That’s the issue in a nutshell right there.
People would go absolutely apeshit if you kept a tiger or a lion in a cage where it couldn’t stand on it’s hind legs for it’s entire life.
But the best artificial habitats for whale sharks - the ones built solely for the purpose of housing them - are too small for them to even dive, and that’s considered acceptable.
Is it because they’re “just fish”? Or is it because we’re taught to believe that aquariums have the best interests of their charges at heart?
Because I really did used to believe that, until I saw the atrocities that pass for aquariums around the world, particularly in America. Woefully small, barren tanks that are totally devoid of enrichment - and this is the best humanity has to offer for species that can live as long as we do. It’s despicable, it’s wrong, and it’s directly contributing to the live capture industry for these species. We’re driving these animals further and further down the path to extinction, and all because we can’t admit that we’re wrong.
Our species needs to get a fucking grip.
Thank you!. I’ve been saying this for ages.
If a zoo kept an elephant in a cage where it could only take two or three steps in any one direction, it would be immediately closed down and condemned by everyone, but it’s somehow ok to keep cetaceans, marine mammals, sharks etc, in tanks that so small they can only pump their tails two, three, four times before they hit the side of the tank and have to turn?.
Genuinely baffles me.
