Long Past Time to Free Every Willy, an open letter to Sea World

I write on behalf of every animal you keep in a cage, a pool, or any sort of an enclosure. I write on behalf of the ones that have died, are still alive, and with a force thousands strong for those that have not yet been captured. This letter is for every soul of every animal that was extinguished, coated over, and destroyed by your theme parks. It is also for every animal currently walking or swimming in circles, wondering why they cannot hear or see their families anymore. This letter is for them, but it is from me.

Who am I to write such a letter and declaration to you? I am your ideal customer. I, like the trainer who died at your Orlando park on Wednesday, February 24, used to dream of being a whale trainer at one of your parks. My eyes lit up with wonder when I first saw a killer whale up close, and I wanted to know these creatures, love them, learn from them. For many years I planned to be a marine biologist, but with each of those passing years and studies I realized I could not with a good conscience be a whale trainer.

I learned, for instance, of the complicated family and migration rituals of the killer whale. I heard the songs of a family communicating. I watched documentary after documentary and read study after study about the beautiful black and white creatures. I saw them leap into the air with glee, play with each other, teach their young, love. I saw it all in these wild animals.

Then I returned to Sea World with my family. Instead of beauty surrounding the animals I saw there, I witnessed chains. No, not literal chains, but when you surround an animal with dry land that needs water to survive, you strap them into a small cell as a result. I looked into the eyes of one of your Orcas on your viewing deck, and I saw nothing there but pain, and loss. Could that same whale have been the one that killed the trainer at the same park? Possibly. Whether or not it was, however, is not what matters here. What matters here is the overwhelming sadness present in a place like Sea World.

The entire park is based upon the exploitation of wild animals for human amusement. The animals do not live long happy lives in captivity as is so cleverly marketed to the general public. They become lonely, and often die. They miss their families, their friends, and their homes. Even the children they give birth to in the pools and cages rarely survive.

Whales are amazing creatures. They have highly complicated family groups with communication and cooperation humans are just beginning to understand. When one whale (or dolphin) is removed from their family it is in essence kidnapping. Each whale and dolphin is an individual in their respective family, not just another random living creature. The whales and dolphins recognize each other and thus react differently depending which individual it is. This is not unlike humans. From this thriving community of cooperation and love whales and dolphins are ripped away and placed in small tanks (and any tank is small compared to the ocean) and made to perform for a live audience of humans.

Is it tragic that trainer Dawn Brancheau had to lose her life? Of course it is. It must be remembered, however, that the whales she so loved were trapped against their will and forced to perform for people they did not know. These whales (and dolphins) have many among them that probably still remember life in the wild, with no pavement pools or screaming humans. Many still remember the glimmer on the surface of the water at sunrise and sunset. Many still remember the feeling of freedom beneath their fins.

Sea World takes away the freedom of many of the most intelligent and majestic of all living creatures. Not only do they take away this freedom, but they do it to turn a profit. This is unacceptable, cruel, and wrong.

The public relations specialists for Sea World will probably start promoting all of the "good" the company has done and will do in the coming weeks. They will show the public pictures of their veterinarians going to help wild animals affected by pollution, illness, oil spills. Sea World will do all of this while openly ignoring the fact that they are enslaving animals with their very existence.

What do I propose Sea World should do? They should get their animals ready to live in the wild again. Teach them to fish for themselves, yet again. Do all that is possible to prepare them and then set them free. Will all of them survive? No. Will some? Most definitely. The fact that some will die is one that will happen if they are left in their pools that are chains as well. Sea World also needs to stop paying for animals captured from the wild. They need to halt all activities that hold animals against their will and exploit their natural abilities for profit. Sea World needs to close its gates for good or reinvent for itself an image not based on animal exploitation.

I hope that trainer Dawn Brancheau rests in peace and that the whale Tilikum along with all of the similarly enslaved animals at Sea World will one day see the sunrise and set on the ocean again. I demand that they be set loose to the wild to yet again choose their own fates, and never again perform for a screaming audience for nothing but profit.

UPDATE: I was contacted from James Brown from the BBC Radio show World Have Your Say. They are running a live show this afternoon at 12pm Central Daylight Time (1800gmt) and they might call me to discuss this issue. Please listen in! Here's the link: http://worldhaveyoursay.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/should-animals-be-kept-for-our-entertainment/

Off Target

I'm going to come right out and say it: Just because you shop at Target doesn't mean you aren't to blame for anything.

I am so sick and tired of people feeling all high and mighty because they spite Wal-Mart's sweat shop items and buy instead the sweat shop items sold at Target. I understand that Target is better to their employees (the employees we see at the stores at least), but does that really mean much? They still sell goods from all over the world to the all consuming hands of westerners. Target is guilty too, and I hate that people think they are not.

Why do people so blindly believe that Target is a better alternative? I think that some people just dislike Wal-Mart, so any alternative is nice. I think that for a lot of others, however, it comes down to some brilliant marketing ploys by Target over the years. Their ads appeal to a young and hip audience, who then feel young and hip shopping at the store. They throw in a couple green washing tactics here and there, and end up with a dedicated consumer base.

Here are some examples of Target commercials and Ads:

2006:

2007:

2008:

2009:

2010:

Greenwashing:

Article Illustrating the fact that Target isn't as "green" as they pretend to be:

• http://ohsonline.com/articles/2007/07/company-fined-120000-for-horrible-spooky-effects-on-health-environment.aspx
  

Excerpt: Target Corp. will pay a civil penalty of $120,000 for distributing and selling Horrible Spooky String, a children's product that is harmful to the environment. EPA had previously ordered five national retail chains to pull cans of illegally imported confetti string products from their shelves. The products contain banned hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) which deplete the earth's protective stratospheric ozone layer and increase the risk of skin cancer.

