Bird's eye view of Elephant Care and Conservation Center, Two years with Sanjay, Luna arrives at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital, Cita Dies at Zoo Miami & Dumbo Shows Animal Captivity in a “Positive” Light in today's 'Elephant in the Room'!
It's been two years since Sanjay arrived at our center, and we wanted to celebrate.
So what do you get a food-loving elephant on his second rescue anniversary?
Sugarcane treats in the shape of a 2, of course! It was a fateful call from the local Forest Department that led to the rescue of Sanjay, our magnificent bull-tusker. Wildlife SOS was informed that Sanjay’s owners had cut chunks of his tusk and sold them in the black market for illegal trade of animal parts. Sanjay was in a grave situation as his owners were cunningly planning to challenge his confiscation by the Forest Department. Wildlife SOS only had 24 hours to change the course of this pachyderm’s life and bring him to the safe haven at the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre (ECCC) in Mathura.
At the time of Sanjay’s rescue, we did not know even know his name! However, we knew that no elephant deserves to suffer through abuse in captivity. As this was a time sensitive matter, we did not waste any time in deploying a team for Sanjay’s rescue. After a 36-hour journey, Sanjay arrived at ECCC in the dead of night on the 6th of February, 2017.
When he first arrived, our veterinarians found that Sanjay’s feet were in a poor state. He had overgrown and cracked toenails, and painfully swollen foot pads. Adding to his miseries was a hairline fracture in one of his rear limbs. If not treated in a timely manner, fractures can lead to lameness in elephants and, in some cases, can even be fatal. Our team mobilized quickly to provide Sanjay with medical attention for his ailments. Veterinary treatment, combined with a complementary nutritious diet and Sanjay’s strong will, healed his wounds gradually. Sanjay has come a long way and is now one of the healthiest elephants under our care!
The new environment at ECCC can be daunting to the rescued pachyderms and this is where reassurances from the keeper help an elephant feel safe and at ease. Sanjay slowly developed a strong bond with his keeper, Nekpal, who was always ready with comforting words and treats for him. Gradually, as Sanjay grew comfortable at his new home, we got glimpses of his boisterous, colourful personality.
Sanjay’s love for food has not gone unnoticed by our team. He believes in a zero-waste policy and eats every last bit of the fodder or vegetables and fruits given to him. Being the biggest elephant at the centre, he gets the largest quantity of food to eat. However, to this magnificent pachyderm even this does not seem enough! If he watches a team member walk past his enclosure, he quickly makes a loud noise to grab their attention in the hope that they will give him treats to eat. The team has now grown accustomed to his attention seeking habits and do not fall for his seemingly innocent calls. Sanjay’s internal clock is well-oiled to know when to expect his keeper to fill his cage feeders or bring him fodder, and even a minute’s delay finds him making loud noises repeatedly until Nekpal arrives.
Being full of energy, Sanjay’s favourite activity of the day are his long walks in the field. Sanjay curiously sniffs to get a whiff of the new scents that he encounters, and uses his dexterous trunk to feel new textures on the way. These walks are immensely enriching for Sanjay’s psychological health and, no wonder, he absolutely loves them!
Last year, in the month of November, Sanjay became the third elephant to move to the Field of Dreams (FoD). His new enclosure at FoD is much more spacious than his previous one at ECCC. Sanjay has grown fond of his new space as he not only gets a gigantic pond to himself, but also has many trees that he can uproot to test his strength. He is always exploring his new enclosure and still has not yet been able to find the best spot for sleeping. Every evening, our team would make a mud bed for him to lie down in at night, only to find that he chose a different place to sleep. The team would then make the mud bed at the spot where Sanjay laid down the previous night, only to again find that he had chosen a new sleeping spot. This continued on for a few weeks, following which our team gave up and decided to make several mud beds for him each night at the spots frequently used by him, so that Sanjay has ample comfortable options.
