First, I must comment on watching Black Fish, the documentary made about captive mammals in aquariums, namely Orcas and it touched on them attacking humans that "train" them (even if you can call something like training a 5,000-12,000 lb mammal "training"). My opinion is this: man fucks with too much; man fucks with everything. Why on God's green earth did people (and people still do) think it was anything more than ridiculous to trap these animals that travel hundreds of kilometers daily just to put them in an overgrown-sized pool (even that's too generous in some cases, estimating it larger than a backyard pool), have them get bored, aggressive, lack of any social stimulation... It's just asking for trouble. And yet people are always up in arms when someone is attacked and God forbid, killed. It should come with the territory that if you're working with ANY large animal like that, it takes just a nano second for them to kill you. And they are damn well capable of that. And why shouldn't they? We've encroached on their turf, their land, stolen pod members, stolen their babies from their mothers, harpooned them (ok I'm going all Sea Sheppard now), cut up for whale meat, etc. Like, do you get the picture and why as you read this that it seems as though I'm upset and even enraged? Because I am. It infuriates me that we as humans are so fucking ignorant and we think that nothing can stop us, that we are invincible. Sure, it's unfortunate and tragic for the family and friends affected by losses of loved ones, but really, were you surprised that it attacked a human? I'm not. And I don't blame them for a single second. We've trapped them and now they're on display for OUR entertainment, which is such complete bullshit. I will never ever again support or go to aquariums, MarineLand, SeaWorld and I've already stopped going to zoo's. My heard just can't take the agony and the frustration when you see an animal that's expressing stressful or psychotic behaviour because of the conditions we've put them through. I stopped going to zoo's a few years ago because it broke my heart to see time and again Thoka, Thika and Iringa, the three Asian Elephants left at the zoo, swaying back and forth, shuffling their feet and just this blank, lost stare in their eyes. Zoos and aquariums are not about education and sustaining animals long term, it's about making a quick buck and that's all there is to it, bottom line. It's most unfortunate because at the hand of man (by poaching, or my virtue of us fucking up our environment), most animals are future's children will never get to see. They will simply be an image on a screen or a photograph of what once was. Politicians and Board Members at the Toronto Zoo simply wanted to keep the girls because it's a money grab. People will come see the elephants.. but what was quietly said was that they didn't even have the budget to retrofit their "habitat" or to house them for another year. Bob Barker, PAWS, Lily Tomlin.. so many people have been fighting for them to be released to a sanctuary in California and finally, finally we might see them go after at least a year and a half, if not 2 years of delays. I hope and pray that they make the long journey. I'm getting a bit off topic here, but I just don't think that any animal should be put on display for our amusement, it just isn't right. I try and advocate to people, don't take your kids there and I get it, it's something fun to do with kids, but if you really knew what went on behind closed doors, after hours, I guarantee you that you'd reconsider and you'd have a good cry. So back to Black Fish, I thought it was well filmed, nothing too graphic but I think the points hit home and I really do hope more people will watch it and realise that these sea parks need to close down for good. Some other day I'll talk about my views and support of Sea Sheppards and how I will never ever support anything coming out of a Japanese nation until whaling is stopped. That's one of my dreams, to volunteer for Sea Sheppard one day. I think that would be such a rewarding, enriching experience. I also hope one day to be able to swim among these serene giants in the oceans. I've heard many divers say it's an experience that almost takes your breath away, you have to remember to consciously breathe while underwater because it's just so awe-inspiring. One day....
I was going to do a day in the life of blog today but I'll save that for tomorrow instead.
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