Poetry

I have been writing a lot of poetry lately that is meant to be read aloud. So, in place of posting poetry here in written form I've uploaded myself reading them.

They can be found here: http://www.soundclick.com/amelielillith

I hope you enjoy them.

-Amelie

Pandora is Right Here

For those of you who have seen the film Avatar, perhaps you are wishing you lived in such a beautiful place. Some people are even experiencing what is being dubbed "Avatar Depression" because they don't have a place like Pandora. Well, I have news for you. Our planet is beautiful, and believe it or not, in need of defense just as Pandora was in the movie. Don't believe me? How about these pictures and facts to convince you.

Have you ever seen the northern lights? They are truly a sight to behold (but one hard to spot when drowned out by city lights).

Did you feel sorrow when home tree fell in Avatar? What about the giant redwoods and hemlocks that are falling today? Or the trees of the rainforests of earth?

The Sky People have sent us a message... That they can take whatever they want. That no one can stop them. Well we will send them a message. You ride out as fast as the wind can carry you... You tell the other clans to come. Tell them Toruk Makto calls to them! You fly now, with me! My brothers! Sisters! And we will show the Sky People... That they can not take whatever they want! And that this... this is our land! (From Avatar)

You say there are unique animals in Pandora, more amazing than any here on earth. With that you are also mistaken, there are many beautiful and amazing creatures on Earth that are in trouble and need your help. Below are a couple of examples.

The mountain lion, cougar or puma: Due to excessive hunting following the European colonization of the Americas, and continuing human development of cougar habitat, populations have dropped in most parts of its historical range. With its vast range, the cougar has dozens of names and various references in the mythology of the indigenous Americans and in contemporary culture. Typical Length: males, about eight to as much as nine feet from the nose to the tip of its tail, and females, about six to seven feet.

The Whooping Crane: Endangered North American Bird. This is one of only two species of crane in the N. America. They can live 22-24 years when healthy and free. There are only 250 left in the wild (at most).They stand up to 5 feet tall with a 7.5 foot wing span.

Salmon: Salmon journeys can be hundreds, even thousands of miles long. The longest known trip was made by a Chinook salmon that went 2,400 miles Inland just to spawn! Salmon are in trouble, though. Pollution, overfishing, and dams are killing them off. The dams need to come down and the pollution needs to stop.

Whales and dolphins: Did you know that some nations are still whaling? Japan continues the practice and thinly veils it as scientific research. There are also hundreds of dolphins killed each year in Japan. With each year the oceans become more and more polluted. They also grow warmer with each passing year. This all leads to the death of these amazing creatures. This must stop now.

Toruk Makto was mighty. He brought the clans together in a time of great sorrow. All Navi people know this story. (From Avatar)

Will you defend the Pandora that's right outside your window?

When Stripes Become Bars

The Plight of the Tiger


The tiger is in trouble, but you already knew that. It is a predominate civilized practice to systematically wipe out that which scares, mystifies, or avoids man. This practice has been applied to wolves, lions, elephants, mountain lions (pumas) and pretty much every non-human species on the planet.


America, you might quibble, is guilt free, at least, in the plight of the orange and black feline—not so. Did you know that there are more tigers behind bars in the United States than there are living wild in the entire world? And these are barely tigers at all. How can an animal kept in a cage of concrete, steel, and artificial stimulation even come close to mirroring their wild relatives? Tigers in zoos are not tigers at all; they are depressed animals that know nothing but boundaries and limits.


WWF (World Wildlife Fund) has taken this year of the tiger to launch a campaign to try to save them. Link From the website: “The issues highlighted in the trouble spots map (www.worldwildlife.org/troublespots) include:
* Pulp, paper, palm oil and rubber companies are devastating the forests of Indonesia and Malaysia, home to two endangered tiger sub-species;
* Hundreds of new or proposed dams and roads in the Mekong region will fragment tiger habitat;
* Illegal trafficking in tiger bones, skins and meat feeds a continued demand in East and Southeast Asia;
* More tigers are kept in captivity in the U.S. than are left in the wild -- and there are few regulations to keep these tigers from ending up on the black market. The largest numbers of captive tigers are in Texas (an estimated 3,000+), but they are also kept in other states;
* Poaching of tigers and their prey, along with a major increase in logging is taking a heavy toll on Amur, or Siberian, tigers;
* Tigers and humans are increasingly coming into conflict in India as tiger habitats shrink;
* Climate change could reduce tiger habitat in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans mangroves by 96 percent.

Three tiger sub-species have gone extinct since the 1940s and a fourth one, the South China tiger, has not been seen in the wild in 25 years. Tigers occupy just seven percent of their historic range. But they can thrive if they have strong protection from poaching and habitat loss and enough prey to eat.”

Map: Below are two maps of where tigers lived in 1900 and where they live now. Before 1900 I’d assume the territories were much larger.
So what can you do? Well that depends where you live and what you are willing to risk. These animals do not need our help to live; on the contrary, they need our help to avoid their death. Their habitat needs to be preserved and restored. They need to be respected and not put behind bars. Breeding programs in captivity need to result in cups that are rehabilitated and released into the wild, not shipped to another zoo. You can write to your zoo and tell them that. You can write to companies that use products containing palm oil. You can go stand on the front lines of the issue and stop poachers and clear cutters. You can spread the word. You can donate money.

What can’t you do? Ignore the issue.