As today marks the second rescue anniversary of Sanjay’s arrival at ECCC, our team decided to do something special for this playful pachyderm. The team spent their afternoon making an ornament shaped in number ‘2’ using freshly sourced sugarcane. The next step was to find a place to station the ornament, which would throw Sanjay off the track as he came back from his evening walk.
But we guess there is nothing that can surprise this enthusiastic foodie! He very nonchalantly walked to the sugarcane ornament, de-shaping it within a matter of seconds. Using the strength of his trunk, he ripped pieces of sugarcane off the ornament to devour them quickly. Once done, he carefully held the remaining stack between his tusk and trunk and walked inside his enclosure to savour his treat in peace without people watching him, leaving everybody in peals of laughter.
In the last two years Sanjay has truly emerged victorious and has shown determination to heal his past wounds. His peculiar habits never fail to win our hearts and we hope that the journey ahead of him will be filled with peace and happiness.
While all over the world people were readying themselves to welcome in the New Year with energized celebrations and new promises for 2019, a begging elephant named Luna was again spending her day working on the streets despite the unbearable pain that she was constantly in. Luna’s story is yet another tale of the suffering endured by begging elephants throughout their life at the hands of their greedy traffickers: for over fifty years of her life, Luna worked day after day walking on congested, tarred roads to beg for alms for her owner. She would be worked constantly till she earned the daily “quota” of her earnings and the greed of her indifferent owner was quenched.
Luna arrives at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital
However, this came at a great mental and physical cost to Luna. Elephants are social animals and they form complex social bonds within their matriarchal herds that last a lifetime. Under stressful situations, it is the reassurance and the support of the herd that makes it easier for an elephant to survive and cope with challenging times. But like other begging elephants, Luna suffered in isolation as she walked through jam-packed places and received “taming” hard blows from her owner’s laathi (stick) and bull-hook. All this was done for her to always appear to be friendly and well-tempered with the humans who would pay to interact with her. She eventually resorted to exhibiting stereotypical behavior like strongly tugging on her teats using her trunk, a physical manifestation of the mental stress she was in. With not a friendly face in sight, every day of her life was nothing short of a tragedy that never seemed to end.
Luna’s unnatural life wrecked her body greatly. She lacked proper nutrition and care since she was a calf. This led to the development of a deformity in her hind legs which curve inwards and are weak. Despite her painful condition, she spent prolonged time on concrete that led to an early on-set of arthritis. As if this was not enough, her apathetic owner allowed passers-by to feed her everything under the sun, not giving a second thought that it was slowly making her obese and putting extra pressure on her already delicate feet and joints. Conditions such as obesity and arthritis are rare in wild elephants as they are naturally long-ranging animals and spend the greater part of their day walking through the soft forest floor to forage new vegetation. Had Luna not been snatched from her maternal herd, it is all but certain that she would not be suffering from these life-altering conditions.
When our informants found out about Luna, they immediately knew that the condition of this elephant was dire and that she needed critical medical attention. She spent her day either on the streets with her master sitting atop her, or she was chained for hours straight standing in her own dung and urine. Her lifestyle was nothing short of an invitation for diseases and chronic ailments. The team was shocked to see that Luna avoided walking and preferred to stand still in one place. In fact, even a hard blow from her master’s laathi would make her hesitantly take only a few steps forward. Later on, we learnt that she had severe inflammation in her legs and cracked toenails. Her body was not only covered in scars from the frequent use of a bull-hook, but it was also marked by prominent wounds that were still oozing with pus. Despite her seemingly gigantic stature, Luna was much too weak.
As much as we wanted to bring Luna to the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital as soon as possible for her treatment, we also knew that the long journey to the hospital would be overwhelming for her. So our team of experts decided that it was in the best interest of Luna if we worked on the ground with her till she had gained substantial strength. We put her on a nutritious diet of sugarcane, soft green fodder and seasonal vegetables, and gave her ample quantity of water to drink. We also made sure that she had had enough time to relax every day so that her battered feet got a chance to rest.
