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In the wake of the Sea World tragedy
By David S. Greene
March 4, 2010
Four voices on lessons learned: Opinions abound on what happened in Sea World last week, but I want to highlight four responses to the death of Dawn Brancheau, not from armchair pundits but from thoughtful voices of considerable experience. First, Dr. Mehmet Oz’s editorial in The Huffington Post, “A Requiem for the Pursuit of Knowledge”, which contains a kind tip of the cap to our own Dr. Marty Becker, and an important point.
This world is too precious not to take an active role in understanding its other tenants. While killer whales will always remain wild animals and command respect and reverence, gifted animal trainers like Dawn Blancheau and Julie Scardina devote their lives to furthering the boundaries of relationships humans can have with them. Dawn gave her life in the name of science and discovery, and her efforts brought enlightenment to thousands of people.
Second, consider Jean-Michel Cousteau’s compelling, eloquent YouTube commentary. Next, a response from widely respected training guru Karen Pryor’s clickertraining.com blog. Finally, our friend Heather’s sharply acerbic rant the day of the tragedy in the most wonderful RaisedByWolves.
Drive or walk — not both: The weird story of the week comes to us from the London Guardian. A 23-year old man in County Durham had his license revoked after he was caught walking his dog — from his CAR.
Sharon Lowrie, prosecuting, said a cyclist alerted police that two men were dragging a dog along from a car. She said: “The driver was hanging on to the dog’s lead through the driver window, approaching a blind summit.” [...]
Paul Donoghue, defending, said Railton had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. “He accepts it was a silly thing to do and there was an element of laziness. He does not usually drive in a such a manner,” Donoghue said.
“Not usually”? Why does that not make me feel better?
The problem with bad breeders: One more example of FAIL, courtesy of trusty reader/researcher Susan and the fabulousness of YesBiscuit…we take you to Greenville, South Carolina. A pit bull breeder had entirely too many dogs of the wrong color. Well, he can’t dump them with his pickup, right? So he drops them off at the Greenville Animal Shelter in a U-Haul.
Shelter manager Shelly Simmons says it’s evidence of a growing problem…. “We’ve never had a U-Haul before,” she said. Simmons said the owners were trying to breed “blue” pit bulls because they sell for higher prices. Instead, they got 17 puppies in every color except blue.”You have amateur breeders who try to have puppies for the wrong reason and when they do that they end up over their heads,” Simmons said.
This isn’t funny. The Greenville facility where the puppies were dumped is a kill shelter. I won’t get into the whole fallacy of the color issue. It’s bad enough as it is.
Beautiful and amazingly creative furnishings: Another tip from YesBiscuit….if you have a cat, need a new coffee table and have the money to spend, you have got to check this out. A seriously gorgeous table with an integrated cat hammock. You read that right: cat hammock.
I always like to hear from readers, especially if you have tips, and links for interesting stories. Give me a shout in the comments, or better yet, send me an email.
Photo credits: Trainer with whale, KCPT. Cat table, O VALOR DO DESIGN, via bookofjoe.com.
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The lovely coffee table/cat hammock is from Case-Real/Koichi Futatsumata & Partners, and I think it’s just a prototype. Pity. Well, possibly not - I’m sure if it were available, it’d be more money than I have to spend!
Comment by Eucritta — March 4, 2010 @ 5:44 am
My immediate family works at SeaWorld, and the ongoing turmoil of this has been pretty exhausting. I have a hard time expressing the frustration of watching the amount of inaccuracy and untruth that is used by the people, even people with good intentions, toss around when describing the whales, their living conditions, and their caretakers. The media is still hounding the caretakers of the whales, as well as the other traumatized employees. How would you like it if you watched your friend die and then had journalists sending you messages asking for details about it on Facebook? For my part, I am trying to stay out of the middle of the debate in hope that the media spotlight will start to fade. But I do ask people to realize that what’s being said is hurting people who are grieving the loss of a friend and coworker, and the invention of convenient untruths to forward various causes isn’t helping anyone have time or space to heal.
Comment by Feline — March 4, 2010 @ 6:00 am
While I certainly do sympathize with the people dealing with this tragedy, that’s not a reason to avoid asking questions, or even to challenge the basic premise of whether or not we should keep large, apex predators swimming in bathtubs for our “entertainment.”
To not ask questions because people are dealing with loss is equivalent to not asking about problems with sudden acceleration in cars or a system-wide problem of maintenance in a fleet of commercial airliners after deaths bring these matters to our attention.
The fact is we don’t generally consider problems until and unless there has been a tragedy. It’s in the wake of such tragedies that important changes are made to prevent other deaths and future suffering.
Heather Houlahan’s second post on the subject brings the discussion straight into the world of dog-training, and is also worth a read. As a bonus, she adds this observation that puts the issue into the realm of dog breeding as well:
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 4, 2010 @ 6:12 am
I have to respond to Pryor’s (or whomever is writing for her in the third person) assertion that it is whale-keeping amusement parks that are responsible for marine mammal conservation and enlightened attitudes about orcas and porpoises.
Bosh.
Japan has a Sea World and other oceanaria. Doesn’t seem to have helped cetaceans there.
Circuses put on shows with lions and tigers and bears for centuries without the spectators developing the slightest interest in protecting wild predators or their habitats, much less the welfare of the individual animal performers.
