Just Announced today from Georgia Aquarium

[Trixxie]

Pray tell, what have you learned?

Frankly, I'd prefer to give them a shot at survival in the wild over starvation in a pen. But that's me

At my shark conservation class last week I learned that about 85% of the worlds shark population has been taken by shark finners. If the worlds shark population continues to decline at the current pace that it is, then the reefs and reef fish will soon follow. Did you know that all groupers and many marine fish are born female? they change to male when the need arises for one. it's called sequential hermaphrodism. once they change there's no going back. it takes a grouper approx 25 yrs to reproduce so the fact that they are fishing and taking young grouper also means that they are in jeopardy along with many other species of fish. I am not a Marine Biologist and most of them have forgotten more than I could learn but the Ga Aq is a fascinating place.

Whale sharks are not mammals by the way, they are fish. Not to split hairs or anything. They also can not eat anything larger than a quarter, they are filter feeders. Their diet at the aquarium consists mostly of krill and shrimp. They would never starve at the aquarium, they get fed approx 30 lbs a day, each.

Millions of pounds of unwanted fish are caught each year in gill nets, it's called by-catch. Most of them die and are then tossed back into the ocean. If there is any thing that is wrong it's not that they have 4 whale sharks in a "6.3 MILLION GALLON PEN" it's that the worlds fishing industry is decimating the worlds fish populations at a much faster rate than it can reproduce. About three quarters of monitored marine stocks are now fully exploited, overexploited, or even depleted. At the continued rate it won't be long until our oceans will be a the point of no return.

 

[Trixxie]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you "anti captivity" folks have pets?
Cats, dogs, birds, fish, reptiles? anyone? hmmmm I say release them all now!

K - I agree with you on the Circus point. Circuses are horrible places for animals who are mistreated and often abused in order to get them to do "unnatural" acts - Jumping through rings of fire, standing in pyramids and the like. The animals at the aquarium don't have to endure the same type of mistreatment like circus animals do. Have you ever been to the aquarium? if not, I can take you on a tour (no it's not a come on, geeez!). You really can't judge the place until you have actually been there. I'll even provide the ticket.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

My dog wasn't meant to wander thousands of miles of ocean.

My dog wasn't wild, they've been bread for generations to be domesticated.





Its not an equal comparison in any form.

 

[Flightlead]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you "anti captivity" folks have pets?
Cats, dogs, birds, fish, reptiles? anyone? hmmmm I say release them all now!

I can see both sides of this issue but, I am and always have been, and will always be in the same camp as the K.

Mauigal, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there is no comparison....that is, unless you are keeping wild caught and non-domesticated dogs, cats etc (eg wolves, cougars, etc). Dogs and cats have been bred to be domesticated and to have an almost symbiotic relationship with man in some cases. The animals have been bred this way for at least 100,000 years. Now, perhaps you can make an argument that spaying/neutering is cruel, but that's not the issue here.

However I do agree with you on many of the fish (causing a real problem in wild populations and some of the techniques used to capture reef fish causes permanent damage to the reef and the fish), birds etc. Want to talk about Falconry?

 

[Trixxie]

of course not, there are no 'wild' dogs are there? just ask the dingos in Australia or the Wolves in the National parks. Or was it ok for them to once be wild and then imprisoned by past generations so one day they could be "domesticated" (is that just a civil word for imprisoned?) but since it has already been done to them it's ok to keep them against their will, right? at some point someone had to take a wild animal and imprison it so one day it could be your pet.

it may not be equal in your opinion but that is just to make you feel better about keeping an animal prisoner. nothing personal but I see it as being equal. no one who has an animal as a 'pet' can be against keeping animals in zoos or aquariums, it's a double standard.

now that we have gotten waaaay off the subject....
has anyone had the good fortune of ever being able to swim w/a whale shark in the wild. They are on my hope to see one day list, along with a manta ray

 

[johnnyseko]

awwww man, dissed by a former co worker....

how's it goin btw?

Naw, not dissed. I loved the aquarium when I visited 2 yrs ago. I wrote a report on it in a thread on SB. I just don't like to see the 'larger' animals held captive is all. I liked the river tank with the streams above the best.

Oh, and things are great! I actually escaped from the freight industry and am a flight instructor now. Things going exactly as planned.

 

[Trixxie]

Naw, not dissed. I loved the aquarium when I visited 2 yrs ago. I wrote a report on it in a thread on SB. I just don't like to see the 'larger' animals held captive is all. I liked the river tank with the streams above the best.

Oh, and things are great! I actually escaped from the freight industry and am a flight instructor now. Things going exactly as planned.

River scout is cool, they have alligators in there now.. that place changes daily almost.

Glad you were able to escape hotel California and do something that you truly enjoy!

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

of course not, there are no 'wild' dogs are there? just ask the dingos in Africa or the Wolves in the National parks. Or was it ok for them to once be wild and then imprisoned by past generations so one day they could be "domesticated" (is that just a civil word for imprisoned?) but since it has already been done to them it's ok to keep them against their will, right? at some point someone had to take a wild animal and imprison it so one day it could be your pet.

it may not be equal in your opinion but that is just to make you feel better about keeping an animal prisoner. nothing personal but I see it as being equal. no one who has an animal as a 'pet' can be against keeping animals in zoos or aquariums, it's a double standard.

If we were talking about dingos or wolves, I'd be against their capture as well.

I wouldn't condone the domestication of wild animals, but I can't stop whats happened thousands of years ago. Animals that are already domesticated, are better off under human ownership as they've lost quite a few of their animal instincts. They likely wouldn't survive, or atleast at the quality of life they currently enjoy, without human reaction. My pets choose to stay here, otherwise, they'd simply run away.

A whale shark has no such luxury of running away, nor is it domesticated. It is not an equal comparison, no matter how much you'd like to think it is... There is no double standard. I don't have wild animals as pets.

 

[mike_s]

what about when the put a Manatee in an aquarium exhibit? (just for the debate of it)

 

[BKP]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you "anti captivity" folks have pets?
Cats, dogs, birds, fish, reptiles? anyone? hmmmm I say release them all now!

Can't entirely agree with you, mg...
I have two pets: Sphynx cat (mutant hairless breed -- didn't exist prior to the '60s, and was bred into its own line. They can't survive on their own, or even go outside for more than a couple of hours -- they'd die of exposure... so I figure I'm doing my part. Besides, he's the only one in the house that greets me at the door...
Also have a South Florida kingsnake. He's about six feet long, beautiful screaming yellow, docile as a kitten, and has a congenital defect... his tongue can't connect with his Jacobsons organ (which means he can't test the air for food -- wouldn't be able to find prey if he bumped into it). So, I figure I'm doing him a favor as well by keeping him.
(And no... he and the cat are *not* playmates).

I *do* believe quite a few of the animals at the Ga. Aquarium are rescue (including a couple of the belugas), and I ENTIRELY support that effort, as well as the exposure, and education it provides to the public. The Tennessee aquarium was responsible for a complete mindset reversal for me (for the better), and had much to do with my initial interst in diving.

Howevuh... anything short of a tank that stretches from Georgia to Dominica is simply too confining for the largest, healthy, migratory, fish in the world... (IMHO).

P.S. -- Make fun of my hairless cat, and I'll sic the snake on ya...