. Keeping them in tanks, no matter how generous to our eyes, is the equivalent of keeping a human in a bathroom for their entire life—-with exactly as little stimulation or variety as that implies. Another response observes that whales in captivity always develop at least so…

“At one time, the argument was made that having them perform for crowds was necessary to keep them from going crazy.”

I think that’s actually a valid argument if you keep something in captivity. When you put humans in jail it’s also better to give them something to do instead of just having them sit around.

Freedom is still the best option though.

Re: Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

#54

Post by 52-6F-62 »

astura wrote: post #46
kypro wrote: post #8

Is there evidence all these creatures dislike captivity and would prefer fending for themselves in the wild? Genuinely curious. Not that it means anything, but dolphins have always seemed happy in captivity so long as they are being cared for appropriately.

If nothing else, orcas don't do well in captivity from a health perspective https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/03/orcas-cap... Even if they look happy during shows, the "behind the scenes" activities can be objectively very cruel. https://www.thedodo.com/tilileaks-exclusive-documents--63986...

For those of us who grew up in the 90's, it's the entire premise of the movie "Free Willy".

Re: Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

#55

Post by mbostleman »

I get all the problems for the animals and not suggesting that they should continue to endure those problems, but I hate to see the general public's access to nature further curtailed. The mainstream seems to love wild places and wild life as long as it's on Youtube yet they spend the entirety of their own lives in suburbs and retail landscapes with virtually no direct experience with nature. I wonder how many children's imaginations were broadened over the years by seeing these beautiful animals up close and because of that how many ended up in zoology or forestry or whatever.

Re: Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

#58

Post by diveanon »

I believe it will one day be possible to use AI techniques to communicate directly with these animals.

I have often thought about running whale song through a RNN and broadcasting underwater to listen for responses.

We don't need to go to other planets to find intelligent nonhuman life, it is already here and we are wiping them out and enslaving them.

Our grandchildren will learn about this genocide in the same way we learn about the holocaust and conquering of the Americas.

Re: Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

#59

Post by braythwayt »

mbostleman wrote: post #55

I get all the problems for the animals and not suggesting that they should continue to endure those problems, but I hate to see the general public's access to nature further curtailed. The mainstream seems to love wild places and wild life as long as it's on Youtube yet they spend the entirety of their own lives in suburbs and retail landscapes with virtually no direct experience with nature. I wonder how many childr…

I grew up with zoos and aquariums, and I have fond memories of them. But of course, I wasn't kept in one. And furthermore... Zoos and aquariums are not nature. They are exhibits in a kind of museum.

If we want people to see nature, we have to preserve actual nature and encourage people to visit it. Visiting a zoo is not visiting nature, and I personally worry that equivocating the two is dangerous.

I would not want people to get the impression that as long as we keep a few breeding pairs of every animal in our museums, there is no need to preserve places for them to live in actual nature.

Re: Canada to ban keeping whales, dolphins in captivity

#60

Post by maxxxxx »

Let’s hope this will soon be extended to other animals like bears, mountain lions and other who have huge ranges they usually live in. They develop a lot of psychotic behavior in captivity like constant pacing and others. Not sure if it’s much better but at a minimum they should be kept in large areas like parks where you then drive through so they have some area to roam.
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