On the 27th of December, our team was prepared to trans-locate her to the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital, but the night before Luna suffered from a painful bout of inflammation in her feet that left her unable to get up from her resting position. The team quickly arranged for a crane to help this poor pachyderm back on her feet. After giving her enough time to relax and enough food to eat, our team knew that the moment to take Luna to the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital for treatment was now or never. We slowly loaded her onto the truck, which was packed with essential food and water supplies, and we headed off for Luna’s road to recovery.
Our team took several stops on the way to ensure that we did not put her feet under unnecessary stress. On the last leg of the journey – only a short distance away from the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital – when Luna had been unloaded from the truck to rest for a while, the pain in her feet again got the best of her and she was unable to stand back on her feet. Our team covered her with a blanket as she was feeling cold, and mobilized to arrange for a crane to lift her. The entire process of helping her stand up took nearly four hours as we had to ensure that her comfort was not compromised.
Luna finally arrived at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital in the wee hours of the morning. She stepped off the truck after an incredibly challenging journey to take her first step towards the critical medical aid she needs. Our team of experts will be diagnosing her for health issues and planning an effective treatment plan.
We would like to thank all our supporters for standing with Luna through this tough journey!
Animal captivity is unnatural and unhealthy. Animals who are captive aren’t able to live how they were naturally intended, and how their instincts tell them they should. It affects their mental wellbeing and they begin to display unnatural behaviors such as pacing, over-grooming, and self-mutilation. Animals in the circus suffer from obesity, arthritis, starvation and dehydration, sores, and so much more! Circus animals also spend 96 percent of their lives behind bars and like Dumbo, the babies (elephants, tigers, lions, and more) are torn away from their mothers shortly after birth.
More people are realizing that animal captivity is wrong and animals don’t belong in the circus. It is unbelievable that in 2019, a film is being made in which animal captivity is shown in a positive light when we know the horrible reality of it. In the new Dumbo trailer, the baby elephant is shown happily flying around. There are crowds, loud noises, fire, and more that would in reality completely terrify animals meant to be in the wild.
One of the worst parts of the sneak peek above, is that a man keeps a monkey in a drawer. Even if the monkey was depicted as happy to be in a drawer, it would be a deceptive portrayal that confuses children and audiences about real animals. To understand what monkeys in the circus really go through, just check out This Shocking Photo That Exposes the Reality of What Training Animals for the Circus Looks Like.
In the official trailer, Dumbo’s mother is seen being taken away from him. She is being sent away and they are sadly separating from his mother. This, at least, is realistic. Of course, the movie appears to take Dumbo on a journey that will probably reunite him with his mother where the children call “home,” but a cage is not a wild animal’s home!
In the circus, when babies are torn from their mothers, it isn’t any less evil just because the baby animal has a special magical talent. Elephants, lions, tigers, and chimpanzees are all very social animals by nature. But since they are taken from their mothers as babies, they are brought up in a solitary environment where they cannot exhibit many of their natural behaviors. It is very common for these animals to develop stress related illnesses, depression, anxiety, and extreme frustration when they are deprived of companionship.
If animals in the circus could really fly, they’d choose to go very far away! They’d go home to the wild where they really belong.
For more information on why animal captivity is such a bad thing to teach to children, see Does Keeping Animals Captive Really Help Kids Learn How to Respect Them?, Why Petting Zoos Are a Terrible Way to Teach Children About Animals, Lion’s Reaction to a Little Girl’s Kiss Shows Just How Much the King of the Jungle Doesn’t Belong in the Zoo, and Bear Gazing at a Child Through Zoo Enclosure Shows Us How Not to Teach Kids About Animals.
Here’s the Truth About the Lives of Animals in Captivity Versus the Wild. Wild animals were meant to live in the wild. Seems like common sense, but humans have long cast-off such concerns and captured the world’s most majestic animals for roadside attractions, circuses and medical experimentation.
Lives of animals in the wild versus captivity are literally worlds apart, and even the best captive facilities can’t recreate the conditions of the wild — not exactly. Most don’t even try, leaving animals in tiny enclosures with no socialization, enrichment or joy. Captivity is unnatural and unhealthy. People are starting to recognize the danger of continuing these practices, but there’s a long way to go.
