They Shoot Dolphins, Don't They?

[Syndrome]

Edited to add: I also take my dog outside without a leash in unfenced areas. My dog stays with me because she likes me, not because I force her to! The only dogs who run away are dogs who have never known freedom...or dogs who hate their owners!

Sounds like my horse Figment! Maybe it seems cruel for my fat butt to ride him around, but he's much too dazzled by carrots and sweetfeed to ever want to be wild. One day he threw me (something spooked him), and that was his big chance to trample my prone body and head for the hills. Instead, Figgie stood there looking down at me like, "What the heck are you doing down there? C'mon, get your butt back on so we can get this ride over with and you can shower me with carrots."

[SRT_GB]

PETA and the like tried to use the death of a 6-year-old elephant at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo this past summer as a scapegoat to further their political agenda of closing all zoos. Never mind that WPZ has one of the best elephant exhibits in the country and has spent the last 30+ years removing animals from cages and displaying them instead in large outdoor habitats that resemble their natural habitats. They also conveniently overlook the fact that many zoo and aquarium animals were born in captive environments and thus never learned to hunt for their own food or protect themselves from predators. This would mean that releasing these animals into the wild would mean certain death by starvation or becoming another animal's prey. Another fact they overlook is that many zoos and aquariums are home to animals that were previously kept as pets illegally or too injured to survive in the wild, also meaning certain death if they were to be released.

These so-called animal rights activists think that zoos still present animals the way they did decades ago. They are stuck in the mentality that zoos are amusement attractions that make profit off of displaying elephants, not the registered nonprofit organizations that most truly are. They conveniently ignore the fact that zoos educate people who normally wouldn't be exposed to these animals of their plight in the wild.

[Theme Park Where]

I think PETA spends too much energy promoting PETA and not enough on promoting the welfare of the animals they proclaim to protect. That's why they bother me. The money you donate goes more into marketing and stupid stunts (like throwing paint on fur-clad people) than into welfare programs. For that, they are hypocrital.

I also subscribe to the theory that we only protect what we understand, and zoological parks when done correctly give us humans a chance to understand wildlife. I don't like zoos that keep the animals in tiny cages without anything to keep them occupied, or places that abuse animals for our entertainment (animal shows that nurture the animals and train them are fine, those that abuse them and overpower them into performing are not). I wish PETA distinguished between the two and put their efforts more toward promoting humane treatment of animals rather than loudly proclaiming that animals shouldn't be kept as pets or eaten. Being a vegetarian, or choosing not to keep animals in captivity is a personal choice, and their efforts would be less wasted on education and informed decision making, than on extremism. They would be better positioned to encourage the welfare of animals kept in captivity or raised for food if they weren't busy trying to release all animals from captivity and eliminate all animals as sources of food.

[Shorty82]

I'm a member of PETA: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals. :)

Seriously though, PETA annoys me. Throwing paint on people wearing a fur coat or going into KFC isn't going to fix the problem, it'll just get a lot of people pissed off with PETA.

Animals need to be protected and the ones that live in captivity need good enclosures that mimic nature. A small cage isn't a good home for an animal. Animal Kingdom has done a wonderful job at creating enclosures that are almost as close to the animal's natural home as can be. The animals are given large areas to roam around in with grass to walk on, not concrete or dirt.

The majority of animals in captivity would never be able to survive in the wild. They've never learned to hunt or to fear predators. They've never had to even learn how to find shelter from a storm. In captivity if it starts raining they head to their house to keep dry.

[CelebrationNM]

If you're interested in seeing some of the work Animal Kingdom has done in the world of zoos and aquariums, check out www.animaltraining.org and www.animalenrichment.org

Both of these sites were developed by the professionals at DAK and are available for other zoos to use and learn from. When I was at a zoological facility I read a lot of articles in peer-reviewed journals coming out of DAK. The facilities and resources that WDW Resort has are unmatched. In addition, Disney Company’s partnership with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has allowed the development of educational programs, such as the recent campaign based on Disney’s The Wild, which made its away around to the other AZA accredited facilities.

[Kwahati]

The majority of animals in captivity would never be able to survive in the wild. They've never learned to hunt or to fear predators.

My dog is a prime example. She loves chasing the wild rabbits who hang out near our house (especially on our back and side lawns in the evening). The thing is: she can run fast enough to catch them and she has the instinct to chase them, but when she catches up to them, she slide-tackles them! She doesn't use claws or teeth, because she doesn't want to hurt them, she just wants to play and she gets a little confused and sad when they run away from her... "Dad! Why won't the bunnies play with me? They're soft and fluffy just like me!" :D: (I only feel a little bad for the bunnies. They never get hurt, it just scares the holy living shit out of them...but they can't be that scared of her, or they'd stop hanging out in the same place every night, right?)

[Big Wallaby]

I eat animals. When alive, though, I feel that, being living creatures, we are to treat them well. Except love bugs. They can all die.

[felinefan]

I think I saw this on http://www.catchannel.com, that PETA actually kills most of the animals it rescues. There are many fine organizations that also provide free spay/neuter services, such as humane organizations. Frankly, if you think it's wrong to wear fur, don't wear it. If the market for a product goes down, it will stop being produced. You don't need to hold massive rallies, throw paint on people, etc. to get your point across. PETA also tries to destroy the human-animal bond. They are a bunch of space cadet/terrorists who belong in jail.

[mechurchlady]

http://dwb.newsobserver.com/news/ncwire ... 0678c.html

As time goes by I hope to add more charities to my site. I have a ton of links to site s that locally do more good that PETA. That link is about the fact that local authorities handed over animals without knowing that all animals given to PETA would be euthanized. Excuse my cussing which people in Bulgaria can here. The pound is where animals go to die not the back of a van owned by PETA.

I have a few charities on my site but there are all sorts and they do not spend MILLIONS on persnonnel, lawsuits, and publicity. I HATE PETA VERY VERY VERY VERY MUCH. The ASPCA is addressing puppy mills, horse abuse, animal fighting, roadside zoos and more while educating people about food recalls, health and training for example.

[Theme Park Where]

Wow, I started a whole tyrade on PETA here! I wonder what damage I can do with my story about the lady who was threatening to boycott Disney because the Pocahantas show at Disney MGM Studios had "witchcraft" because the indians conjured Pocahantas out of the fire in their storytelling!