what is the importance of zoos and aquariums? why bother keeping animals under human care? how could some animals actually benefit from living under the care of licensed animal caretakers? my answers to these questions formed as i gained real-world experience with working animals under human care. everything shared here is based on things i have learned or observed through these experiences in animal care organizations, as well as often my own interpretation of these experiences.<\/p>\n
while in high school, i watched the films \u201cblackfish\u201d and \u201cthe cove\u201d multiple times, learning about animals in captivity and the poor treatment of animals in some facilities. this is the viewpoint of many \u201canimal rights activists\u201d\u2013that animal captivity equates to animal abuse. i was one such \u201cactivist,\u201d assuming that all zoos and aquariums were cruel facilities, no better than a prison for so many innocent creatures. i\u2019d repost various articles, videos, and photos from animal rights groups on social media, captioning that these \u201ccute\u201d behaviors exhibited by the animals aren\u2019t cute at all but are examples of phenomena like zoochosis, the display of repetitive and unnatural behavior by an animal under human care, indicative of psychological stress on the animal.<\/p>\n
however, my opinion began to change when i took ethics and animal welfare, one of my first college courses. as a part of the curriculum, we visited big cat rescue<\/a> in tampa, fla., where we had the chance to observe how these animals benefited from being under licensed human care, rather than their prior environment. we learned about how most of the animals there were rescued from abusive or unnatural environments; some, originally bought as pets, were abused or abandoned, while others were made performance cats \u2014 most of which had been living under actual captivity their entire lives. almost all of the cats there \u2014 lions, tigers, panthers, jaguars, etc. \u2014 were ineligible for release into the wild, but were thriving and seemingly content under human care at this organization.<\/p>\n one of the biggest catalysts to shifting my opinion of animal wellbeing under human care was a guest presentation in my comparative psychology class in spring 2018. a zookeeper from the african animals exhibit at zootampa<\/a> spoke to our class about the elephant habitat, the animals the zoo cares for, and how many people complain the elephants \u201cdon\u2019t have enough space.\u201d however, her argument showed these people are woefully misinformed. she explained how the animals have the correct amount of calculated space for all of the individuals as needed for a living environment that has no predators and readily available food and water; if given more space, it would not be utilized, as it is not needed.<\/p>\n currently there are 233 accredited u.s. institutions within the association of zoos and aquariums (aza), which \u201ccollectively draw more than 195 million visitors every year,\u201d according to their website<\/a>. a common element of environmental issues is the difficulty to care about something if it can\u2019t be seen or isn\u2019t understood. aza organizations allow for up-close observation and education of exotic species that most people otherwise would never see in their lifetimes.<\/p>\n many people have a hard time caring about issues like climate change, sea level rise, species extinction, etc., because they can\u2019t be seen with their own eyes. many aza organizations offer interactive programs, which can not only expose people to conservation issues, but provide an opportunity to appease individual desires to interact with exotic species, which is generally otherwise illegal. aza organizations also have standards<\/a> they have to meet or exceed in several areas of operation, including animal welfare, veterinary care, education, conservation, physical facilities, and many others. these rigorous standards ensure that aza accredited facilities are focused on many key aspects, the most important of which being the care and well-being of the animals.<\/p>\n in addition to aza-accredited facilities, there also are 73 alliance of marine mammal parks and aquariums (ammpa) organizations worldwide. of these 73 organizations, 27 are accredited u.s. facilities, many of which focus on dolphin and marine mammal conservation. ammpa accreditation requirements include a quality of care that meets or exceeds rigorous regulations, including standards similar to those required of aza organizations.<\/p>\n marineland dolphin adventure<\/a> (st. augustine, fla.) is an accredited ammpa facility and is an interactive educational facility. originally established in 1938 as marine studios, mda now specializes in conservation. as a former intern, i learned the proper phraseology to use when referring to various aspects of an animal care facility. for example, they taught me that while the word \u201ccaptivity\u201d is undescriptive and controversial. \u201chuman care\u201d is a better way to describe the way in which the animals are handled. the animals are not imprisoned; most often they are living in safe and enriching environments, looked after by people who deeply care for them. furthermore, saying \u201ccaptivity\u201d silently supports the negative attitude toward caring for animals in these facilities. other terminology changes suggested during my internship included alternatives such as \u201chabitat\u201d instead of \u201ctank\u201d and \u201cpreferred\u201d rather than \u201cgood\/bad\u201d in reference to behaviors. changing one\u2019s word choice helps promote a more neutral connotation toward professional animal care institutions.