To illustrate the vast differences in lifestyle, here’s a comparison between life in the wild and life in captivity for some of the animals most commonly kept:
Elephants
Wild
Elephants are some of the world’s most intelligent mammals. Social, perceptive and affectionate, they depend on close contact with other elephants and frequent exercise for their health and well being. In the wild, they live with as many as 100 other elephants. They have constant companionship and are emotionally attached to other members of the group – they even show visible signs of mourning when an elephant close to them passes away. They walk up to 40 miles a day. They play, bathe in rivers and engage in constant exercise. In their natural environment, they can live up to 60 or 70 years.
Captivity
In captivity, elephants are often kept alone or in units of two or three. They’re deprived of the socialization that’s necessary for their well being, and frequently show abnormal signs of stress like head bobbing. Often, they’re chained in place and receive little to no exercise. They frequently become depressed and overweight, and depending on where they’re kept, can be subjected to abuse by bullhooks and in other forms. Because of the various stresses and unnatural conditions, elephants in captivity often die before the age of 40. They’re prone to chronic health problems including tuberculosis, arthritis, and foot abscesses, and breeding programs have proved unsuccessful, with many calves dying prematurely.
Tigers
Wild
The largest of the big cats, tigers can weigh up to 850 pounds. Territorial and solitary, but also social animals, they often live and travel across a habitat that can span across 7.7 square miles for female tigers, to 23 to 39 square miles for male tigers. They love water and are excellent swimmers.
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Captivity
Sometimes kept as pets (or in the case of Tony the tiger – as truck stop attractions) tigers are subjected to life in small enclosures with little to no enrichment, and a improper diet. Tragically, recent numbers suggest there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild, with many people keeping them in backyards. They often end up abandoned or killed. Tigers in captivity often exhibit zoochosis, a form of psychosis seen in captive wild animals. Additionally, tigers kept as pets or part of a backyard zoo have been shown to be 500 times more deadly than dogs in the United States.
One form of tiger you are sure to see in captivity, the White Tiger, cannot even be found in the wild. For years, humans have inbred tigers with the genetic defect that causes white pigmentation, leading to deformities and crippling disabilities – all for the sake of using these “rare” tigers as attractions.
Chimpanzees
Wild
In the wild, our closest primate relatives live in diverse social groups where they play, travel and interact with one another. According to the Jane Goodall Institute, chimpanzees develop lifelong family bonds, and mothers and their young (up to age seven) are inseparable. They often travel several miles in one day, they make and use tools, they communicate with one another and they choose their friends with care. They also forage for different foods, groom themselves and others, play with children and friends and even take naps.
Captivity
Whether kept in zoos, as pets, or for biomedical research, captivity is inherently destructive to chimpanzees. While (ineffective) testing for medical research is beginning to be phased out, it still exists, and chimps are often subjected to terrifying experiments. The Nonhuman Rights Project is working to have chimps classified as “persons,” but it hasn’t happened yet. In captivity, chimpanzees lack the chance to solve problems, travel distances or forage for their own food. They also frequently exhibit signs of stress including over-grooming on arms and legs, continual rocking, spitting, and throwing feces.
Orcas
Wild
Orcas in the wild have an average life expectancy of 30 to 50 years, and some make it much longer. They swim up to 100 miles a day, and eat fresh fish. They live in pods with family members, and maintain complex relationships with others. Additionally, there hasn’t been a single report of an orca harming a human in the wild.
Captivity
Thanks to Blackfish, much of the world is now familiar with the major issues associated with keeping orcas in captivity. The median lifespan of orcas in captivity is only nine years. Due to their extreme stress and unnatural conditions, orcas can become aggressive, and have attacked and killed three humans and injured others. They don’t get nearly enough exercise or mental stimulation, and can suffer from dorsal fin collapse. Orcas in captivity are often kept in excruciatingly small enclosures. Lolita, who was tragically captured in an infamous round up in Puget Sound that left four calves dead, has been kept in the smallest orca tank in the U.S. at the Miami Seaquarium for 43 years.
