Not sure if someone asked, but what are your thoughts on the film Blackfish, and the stance it takes against captivity of Orcas. Do you ever second guess your role in that type of activity on the terra firma side of things?
FYI this is not calling you out. I personally love zoos (member of the memphis zoo), however that film sorta made me rethink some thing with the Orca in particular.
Thanks as always... great thread.
It is a well made documentary for sure but like almost all documentaries it had an agenda. To me there are really two parts that the film aimed to bludgeon the viewer with: 1.) We should not have animals in captivity and 2.) We should not be working so close with animals we know that can kill us.
As to the first one, I'm not going to lie and say that I don't think some animals should not be in a zoo. I do. Most zookeepers do. However, animal rights organizations and most of the public do not understand the complexities. It isn't as easy as just taking an animal from a zoo and releasing it into the wild. For example, All three of our polar bears were rescued at just a few months of age when they were found orphaned. Polar bears generally stay with their mothers for at least 2 years before venturing out on their own. During this time they are taught how to live, how to hunt, and even how to swim. Kalluk and Tatqiq were actually taught how to swim in a small pool by keepers before they were released to the big pool. Unfortunately keepers couldn't really teach them to hunt a seal. If we were to release our bears they are very unlikely to survive on their own.
Perhaps more importantly though is the conservation and educational value of these animals. I'm not going to argue that SeaWorld and the zoo industry haven't done terrible things in the past. It's pretty clear that they have being right there on camera. In Blackfish, the story of the old guy that helped trap the first Orcas going to SeaWorld, taking only the youngest to save on shipping costs was heartbreaking to be sure, but before SeaWorld most people had never heard of an Orca, let alone seen one in person. Nowadays captive animals are ambassadors for their species. Every day we do an interactive training wall and talk where the public can get as close as 3 feet (separated by steel mesh of course) from a 1200 pound polar bear. That kind of connection with an animal that many people have never seen in person before is invaluable for building support for conservation efforts. Those connections are important because in my opinion seeing and experiencing those animals drives people to care about things that affect whether or not that animal is going to continue to exist. The role that legit (credentialed, AZA, CZA, BIAZA, EAZA, or otherwise) zoos and aquariums play in the conservation of animals and their habitats is extremely important. That point is completely ignored by the movie Blackfish. Currently there are 54 Orcas in captivity worldwide. There are approximately 50,000 wild orcas living today. Is it worth it to have 0.1% of the total Orca population living in an aquarium to educate the world about these amazing creatures? I emphatically say yes.
The other key point of the film, "is it too dangerous to work with these animals?" shouldn't even be a question in my opinion. Yes this job can be dangerous but just like other dangerous professions we know the risk going in. Fire fighters, policemen, race car drivers, and fighter pilots all know that they could pay the ultimate price at any time so why are those in the zoo industry held to some higher belief that we shouldn't be doing what we do because it is dangerous? Most people that are against people working with animals claim that they are just too unpredictable. This is completely false. All animals species exhibit a range of established behaviors and rarely stray from those. It is our job to understand these behaviors and predict what an animal is going to do. Sometimes we get it wrong. We are human and make mistakes just like everyone else. Unfortunately sometimes our mistakes cost us injury and rarely, our lives. The number of animal keepers and trainers that lose their lives is severely dwarfed by things like the number of people that die due to drunk driving, children starving to death, and horrible diseases. There are many more things we could be focusing our energy on but instead we look at a profession that people choose for themselves and work hard to get to. It is very difficult to break into this field and everyone that is here worked their tails off to get here. We know the risks associated with it so please move on.
Animal keeping and training is not just a job, nor a hobby or an interest. It is an all-consuming passion that most of the current generation of zookeepers have dreamed of since our very first encounter with an animal. We work 365 days a year and forego having regular Saturday/Sunday weekends, holidays, high-paying salaries, expensive things and often time with our families to be with and give our animals the best possible life we can provide for them. There are definitely "bad" keepers out there that give the other 99.9% of a bad reputation, but it's the same in every profession. Don't tell me that there isn't at least one person at your workplace that just does the bare minimum to get by and make it through the day. Those people are not representative of the industry as a whole - they are the outliers.
The most outspoken people after accidents with animals happen are often the animal rights activist groups who spew nonsense like "See, this death is proof they belong in the wild". Unfortunately it is these very groups of people that are usually the most uninformed. Luckily most intelligent people realize these days that this is all bull####. Nearly (not all) species of animals can be housed in fantastic conditions that provide them with everything they could possibly need to be successful including a longer and more comfortable life. I'm not saying that is what always happens. There are definitely bad zoos and captive animals that are poorly treated. I wholeheartedly believe that good zoo and aquariums that have people that truly care about their animals far outnumber the ones that exist only to make money for their owners. The real evil here is PETA and other groups (including the makers of Blackfish) that are using of the tragedy of an amazing person and animal trainer for their own agenda and profit.