Stop seeing animals as entertainers

The woman who was killed at Seaworld is a tragedy. However, this story will keep repeating itself with different characters until Seaworld, zoos, aquariums, circuses and similar exhibits stop using wild animals for human entertainment and allow wild animals to remain wild and live their lives in their natural habitat.

Of course, there are those "experts" such as Jack Hanna who say it's important to keep wild animals in captivity, because we learn so much about wildlife this way. Really? How in the world do we acquire knowledge about wild animals when they don't behave naturally in an artificial world with intensively confined spaces? According to Seaworld, Tilikum, the killer whale who has now killed three people, must live in isolation due to his aggressive behavior. What does this teach us about the social structure of killer whales and how they interact with their family/pod when one has to be confined alone? All we learn is what happens to wild animals who've had enough.

Jodie Wiederkehr

Chicago