Dolphins
Wild
Highly intelligent mammals, dolphins have complex social and familial bonds. In the wild they swim between 40 and 100 miles a day, socializing, playing and foraging for food. According to the Animal Welfare Institute, they spend approximately 80-90 percent of their time underwater.
Captivity
Thanks to the work of Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project and other tireless advocates, more people are becoming aware of the realities of the captive dolphin trade. The Cove showed the brutal dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, all of which is a result of fishermen capturing dolphins to sell. Those lucky enough to survive are sold to marine parks and zoo facilities. These environments provide little stimulation and far less space, and dolphins are often trained via food deprivation.
Salvatore Cardoni of Takepart.com, writes “(e)ven in the largest aquarium facilities, captive dolphins have access to less than 1/10,000 of 1 percent of the swimming area available to them in their natural environment.”
O’Barry even claims he witnessed a dolphin he worked with (before he launched his activism career) commit suicide due to her misery in captivity. In the words of Laura Bridgeman, program associate with the Earth Island Institute, “With mounting scientific and anecdotal evidence, it is no longer possible to assume that dolphins are not cognitively complex, self-aware beings.”
So what do you get a food-loving elephant on his second rescue anniversary?
Sugarcane treats in the shape of a 2, of course! It was a fateful call from the local Forest Department that led to the rescue of Sanjay, our magnificent bull-tusker. Wildlife SOS was informed that Sanjay’s owners had cut chunks of his tusk and sold them in the black market for illegal trade of animal parts. Sanjay was in a grave situation as his owners were cunningly planning to challenge his confiscation by the Forest Department. Wildlife SOS only had 24 hours to change the course of this pachyderm’s life and bring him to the safe haven at the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre (ECCC) in Mathura.
When he first arrived, our veterinarians found that Sanjay’s feet were in a poor state. He had overgrown and cracked toenails, and painfully swollen foot pads. Adding to his miseries was a hairline fracture in one of his rear limbs. If not treated in a timely manner, fractures can lead to lameness in elephants and, in some cases, can even be fatal. Our team mobilized quickly to provide Sanjay with medical attention for his ailments. Veterinary treatment, combined with a complementary nutritious diet and Sanjay’s strong will, healed his wounds gradually. Sanjay has come a long way and is now one of the healthiest elephants under our care!
Sanjay’s love for food has not gone unnoticed by our team. He believes in a zero-waste policy and eats every last bit of the fodder or vegetables and fruits given to him. Being the biggest elephant at the centre, he gets the largest quantity of food to eat. However, to this magnificent pachyderm even this does not seem enough! If he watches a team member walk past his enclosure, he quickly makes a loud noise to grab their attention in the hope that they will give him treats to eat. The team has now grown accustomed to his attention seeking habits and do not fall for his seemingly innocent calls. Sanjay’s internal clock is well-oiled to know when to expect his keeper to fill his cage feeders or bring him fodder, and even a minute’s delay finds him making loud noises repeatedly until Nekpal arrives.
Being full of energy, Sanjay’s favourite activity of the day are his long walks in the field. Sanjay curiously sniffs to get a whiff of the new scents that he encounters, and uses his dexterous trunk to feel new textures on the way. These walks are immensely enriching for Sanjay’s psychological health and, no wonder, he absolutely loves them!
Last year, in the month of November, Sanjay became the third elephant to move to the Field of Dreams (FoD). His new enclosure at FoD is much more spacious than his previous one at ECCC. Sanjay has grown fond of his new space as he not only gets a gigantic pond to himself, but also has many trees that he can uproot to test his strength. He is always exploring his new enclosure and still has not yet been able to find the best spot for sleeping. Every evening, our team would make a mud bed for him to lie down in at night, only to find that he chose a different place to sleep. The team would then make the mud bed at the spot where Sanjay laid down the previous night, only to again find that he had chosen a new sleeping spot. This continued on for a few weeks, following which our team gave up and decided to make several mud beds for him each night at the spots frequently used by him, so that Sanjay has ample comfortable options.
