“Q: Are you pro cetacean-cap?”
I’m going to apologize right here for commandeering this question - in no way is this entirely directed at you, anon, but I am using it as a chance to summarize my opinions on this entire subject in one place.
Frankly, in a perfect world, I would be against it. In a perfect world, large marine mammals - all animals, in fact - would be free to live or die in the natural order of things. But this is not a perfect world, and, to be blunt, marine species are worse off than most endangered terrestrial animals. It’s not simply “part” of the oceans that humans have messed with - it’s the entire thing. There is nowhere for marine species to escape to, not when the same currents that carry food all over the world are also bringing in garbage and pollution.
I’m pro-cetacean captivity for the same reasons I mentioned in my previous captivity post, but unlike earlier, I’m also against it for a similar number of reasons - most of them being that I feel that aquaria and marine parks can and need to do much better in terms of care, space, and enrichment for their animals.
However, due to the recent Blackfish-fueled “free the whales” movement, I feel like I also need to weigh in on why I am absolutely against this particular movement.
We are literally filling the oceans with garbage, and it is killing everything. You’ve all seen pictures of bird carcasses full of plastic, but it’s not only birds. Whales have washed ashore with stomachs full of plastic as well, not to mention those hundreds that are rescued from being tangled, injured or trapped by ocean debris and ghost fishing gear. There is so much microscopic plastic trapped in an ocean gyre (the largest of which is at least the size of Texas) that it was given a name and now has a Wikipedia page. Is this not as horrifyingly surreal to everyone as it is to me?
Not only physical pollution, but noise pollution. All cetaceans use sonar to hunt, communicate, and exist, and humanity has filled the ocean with noise. Boats, drilling, our own sonar - just like songbirds in cities, cetaceans are being overwhelmed, drowned out, and disoriented enough to beach themselves on land in entire pods because of the racket.
Plus, whaling is still practiced by many countries, and over a thousand whales are still killed annually. For species that are so long-lived and slow to reproduce, that is a completely unsustainable number.
This isn’t even going in to climate change, boat collisions, oil spills, and a thousand and one other things that we’re responsible for and are destroying whole ecosystems, but I’m sure you can see the point I’m trying to make.
What makes me so frustrated at this entire Blackfish movement is that it is blatantly ignoring the real problem, and dragging attention that should rightly be focused on fixing the environment to something much less urgent. Same goes for any anti-captivity argument, really. I mean, I understand. I understand, because I know all the arguments against animals, especially responsive, intelligent cetaceans, in captivity. Trust me, I know. I know the physiological, ecological, behavioral, mental, and even theoretical reasons. I do.
But if you release all the orcas and dolphins in the world, what then? It’s the same mentality as those who deny an unwillingly pregnant woman the right to abortion, but turn about and refuse to support her financially once she gives birth. All those animals you freed are going to die in droves the moment they’re released, because nothing has been done to fix the toxic dump we’ve turned their home into.
And I get it, because cleaning up the oceans is a daunting task, whereas freeing the captive whales is much more manageable. But if you really hate marine parks and aquaria and zoos so much, then take away the primary reason for them to exist. Fight to fix the environment, in whatever small increments you can. Once you have a place for them to go, then we can talk about freeing all the animals.