The Series: Blog
Sea Creatures in Captivity?
My sister emailed me the other day, asking if it was ethical or not for her to volunteer at our local aquarium.
Hmm. That's a tough one.
A few years ago, I underwent training at the Vancouver Aquarium to do the same thing, volunteer- I was especially interested in diving in the shark tank. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately..?), after the long training period, I didn't end up volunteering (the MSc took over), so never had to face this dilemma directly.
Reasons behind not supporting a large aquarium are obvious: certainly, keeping large mammals in captivity seems wrong, and many aquaria have stopped this outdated practice. In fact, the Vancouver Aquarium stopped keeping killer whales in captivity close to 10 years ago, and recently there was talk of them giving up all cetaceans. But I also cringe when I see octopi and fish in small tanks; we just don't know enough about these animals to say whether or not it's right to keep them behind glass.
Of course, on the flip side of the argument, the aquarium is a place where people can learn about, and fall in love with, ocean creatures. For some, it is the only time they will actually meet these animals. And what about endangered species, shouldn't they be kept somewhere, and shouldn't people be able to see them? And, perhaps the strongest argument of all: these people could then be inspired to become conservationists - ocean stewards, even! - after being exposed to aquaria.
So the question becomes: is sacrificing a few individuals at the expense of the greater population, ethical? Ah. The age-old question. In a public poll, The Guardian found that when it comes to polar bears, generally, people don't think so. This is something we've probably all pondered before, and is a real quandary in animal research1. (I've often found it ironic that even in conservation science, we often kill animals to gain insight into their species.)
My sister mentioned the description of dolphins in captivity and the depraved aquaria trade in the academy award winning documentary film, The Cove, as reasons for her hesitations regarding volunteering at the Aquarium. I think most people acknowledge that there is something disturbing about both the method of killing in the dolphin cull, and the purpose. But beyond this, there is the argument that these are intelligent, sentient beings that experience stress and pain and fear, and it is thus wrong for us to torture them so. While the intelligence of larger, perhaps more magnetic animals have been of interest to researchers, and thus relatively studied (such as cetaceans, and even mollusks such as octopi), fish intelligence, for one, has historically been a subject much less explored or appreciated. However, studies are emerging that challenge old notions and previously held beliefs about fish ... and even other puzzling creatures, like jellyfish.
Our societal views on animals in captivity- including in aquaria- have undergone real transformation; and are only continuing to do so. Practices that used to be tolerated, are no longer. We forget that, for example, we've gone from knowing nothing about killer whales and thus fearing them, to caging them and making them star attractions at aquaria, to wanting to set them free again... in the span of less than 50 years.
Some take it further and say that dolphins fit our definition of what is human; in other words, dolphins are human, philosophically speaking. Hmm. Well, regardless, human or something else, I have the feeling we are entering a really interesting discussion. And the more we learn about all these animals, including the fish and the jellies, the more I think we'll see changes in how we view and treat them.
In the meantime, I wonder what my sister will decide.
blog comments powered by Disqus Hmm. That's a tough one.
A few years ago, I underwent training at the Vancouver Aquarium to do the same thing, volunteer- I was especially interested in diving in the shark tank. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately..?), after the long training period, I didn't end up volunteering (the MSc took over), so never had to face this dilemma directly.
Reasons behind not supporting a large aquarium are obvious: certainly, keeping large mammals in captivity seems wrong, and many aquaria have stopped this outdated practice. In fact, the Vancouver Aquarium stopped keeping killer whales in captivity close to 10 years ago, and recently there was talk of them giving up all cetaceans. But I also cringe when I see octopi and fish in small tanks; we just don't know enough about these animals to say whether or not it's right to keep them behind glass.
Of course, on the flip side of the argument, the aquarium is a place where people can learn about, and fall in love with, ocean creatures. For some, it is the only time they will actually meet these animals. And what about endangered species, shouldn't they be kept somewhere, and shouldn't people be able to see them? And, perhaps the strongest argument of all: these people could then be inspired to become conservationists - ocean stewards, even! - after being exposed to aquaria.
So the question becomes: is sacrificing a few individuals at the expense of the greater population, ethical? Ah. The age-old question. In a public poll, The Guardian found that when it comes to polar bears, generally, people don't think so. This is something we've probably all pondered before, and is a real quandary in animal research1. (I've often found it ironic that even in conservation science, we often kill animals to gain insight into their species.)
My sister mentioned the description of dolphins in captivity and the depraved aquaria trade in the academy award winning documentary film, The Cove, as reasons for her hesitations regarding volunteering at the Aquarium. I think most people acknowledge that there is something disturbing about both the method of killing in the dolphin cull, and the purpose. But beyond this, there is the argument that these are intelligent, sentient beings that experience stress and pain and fear, and it is thus wrong for us to torture them so. While the intelligence of larger, perhaps more magnetic animals have been of interest to researchers, and thus relatively studied (such as cetaceans, and even mollusks such as octopi), fish intelligence, for one, has historically been a subject much less explored or appreciated. However, studies are emerging that challenge old notions and previously held beliefs about fish ... and even other puzzling creatures, like jellyfish.
Our societal views on animals in captivity- including in aquaria- have undergone real transformation; and are only continuing to do so. Practices that used to be tolerated, are no longer. We forget that, for example, we've gone from knowing nothing about killer whales and thus fearing them, to caging them and making them star attractions at aquaria, to wanting to set them free again... in the span of less than 50 years.
Some take it further and say that dolphins fit our definition of what is human; in other words, dolphins are human, philosophically speaking. Hmm. Well, regardless, human or something else, I have the feeling we are entering a really interesting discussion. And the more we learn about all these animals, including the fish and the jellies, the more I think we'll see changes in how we view and treat them.
In the meantime, I wonder what my sister will decide.