I’ve studied whale or dolphin shows at four North American oceanaria over a period of three decades. The spectacle is entertaining enough, but the educational value for the general public is entirely negligible and perishable. (I’ll leave aside some unintended lessons that were available to me as an animal trainer with a professional interest in the minutia of what I was seeing.)
Speaking personally, all of them put together had not one one-hundredth the thrill of seeing dolphins playing off the bow of a ferry, one-one thousandth the impact of viewing finback whales from the deck of a whale-watching boat, or one one-millionth the inspirational power of Jacques Cousteau’s singular message, transmitted through the traditionally “weak” media of the glowing box in the living room.
It’s a poor world, peopled by stunted beings, in which we must make prisoners and profitable fools of magnificent wild creatures in order to, we claim, engender what we presume to call “love” and “understanding” of them.
I don’t believe in that world. I refuse to. It’s time to leave our belief in it in the past.
Comment by H. Houlahan — March 4, 2010 @ 7:16 am
Eucritta - The website says it’s scheduled for release Spring 2010.
http://www.casereal.com/en/wor.....index.html
I can’t help but wonder if one could make a reasonable facsimile at home. I’m sure it wouldn’t be as aesthetically pleasing but if it’s functional, that would be good enough for kitteh I would think.
Comment by YesBiscuit — March 4, 2010 @ 8:23 am
Heather, thank you for that last post. I could not have said it better.
About 25 years ago, I went with friends to see some circus at a football stadium. We were sitting in the stands watching as the “train” rolled out onto the field, carrying large wheeled cages containing the animals. There was a large bear riding in one of them.
My best friend was sitting next to me. Suddenly she scowled and said, “Look at that bear. It’s hot out here. This is cruelty. I’m never coming to one of these again.”
A lightbulb went off in my head at that moment. I never again went to a zoo or circus or anything related.
I’ve said a million times, I don’t care how “authentic” they make the “habitat” for the elephants … an elephant should never have to hear the 77A bus chugging up the hill.
Don’t even start me on the “educational value” of classroom rabbits …
Comment by Mary Mary — March 4, 2010 @ 8:25 am
So, we have the Sea World tragedy, which conjures up all kinds of thoughts about issues, an idiot who drags his dog with his car, a breeder with no compassion, and fancy cat/human furniture all on the same page. As wrong as that seems, I can’t bring myself to comment on anything but the cat furniture. So, I’ll add insult to injury and say that when they make one of those that’s not a glass top, and is self-cleaning, let me know.
Comment by Kurt Schmitt — March 4, 2010 @ 9:16 am
As Heather points out, Japan has a Sea World - and they also have Taijji, where dolphins are butchered in droveswhile the cove’s water turns red. The Sundance review of the documentary, The Cove :
Flipper was one of the most beloved television characters of all time. But ironically, the fascination with dolphins that he caused created a tragic epidemic that has threatened their existence and become a multibillion dollar industry. The largest supplier of dolphins in the world is located in the picturesque town of Taijii, Japan. But the town has a dark, horrifying secret that it doesn’t want the rest of the world to know. There are guards patrolling the cove, where the dolphin capturing takes place, who prevent any photography. The only way to stop the evil acts of this company and the town that protects it is to expose them….and that’s exactly what the brave group of activists in The Cove intend to do.Armed with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, the members of the small group, led by the most famous dolphin trainer in the world, devise a covert plan to infiltrate the cove to document the horrifying events that happen there. Along the way, they uncover what may be the largest health crisis facing our planet— the poisoning of our seas. Part environmental documentary, part horror film, part spy thriller, The Cove is as suspenseful as it is enlightening. The final result is a heart-wrenching, but inspirational, story that shows the true power of film in the hands of people who aren’t afraid to risk everything for a vital cause.”
Keeping dolphins of any kind, in capitivity, isn’t helping them or their relatives. Commercial whaling is set to come back in a big way very soon when the US adds its vote at the IWC meeting in St. Pete’s, Fla next week. I guess Sea World should try a lot harder to explain how slaughtering whales will enhance the oceans.
Comment by KateH — March 4, 2010 @ 10:44 am
Putting aside the aspect of the Orcas performing tricks…
the very least that Sea World could do is to address the fact that this particular Orca is being kept in small quarters for his size. If they really care about him, then there should be some remedy to this.
I could be wrong, but my own personal take on this tragedy is that he grabbed her for the sport of it. They kill seals in the wild, and if he is not given any type of stimulus along this line, of being able to capture and play with something…he may have been acting this out because of boredom. I read that he wouldn’t let go of her after they removed him from the water on a lift. He may have felt as though he had “caught” her, and didn’t want to let go. Animals do this.
Comment by Marcy — March 4, 2010 @ 8:17 pm
Boycott SeaWorld. Close down every branch as an entertainment business. Allow it to remain open under new management only as a “sanctuary” for the marine mammals who cannot be released back into the wild. When the last one dies, bulldoze all the facilities.
The people who run it and profit off the misery of the animals kept there can find some other way to earn a living. Preferably one that does not permit them to control any other animals. Orcas are not “corporate assets”, they are sentient beings.
The only thing we have “learned” from the “training” of these animals is that captivity drives them crazy.
I sympathize with the pain and grief that the family of the trainer is going through, but she had a choice whether or not to participate in the exploitation of the killer whales, who had no choice at all.
Comment by Susan Fox — March 4, 2010 @ 10:07 pm