Image: Irina Silvestrova/Shutterstock
Intelligent beings captured and forced to live in tiny space, then made to perform daily to entertain the masses. Sounds like slavery? PETA thinks so and they're suing ... on behalf of killer whales against SeaWorld:
LinkIt is reportedly the first time a US court has heard legal arguments over whether animals should enjoy the same constitutional protections as humans.
SeaWorld's legal team said the case was a waste of time and resources.
The marine park's lawyer, Theodore Shaw, told the court in San Diego: "Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the 'We the people'... when the Constitution was adopted."
He said that if the case were successful, it could have implications not just on how other marine parks or zoos operate, but even on the police use of sniffer dogs to detect bombs and drugs.
Peta says the killer whales are treated like slaves for being forced to live in tanks and perform daily at the SeaWorld parks in California and Florida.
I would also state that if it wasn't for zoos, some species would be extinct wouldn't they?
I am going to have to keep an eye on this though because if the whales are leaving I want to get a chance to see t em again.
At our Metro Zoo here in Toronto for example, there is a campaign underway supported by city councilors and the public to move aging elephants down south to a retirement sanctuary, in light of the deaths of 4 elephants within the past 4 years or so. They aren't meant to live in this climate, and the public is willing to forgo gawking rights for the well-being of these awesome mammals. Bob Barker is even willing to pay the 100s of thousand$ to move them! Now if only the zoo management would just let it happen...
And indeed any other working animal. Or pet. Or domesticated animal of any sort.
Better set the goldfish free in the local river before PETA sue.
Let's be serious, any credibility PETA may have had just left the building.
“Every animal knows more than you do”
Native American proverb
There was a time when humans considered ANY animal with sharp teeth to be kinda like The Terminator: "Can't be reasoned with, can't be bargained with, and absolutely will not stop, until you are dead!"
We'd run away or hunt them down and kill them on sight.
The training of such animals for circuses and aquatic parks demonstrated that there is a core gentleness within many of them that can be cultivated and developed, which we otherwise wouldn't even know about.
I put a comment featuring logic of the most impregnable nature, and Al must have taken it down.
1) Seeing-eye dogs and all pets for that matter should be illegal as they have been enslaved without their consent.
2) No new houses can be constructed without the written or verbal consent of all the creatures who currently inhabit the plot of land.
3) You get head lice. Too bad, the human scalp is their natural environment and necessary for their pursuit of happiness.
4) If a cougar kills a deer, the deers next of kin has a right to redress the murder.
The good folks at PETA are misguided idealists who lack the facility for critical thought.
1) Seeing-eye dogs should be illegal.
2) If animals are protected by the Constitution, then when a cougar kills a deer, the cougar should get some hard time for the murder (perhaps behind bars in a zoo?).
3) If someone wants to build a new house, sorry, ants and a lot of other creatures already inhabit that land. They must willingly relocate.
4) If someone gets head lice, well, learn to live with them. The human noggin is their natural habitat.
That being said, I do agree that whales don't belong in captivity. They are large creatures that are known to travel hundreds (even thousands) of miles in a year. They are also intelligent animals that most likely know that they are in captivity. While there are cases of injured whales being rescued, and not being healthy enough to be rehabilitated to ocean life, the majority of these animals belong in their natural habitat.