Ethical Issues In Shedd Aquarium

2659 Words11 Pages
When parents take their children to aquariums, zoos, and marine parks they never really think about where these twenty-two thousand pound orca whales are forced to stay, or where these four hundred pound dolphins reside for most of the day. Any time they visit an aquatic park, such as SeaWorld, or an aquarium, such as Shedd Aquarium, the animals seem happy, the workers seem to enjoy themselves, and the atmosphere is fun. People visit these places for the experience and the excitement that comes over their bodies the minute they see a trick. And they rarely see how these animals’ lives and where they are held and forced to stay all day. This is a very important matter because it often goes unseen and is overlooked by more pressing animal matters,…show more content…
The millions of people who visit marine parks and aquariums daily and even yearly do not know where these animals came from, how they got there, or even how they were captured. Capturing an orca or a dolphin from a pod is not easy. Boats chase these cetaceans into shallow waters where they are then pulled onto the boat, and the ones that are “unsuitable for display are thrown back” (Dye 8). Many die in the process. They are then transported between parks, and then can even be transported again seasonally (Dye 7). In the book, “The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity,” Naomi Rose and Richard Farinato describe how these animals are being transported. They are placed on a stretcher, loaded into either a truck or airplane, and are forced to stay in a strange environment for as long as a day. This type of treatment causes “chronic, cumulative, unnecessary, and unacceptable levels of stress” (26). However, most of these marine mammals are receiving regular vitamins and minerals, but this constant administration is not natural for these animals. In fact, wild animals do not need a supplement in order to survive, which raises the question that this might not be the best for these creatures after all. Also, many of these animals are put into a smaller enclosure while others are left in inches of water for hours in order for their tanks to be cleaned (Farinato and Rose 25). In an academic article, “The Marine Mammal Protection Act,” looks at a lawsuit against the John G. Shedd Aquarium, LaVonne Dye discuses whether or not these animals are receiving adequate treatment. It describes that, “High chlorine levels, concrete walls, crowded conditions, and the lack of rules governing public interaction with the animals in these facilities creates a harmful and

    More about Ethical Issues In Shedd Aquarium

      Open Document