<\/p>\n often, language used by many \u201canti captivity\u201d movements consists of word choice geared toward framing these organizations in a negative perspective. \u201ccaptivity,\u201d \u201csuffering,\u201d \u201cexploited,\u201d and \u201cslavery,\u201d are just a few terms used by the empty the tanks movement to describe organizations that keep cetaceans under human care. these words make the practices of all zoos and aquariums seem corrupt, but this is untrue. my personal experiences in the field have shown me that what these movements view to be negative practices are actually carefullyplanned functions and interactions that benefit the well-being of the participating animals.<\/p>\n in addition to caring for more than 800,000 animals collectively, the aza also has a program that helps protect threatened and endangered species, many which do not reside under human care. s.a.f.e.<\/a> (saving animals from extinction) uses conservation action, public education, and expert wildlife care to make an effort in preserving species on the brink of extinction. currently, there are nine species\/groups of species on the aza s.a.f.e species list, with conservation efforts underway to help improve their status on the iucn<\/a> red list. additionally, 33 species are currently listed as extinct in the wild; aza efforts have successfully conducted the introduction of captive-bred organisms into the wild to improve conservation status, resulting in the improvement of 3 species, brought back from wild extinction. these species include the przewalski’s horse, black-footed ferret, and california condor. this shows that, if raised for this purpose, animals can be properly released into the wild after residing under human care.<\/p>\n furthermore, animal care requires some amount of animal training in order to conduct proper care, and these taught behaviors are completely voluntary. these are the most basic of behaviors, allowing for a trainer or zookeeper to perform daily care rituals. behaviors like presenting a body part or limb, specific movement, participation in blood taking or hydration sessions, and anything else that may not be a natural behavior for the animal but assists with proper care are referred to in the animal care community as \u201chusbandry\u201d behaviors. however, during my time at marineland, i observed dolphins outright refuse to do a requested behavior, and the trainers respect this. in addition, the dolphins aren\u2019t requested to do any behavior that isn\u2019t naturally displayed by wild atlantic bottlenose dolphin.<\/p>\n many believe animals of particularly high cognitive ability can only be happy in the wild instead of human care, but this is a myth. it isn\u2019t psychologically possible for animals born under human care to miss a life in the wild because they have no knowledge of it, nor is it an argument of \u201cintrinsic knowledge\u201d or evolution. additionally, it\u2019s common understanding that a dolphin cannot suddenly be placed in the ocean if it has never had to hunt or evade predators, nor been exposed to toxins and bacteria that exist in the ocean.<\/p>\n nevertheless, i\u2019m expressly aware that the system is not perfect and that there are zoos and aquariums with practices that aren\u2019t exactly stellar. many nonaccredited facilities don\u2019t have the same rigorous standards required of aza and ammpa organizations, proving that indeed the practices of some facilities may not be entirely focused on animal welfare. however, my argument lies within the purpose and benefits of the concept of zoos and aquariums, and within the ideal world that all animal care facilities would operate at the highest standard possible. i am aware that this is not always the case, but the original idea isn\u2019t corrupt. while many places originally were based on entertainment, and many still rely on it, there has been an increasingly popular transition into direct education through observation and interaction. experiential education has, time and time again, been proven to be one of the most effective methods of education. people connect with and care more about things they can outright see and experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" based on her experience, planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播
cassandra hobar challenges the basis of anti-captivity movements, while supporting zoos and aquariums for the work they do in conservation and species preservation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4929,4902,5196,4930],"tags":[4129,206,826,227,4022,608,3620,591,4110],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-12004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biodiversity","category-colleges-education","category-past-storyfest","category-science-communication","tag-aquariums","tag-education","tag-endangered-species","tag-environmental-sustainability","tag-op-ed","tag-opinion","tag-pfcorrespondent","tag-storyfest","tag-zoos"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nanimals under human care<\/h2>\n
the psychological truth<\/h2>\n