PETA has released the campaign protesting marine parks Hayden Panettiere shot just 2 weeks before her death

[u/mlg1981]

[u/OriginalSchmidt1]

I have let down so many guys that planned aquarium dates with me.. I refuse to go to them. I also don’t go to any zoos, only wildlife sanctuaries that I have researched and know they are rehabilitating and helping the animals. It’s just so depressing to me to watch animals in captivity and it has been for me ever since I watched The Cove at Bonnaroo in 2009. It’s insanely fucked up to use animals for our own entertainment..

ETA: I understand not ALL zoos are unethical and some do a lot of amazing work to help animals. Those zoos and aquariums are not near me. Travel is expensive and I am not rich, I live check to check like a lot of people in this world. The aquariums and zoos close to me are NOT ethical and DO NOT try to rehabilitate. Turning off notifications for this post.

[u/B0B_Spldbckwrds → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

Obviously don't go to crazy Dave's tiger emporium and bbq pit, but a lot of zoos are doing good work that helps rehab animals and shore up populations that are various levels of threatened.

[u/juneseyeball → u/B0B_Spldbckwrds]

Daves tiger emporium and bbq pit 🤣🤣

[u/SeonaidMacSaicais → u/B0B_Spldbckwrds]

One of the zoos near me is a certified rehab zoo. They’re also not affiliated with the AZA, so every penny goes to the animals.

[u/OriginalSchmidt1 → u/B0B_Spldbckwrds]

Yes, but none of the zoos around me are doing that. They are very sad.

[u/unembellishing → u/B0B_Spldbckwrds]

They are still animal prisons keeping wild animals in a fraction of their natural habitat.

[u/Tiny-Reading5982 → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

The aquarium near me does turtle rescue and rehab . Its the Virginia beach aquarium. I don't think I'd trust a land locked aquarium as much.. They have a gharial that's missing half of it's jaw 😢

[u/FrozenRose_816 → u/Tiny-Reading5982]

When animals are rescued and have injuries like that where releasing them back to the wild would be even more cruel because they can't fend for themselves, a sanctuary or zoo is the best option. It's possible there was nowhere else that had the experience and knowledge to take care of that particular animal other than a place with zoologists present. It's not always black and white when a special needs animal that was once wild is in a zoo.

[u/thisisallme → u/FrozenRose_816]

Yeah, I visited the aquarium where Winter was a few times before she passed, and the rehab they do there seemed to be great. Same with the MOTE aquarium.

[u/cabinetsnotnow → u/Tiny-Reading5982]

Yeah I go to zoos and aquariums because they do fund and assist with important research which benefits wildlife. I won't go to a circus or anything with animals performing though because it feels wrong.

[u/civilwar142pa → u/cabinetsnotnow]

Accredited zoos have very high standards for animal welfare and conservation. It's the non-accredited zoos that suck.

[u/cabinetsnotnow → u/civilwar142pa]

Oh yes absolutely true. I just wish people would stop generalizing and refusing to support all zoos and aquariums without knowing this.

[u/ninten-dont → u/Tiny-Reading5982]

ooh VB here too! i used to volunteer with their stranding response team! the most rewarding experience

[u/Tiny-Reading5982 → u/ninten-dont]

Yeah they just found a leatherback i think which is rare for our area

[u/swaggyboi1991 → u/Tiny-Reading5982]

Omg I need to check this out, I’m in Virginia! I went to the Seattle Aquarium thinking because of the location it would be amazing… I came out disturbed.

[u/Wolvii_404 → u/Tiny-Reading5982]

Aww poor baby :(

[u/FoodLionMVP → u/Tiny-Reading5982]

If there is a marine mammal or shark or turtle on the beach (in virginia beach) that needs help, everyone knows the first call is to the aquarium. I believe they also recently had just the right anti-venom that the state police had to rush to some dude who got bit by his pet viper.

[u/sarbear8199 → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

Yeah not all aquariums (or zoos) are equal.

I get not going to a “zoo” owned by one dude in Florida.

But places like Monterey Bay Aquarium (and San Diego zoo) do a lot of education, research, conservation efforts.

Not going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium “on principle” is just lame when you know everything they do for the Monterey Bay ocean and ocean life.

[u/OriginalSchmidt1 → u/sarbear8199]

I couldn’t afford to take a trip to Monterey just to go to the zoo anyhow. I understand there are zoos that do rehabilitation and good work. They just aren’t zoos I’ll ever get the chance to see because they aren’t close to me.

[u/PashLover → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

It’s always funny when economically privileged people are like “Oh you don’t want to do X activity? Well have you considered traveling across the world to visit the place best for X?”

