by DARIELLA HERNANDEZ//Editorial Assistant
Animals, especially wild animals, should not be in captivity just for entertainment.
It is obvious that animals cannot give consent, but zoos and circuses all over the world have been abusing that circumstance.
Elephants, monkeys, tigers, and lions have all been held captive by circuses in order to gain audiences for decades. It isn’t fair for the animals to be manipulated into a whole new, foreign, world just for our own pleasure.
There has been many accidents regarding circuses, zoos, and Sea World. When the stories hit the news, people see the animal as in the wrong. In reality, the animals have been toyed with and pushed to extremes that they can’t take it anymore, and attacking is the last natural instinct left in them.
If we were to switch places with a circus elephant, we would realize the torture this animal goes through. It is not only elephants but more dangerous animals such as tigers, for example.
When circuses are searching for new animals, they should be aware of how extremely dangerous big cats are. It’s like playing with fire.
Although zoos seem like a nice, harmless place to visit, they aren’t the most innocent. Zoos try to promote wild life and animal safety when they are contradicting themselves the whole time.
By just having wild animals behind bars or glass windows, they are striping down what the animals naturally know. Wild animals were not made for small, secluded spaces. Wild animals are meant to roam free in the wild, and be wild!
What these popular attractions are causing is early extinction rates for animals, as well as possible attacks on zoo keepers and zoo goers.
Many people were oblivious to the conditions Sea World orcas were in. It was not until the documentary “Black Fish” came out that social media has been all about freeing the whales.
In the documentary, you can get an up-close look at how wild orcas should look and how Sea World orcas look. Their fin should always be standing upright in the wild, the a sign of a happy, healthy orca. At Sea World, you can notice their fin drooping low, which is a very bad sign.
There has been many scandals prior to this regarding Sea World. One of the most well known is the death of a Sea World employee caused by an orca.
When I first read about that, I couldn’t believe the whale had done that to the employee. I thought they would be trained well enough to not attack- that’s when I realized that whales shouldn’t be trained. Whales shouldn’t be taught how to jump through a hoop. It’s unnatural.
If whales wouldn’t follow instructions, they would be starved and kept alone in a pool.
Orcas are very sociable animals. They usually travel in a pod and need to be around other orcas to survive. Sea World had the whales secluded in tiny spaces. It was predictable that these whales would crack sooner than later.
The Sea World orcas suffered a lot of animal abuse which should have been avoided.
Imagine being forced to learn a whole new daily routine other than the one you were meant to live. It must have been excruciating to these captive animals. Next time you think about going to a zoo, circus, or Sea World, think about the animals and ask if it is worth it.
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