In the last two years Sanjay has truly emerged victorious and has shown determination to heal his past wounds. His peculiar habits never fail to win our hearts and we hope that the journey ahead of him will be filled with peace and happiness.
Luna arrives at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital
On the 27th of December, our team was prepared to trans-locate her to the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital, but the night before Luna suffered from a painful bout of inflammation in her feet that left her unable to get up from her resting position. The team quickly arranged for a crane to help this poor pachyderm back on her feet. After giving her enough time to relax and enough food to eat, our team knew that the moment to take Luna to the Wildlife SOS Elephant Hospital for treatment was now or never. We slowly loaded her onto the truck, which was packed with essential food and water supplies, and we headed off for Luna’s road to recovery.
We would like to thank all our supporters for standing with Luna through this tough journey!
If you've ever wished for a bird's eye view of our Elephant Care and Conservation Center, here's a video you don't want to miss! The Facts About Wild Elephants features cameos by Gajraj, Chanchal, and Asha, and we are proud to share it with you.
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More people are realizing that animal captivity is wrong and animals don’t belong in the circus. It is unbelievable that in 2019, a film is being made in which animal captivity is shown in a positive light when we know the horrible reality of it. In the new Dumbo trailer, the baby elephant is shown happily flying around. There are crowds, loud noises, fire, and more that would in reality completely terrify animals meant to be in the wild.
In the official trailer, Dumbo’s mother is seen being taken away from him. She is being sent away and they are sadly separating from his mother. This, at least, is realistic. Of course, the movie appears to take Dumbo on a journey that will probably reunite him with his mother where the children call “home,” but a cage is not a wild animal’s home!
In the circus, when babies are torn from their mothers, it isn’t any less evil just because the baby animal has a special magical talent. Elephants, lions, tigers, and chimpanzees are all very social animals by nature. But since they are taken from their mothers as babies, they are brought up in a solitary environment where they cannot exhibit many of their natural behaviors. It is very common for these animals to develop stress related illnesses, depression, anxiety, and extreme frustration when they are deprived of companionship.
If animals in the circus could really fly, they’d choose to go very far away! They’d go home to the wild where they really belong.
Here’s the Truth About the Lives of Animals in Captivity Versus the Wild. Wild animals were meant to live in the wild. Seems like common sense, but humans have long cast-off such concerns and captured the world’s most majestic animals for roadside attractions, circuses and medical experimentation.
Lives of animals in the wild versus captivity are literally worlds apart, and even the best captive facilities can’t recreate the conditions of the wild — not exactly. Most don’t even try, leaving animals in tiny enclosures with no socialization, enrichment or joy. Captivity is unnatural and unhealthy. People are starting to recognize the danger of continuing these practices, but there’s a long way to go.
To illustrate the vast differences in lifestyle, here’s a comparison between life in the wild and life in captivity for some of the animals most commonly kept:
Elephants
Elephants are some of the world’s most intelligent mammals. Social, perceptive and affectionate, they depend on close contact with other elephants and frequent exercise for their health and well being. In the wild, they live with as many as 100 other elephants. They have constant companionship and are emotionally attached to other members of the group – they even show visible signs of mourning when an elephant close to them passes away. They walk up to 40 miles a day. They play, bathe in rivers and engage in constant exercise. In their natural environment, they can live up to 60 or 70 years.
Captivity
In captivity, elephants are often kept alone or in units of two or three. They’re deprived of the socialization that’s necessary for their well being, and frequently show abnormal signs of stress like head bobbing. Often, they’re chained in place and receive little to no exercise. They frequently become depressed and overweight, and depending on where they’re kept, can be subjected to abuse by bullhooks and in other forms. Because of the various stresses and unnatural conditions, elephants in captivity often die before the age of 40. They’re prone to chronic health problems including tuberculosis, arthritis, and foot abscesses, and breeding programs have proved unsuccessful, with many calves dying prematurely.
