Sea World attendance falling

[AptaMer]

Looks like people are starting to boycott Sea World

http://www.businessinsider.com/seawo...umbling-2014-4

[MerAnthony]

Very interesting reading.

[sashiyoop]

I watched Blackfish the other day, and I'm glad there's a visible effect. I remember getting really angry watching it, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I remember the last time I went to Sea World, looking at the orcas after the show, I thought to myself how claustrophobic and cramped I'd be if I was in the whales' places. It saddened me a lot that such magnificent creatures were being treated like this.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

What's worse is that they catch them from the wild, expect them to be "tame" after a year of training.

[Echidna]

That gives me back a tiny sliver of faith in humanity.

Circuses (and Seaworld is a kind of circus), zoos, and other related animal shows should be done away with already.
We're not in the middle ages anymore; people can watch all these animals in their natural habitats (which is far more intriguing anyway than dumb tricks) at any time, be it on a safari/whale watching tour, TV, or the internet.

[Vixy]

Sadly Cultuna I see Zoos as a necessary evil.

The natural habitat of these creatures are just not safe any more, poachers to the bush meat trade and not forgetting about the shrinking habitats for these animals where they would be sharing spaces with farmers and people who would easily kill them because they're eating the livestock.

There are horrible and terrible zoos but there are also zoos that take care of the animals and keep them safe. Sometimes it's the conservation zoos that have kept an animal from extinction.

[Echidna]

Zoos are about making money, not species preservation, although they of course won't say that because it doesn't sound as nice.
Zoos will produce as many young as possible, because cute animal babies draw more visitors, and when they've grown too big to be cute, they get killed.

If species are to be preserved and protected, other, better options are possible.

And poachers wouldn't be a problem if the correct measures would be taken, but most countries either are too squeamish for that, or don't care at all (meanwhile funding commercial fishing and other destructive industries big time).

[Vixy]

I could do points about zoos but this isn't about zoos it's about Sea World. So I will agree to disagree on here.

[Fun123joker]

my local zoo is free
but honestly i kinda feel basd that the company is going down because of a film. oh no i dont feel bad about sea world loosing money for the public's knowledge of animal abuse but how much of an impact a 90 minuet or so movie it did on thier company like companies fall becuase of health problems or bad service or poor decisions but wow

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I've never liked visiting zoos or circuses when I was younger. I still don't like them. The animals always look so sad or they have that "dead eyes" look when they turn to face you.

[Rivertee]

Honestly I'll admit I'm torn on this arguement. I met and talked with Dawn many times from childhood into adulthood. Been to Sea Wrold countless times with my family and interacted with the animals. I've always held a place in my heart for the killer whales though, something in me never got enjoyment from watching them perform and fear always laced me when trainers got in the water every time. The dolphins, fish, sting rays, manatees etc I never saw the joy taken from them but possibly because their 'clans, families, communities' were never torn from them. Aquariums I believe are a good thing but keeping titans of our oceans is cruel. Even the sharks deserve to be free and travel as they're meant to.

However, Blackfish's claim to release the whales into the wild would ultimately kill them. These whales have never migrated, hunted, or even communicated with other whales. Chances are they'll stay close to humans and eat fish that humans are catching. This will be the end of their life someday. There is the slim chance some of the younger ones will be adopted by a traveling pod but in most cases they'd be rejected or even hunted themselves. People can argue instinct as well a natural urges but fact is fact, very few captive animals released back into the wild survive more than a few years due to nature or illness.

My personal opinion on zoos is very biased seeing as I work and volunteer at my local zoo a lot. I've worked with wild animals of all kinds sea, land, and air. I've looked a wild cat in the eye and saw gratitude as well as fire. Not all zoos are evil and out to make a profit so I feel that lumping them all together is unfair. I've watched birth in a zoo save a young life that in the wild they would've died or worse, I've watched older animals crawl into their nests with the knowing that it would be the last sleep they'd ever take. We've had animals over 100 years old die of nothing more than old age, there are some that grew ill because of the carelessness of the general public as well. I cannot express enough how much I dislike humans of that nature. We ask, take measures, inform, and enforce DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS but we're not perfect. Neither is the wild.

If we want to blame anyone for animals suffering blame humans as a whole. Those who do use these creatures for gain and amusement, those who take it to extremes in protecting them that they end up hurting them, and those who sit by and do nothing but point fingers.

I'm sorry if I upset anyone here but I am very passionate about my views. I do not aim to discredit anyone's claims or beliefs and by no means do I mean to insult. Just voicing a view.

[Arella]

If they do stop their breeding program I would definitely think it would just be better to keep the remaining animals in captivity or if finances allow it in an ocean pen. m One thing I'm not sure about it how much do they actually contribute to research?

[Rivertee]

Biological research they do give a great deal because they are accessable and can be studied and tested. But everything we know about behaviors, huntings, communications, etc are learned from the wild ones.

[MerGrrl]

Vixy, I agree. There are some species that now only exist in zoos, due to their natural habitats being disrupted.