I confess, I have mixed feelings about this whole debacle.
Because on the one hand, SeaWorld clearly has an incredibly lousy track record of keeping their animals happy and healthy (and the world in general has been crappy about taking care of orcas in captivity; there's been almost no attempt that I can see to mimic normal family structures).
But on the other hand, there are quite a few actual species that wouldn't exist today if not for zoos, and there are some really good zoos that make a huge effort to make the enclosures mimic the natural habitat as closely as possible.
I guess I really feel that more zoos should be calling SeaWorld out on this...
no subject
Because on the one hand, SeaWorld clearly has an incredibly lousy track record of keeping their animals happy and healthy (and the world in general has been crappy about taking care of orcas in captivity; there's been almost no attempt that I can see to mimic normal family structures).
But on the other hand, there are quite a few actual species that wouldn't exist today if not for zoos, and there are some really good zoos that make a huge effort to make the enclosures mimic the natural habitat as closely as possible.
I guess I really feel that more zoos should be calling SeaWorld out on this...