Jane Goodall Says SeaWorld 'Should Be Closed Down'

Jane Goodall

Excerpt from huffingtonpost.com


NEW YORK — Jane Goodall wants to see SeaWorld go extinct.
The

81-year-old primatologist said whales and dolphins should never be held

in captivity, and that the entertainment company known for its orca

shows should be shuttered.

“They definitely should be closed down,” Goodall said in an interview with The Huffington Post earlier this month. 

She’s not alone. SeaWorld’s stock price has been plummeting

since July 2013, when CNN released the documentary “Blackfish.” The

film exposed the misery endured by SeaWorld’s trained orca and the

dangers posed to trainers working with stressed-out carnivorous whales. 

SeaWorld’s stock price has declined precipitously since the 2013 release of “Blackfish.”

 

One

of the problems highlighted in “Blackfish” is that cetacea, the family

of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises,

communicate with sonar-like sound waves. When confined to tanks, Goodall

noted, those waves echo back and create a hellish cacophony for the animals.

“When

they are contained in these tanks … that is acoustical hell,” said

Goodall, adding that her nonprofit organization, the Jane Goodall

Institute, is urging aquariums across the country to free their whales.

“The sounds bounce back from the walls of the tank.”

SeaWorld aggressively refuted

many of the film’s claims, including allegations that its whales were

unhealthy and that the company tried to cover up details surrounding the

2010 death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was mauled by an orca. 

After

the release of “Blackfish,” SeaWorld saw a rapid decline in visitors,

and with that, in the price of shares. But on Monday, Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock, optimistic that the company can retool its image as consumers start forgetting about the blockbuster documentary.

“Jane

Goodall is a respected scientist and advocate for the world’s primates,

but we couldn’t disagree more with her on this,” Becca Bides, a

SeaWorld spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement. 

“Zoos and marine

mammal parks like SeaWorld allow people to experience animals in a way

that is inspiring and educational.”
Asked about the allegation

that SeaWorld’s tanks are detrimental to whales, Bides denied the claim,

arguing that they are specially crafted to keep underwater noise levels

quieter than the ambient ocean.

As of last December, SeaWorld

held 22 orcas in its three U.S. marine parks, five of which were caught

in the wild, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

A total of 57 orcas are held in captivity around the world, the group

notes. At least 160 orcas have died in captivity since 1961, and an

additional 30 pregnant whales have miscarried or had stillborn calves.

Goodall

said she remains hopeful that humans are gaining a greater sense of

empathy for animals and losing interest in watching them perform for

entertainment.

“It’s not only that they’re really big, highly

intelligent and social animals so that the capture and confinement in

itself is cruel,” she said of the captive orcas, but also that “they

have emotions like ours.”
She welcomed the decision by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to eliminate elephants in its shows by 2018.

“If

you see what happens to those baby elephants, the way they’re trained,

it’s absolutely chilling,” said Goodall, who had a pendant in the shape

of Africa hanging from her necklace. “They lose all of their young

elephant playfulness, and then they can be trained.”

Source Article from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AscensionEarth2012/~3/rYFxdTFmxDA/jane-goodall-says-seaworld-should-be.html

[ Add Comment ]

Jane Goodall Says SeaWorld 'Should Be Closed Down'