Tigers
The largest of the big cats, tigers can weigh up to 850 pounds. Territorial and solitary, but also social animals, they often live and travel across a habitat that can span across 7.7 square miles for female tigers, to 23 to 39 square miles for male tigers. They love water and are excellent swimmers.
Advertisement
Captivity
Sometimes kept as pets (or in the case of Tony the tiger – as truck stop attractions) tigers are subjected to life in small enclosures with little to no enrichment, and a improper diet. Tragically, recent numbers suggest there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild, with many people keeping them in backyards. They often end up abandoned or killed. Tigers in captivity often exhibit zoochosis, a form of psychosis seen in captive wild animals. Additionally, tigers kept as pets or part of a backyard zoo have been shown to be 500 times more deadly than dogs in the United States.
One form of tiger you are sure to see in captivity, the White Tiger, cannot even be found in the wild. For years, humans have inbred tigers with the genetic defect that causes white pigmentation, leading to deformities and crippling disabilities – all for the sake of using these “rare” tigers as attractions.
Chimpanzees
In the wild, our closest primate relatives live in diverse social groups where they play, travel and interact with one another. According to the Jane Goodall Institute, chimpanzees develop lifelong family bonds, and mothers and their young (up to age seven) are inseparable. They often travel several miles in one day, they make and use tools, they communicate with one another and they choose their friends with care. They also forage for different foods, groom themselves and others, play with children and friends and even take naps.
Captivity
Whether kept in zoos, as pets, or for biomedical research, captivity is inherently destructive to chimpanzees. While (ineffective) testing for medical research is beginning to be phased out, it still exists, and chimps are often subjected to terrifying experiments. The Nonhuman Rights Project is working to have chimps classified as “persons,” but it hasn’t happened yet. In captivity, chimpanzees lack the chance to solve problems, travel distances or forage for their own food. They also frequently exhibit signs of stress including over-grooming on arms and legs, continual rocking, spitting, and throwing feces.
Orcas
Orcas in the wild have an average life expectancy of 30 to 50 years, and some make it much longer. They swim up to 100 miles a day, and eat fresh fish. They live in pods with family members, and maintain complex relationships with others. Additionally, there hasn’t been a single report of an orca harming a human in the wild.
Captivity
Thanks to Blackfish, much of the world is now familiar with the major issues associated with keeping orcas in captivity. The median lifespan of orcas in captivity is only nine years. Due to their extreme stress and unnatural conditions, orcas can become aggressive, and have attacked and killed three humans and injured others. They don’t get nearly enough exercise or mental stimulation, and can suffer from dorsal fin collapse. Orcas in captivity are often kept in excruciatingly small enclosures. Lolita, who was tragically captured in an infamous round up in Puget Sound that left four calves dead, has been kept in the smallest orca tank in the U.S. at the Miami Seaquarium for 43 years.
Dolphins
Highly intelligent mammals, dolphins have complex social and familial bonds. In the wild they swim between 40 and 100 miles a day, socializing, playing and foraging for food. According to the Animal Welfare Institute, they spend approximately 80-90 percent of their time underwater.
Captivity
Thanks to the work of Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project and other tireless advocates, more people are becoming aware of the realities of the captive dolphin trade. The Cove showed the brutal dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, all of which is a result of fishermen capturing dolphins to sell. Those lucky enough to survive are sold to marine parks and zoo facilities. These environments provide little stimulation and far less space, and dolphins are often trained via food deprivation.
Salvatore Cardoni of Takepart.com, writes “(e)ven in the largest aquarium facilities, captive dolphins have access to less than 1/10,000 of 1 percent of the swimming area available to them in their natural environment.”
O’Barry even claims he witnessed a dolphin he worked with (before he launched his activism career) commit suicide due to her misery in captivity. In the words of Laura Bridgeman, program associate with the Earth Island Institute, “With mounting scientific and anecdotal evidence, it is no longer possible to assume that dolphins are not cognitively complex, self-aware beings.”
Don Lichterman
Sunset Corporation of America (SCA)
Sunset TV
Sunset Television Network
Sustainable Action Network (SAN)