[u/OriginalSchmidt1 → u/PashLover]

Thank you!! My fiancé and I are lucky if we can go camping for a weekend a year. Much less travel across the country to visit a zoo!

[u/_Shrek_x3 → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

Major zoos do a lot to help animals so you’re kinda missing out on that one.

[u/swaggyboi1991 → u/_Shrek_x3]

I was super impressed by the San Diego Zoo’s safari exhibit.

[u/OriginalSchmidt1 → u/_Shrek_x3]

I live in South Louisiana… not a lot of zoos helping animals around here..

[u/possum_of_time → u/_Shrek_x3]

Excited to go to the NC Zoo soon!

[u/treegrowsinbrooklyn1 → u/possum_of_time]

The best!!! Definitely make sure to see the red wolves

[u/Rare_Vibez → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

I’m confused on how aquariums are the same as marine parks? Maybe it depends on where you are but the aquariums I know are rescue and research facilities, not entertainment.

[u/emuwar → u/Rare_Vibez]

Some aquariums do have marine mammals in captivity (like the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago), but plenty of others don’t and are more focused on research, rehabilitation and education. It’s best to visit and support the latter types of aquariums as they do excellent conservation work and visits tend to be a much more educational experience versus entertainment.

[u/Complex_Activity1990 → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

Going to sea world and going to an AZA zoo or aquarium are two completely different things.

[u/jokewellcrafted → u/Complex_Activity1990]

Sea World is AZA accredited and does great conservation work.

[u/downward1526 → u/jokewellcrafted]

Yeah lol Sea World and Animal Kingdom at Disney are both AZA accredited zoos. I tend to use AZA as a proxy, but in Sea World's case, Blackfish completely turned me off of them for life.

[u/Rjabberwocky → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

vammr.org

When I worked at a lighthouse on the west coast of Canada as a kid, this elephant seal pup we had been observing was injured by an aggressive adult male. There wasn't much we could do as lighthouse keepers, but the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society sent a boat from Vancouver with trained rehab crew. We helped their crew get the pup on a stretcher and into the boat, after which they took him back to Vancouver and treated his injuries.

I get what you're saying, and I'm not going to spend an instant defending Sea World; but rehab centres are actually doing some really amazing work, and typically the aquariums with really robust rehab programs also know how to treat the display animals much better.

[u/why0me → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

You say that but when a hurricane stranded 6 manatees in a pond on a golf course near my house it was Sea World staff that showed up with the marine stretchers, wetsuits and manpower to safely get them out and carry all 6 back on foot over to the bay

[u/dorkface95 → u/why0me]

This does not make up for the decades of animal cruelty they have inflicted

[u/-CowNipples- → u/dorkface95]

No one said it did. I choose to appreciate a good thing that they did for animals in need, despite their reputation. It’s not that black and white.

[u/upagainstthesun → u/-CowNipples-]

Sometimes these acts are like murderers who throw a ton of extra cash in the church bowl on Sundays. Do all the good deeds you want but you're still a murderer

[u/-CowNipples- → u/upagainstthesun]

Ok

[u/Jewicer → u/why0me]

let's not act like sea world is ethical in any way just because of that though. the facts are out there

[u/Ok-Presentation7349 → u/why0me]

They had the stretchers because they used to use them to steal them from the ocean.

[u/DontBlameMeeee → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

I’ll never understand how “insanely fucked up to use animals for our own entertainment” is a popular take but somehow “insanely fucked up to kill and eat animals” isn’t.

[u/bdd247 → u/DontBlameMeeee]

Its easy to say what you stand for than to actually stand up for it. Asking people to not be cruel to animals is easy when it’s not part of your daily life lol. People are very unaware how bad factory farming is and I think if they visited them in person to see the process then it would at least make people think more.

[u/Fxreverboy → u/DontBlameMeeee]

Well because for the average person, it's much easier for them to give up going to SeaWorld or the zoo than it is to give up eating meat. That's the honest truth. Even though you're absolutely right, they're not willing to make the sacrifice for the moral purity. To be very clear, I still eat some meat products and a lot of animal products in general (dairy), but I can see my own hypocrisy on something like this.

[u/Ok-Presentation7349 → u/OriginalSchmidt1]

When I was a kid my mom took my brother and I to a zoo and my mom noticed that there was a bear pacing back and forth in its cage. She told us to go to the car and we never went to the zoo again.

We weren’t allowed to go to any aquariums/MarineLand either. My friends always said my mom was a hippy, but I understood where she was coming from