Exactly! It sickens me when this kind of thing happens. Like when elephants go crazy in a circus and they kill it. The elephant should never have been put in that position in the first place. They go to India or Africa, take these animals from their natural habitat and surround them with people and loud noises in a cramped environment. All for our entertainment.
There's no question that observation and intereaction with animals increases awareness, leads to a large worldview and promotes a higher percentage of wilderness conservation. Its reflective of the type of society that we've set up that we think that caged, unhealthy submissive observation of wildlife is the way to go, rather than observation of animals in their natural habitat. Watching the high percentage of dolphins go insane and self-destructive upon introduction to an aquarium lifestyle made me committed to the notion that "Hey, you wanna see dolphins? Get on a glass bottom boat, go out to the deep sea, and hope you get lucky." Same applies to gorillas, and any other wildlife. Of course, that doesn't fit the money-making model.
I paid good money to go to Cancun and scuba dive. You are right though. Too many people would be too lazy to actually try to view animals acting naturally in their natural surroundings. they would rather see lethargic, broken creatures in a synthetic atmosphere. sad
Oh brother. They had to shoot him because he charged at two policemen who were there. The tranquilizer guns they used had the potential to kill bystanders. All things being equal, yeah, it would have been better to let him get thirsty, lay down to take a nap, set up a box and stick with a banana in it, so that they could catch him. Unfortunately, he could have gotten outside of the zoo relatively easy. The habitat they had for this animal is one of the better habitats around -- two acres of open space. No, I am not going to defend zoos. And yes, I could grab a plane right now and head off to Ubangi and go on a tour and see some animals in the wild. But most of the people who visit the Dallas Zoo can't. I couldn't when I was a kid, but going to the San Antonio Zoo did help me learn about animals, while also giving me a sense that the zoos were not right.
I have snorkeled in some beautiful reefs in the Bahamas. I want very much to have a reef fish tank when I build my next house. Is that automatically wrong? I will grant that I have an obligation to only keep animals suited for the envirnoment I provide, and to provide the healthiest, most natural environment I can. In fact, I would very much like to have animals healthy and happy enough to spawn in captivity, and would like to try and propagate corals, and raise fry to maturity to grow the "tank-raised" portion of the industry. I believe that in some cases excellent artificial habitats can be provided. If a habitat cannot be provided that results in a healthy, relaxed animal - that animal should not be kept.
Inquiry Board That was a good kill. The gorilla clearly disobeyed orders (given in English and Spanish) and made a "reaching motion" with a hand toward a potential hidden weapon.
Re: Re: Inquiry Board Why would the gorilla carry a cell phone? Now, maybe he was reaching for a piece of poo.
