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Quix_Optic t1_jbr8ki3 wrote

Reply to comment by Zombie_Harambe in Kiska, sometimes know as the world’s loneliest orca, has died at Marineland by waitingforthesun92

They could've at least given her a bigger goddamn tank, if anything.

I also read that an agency was thinking of creating a large actual ocean space and having it blocked off so she was still "captive" but could be in a natural habitat.

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EmotionalSuportPenis t1_jbs1hoh wrote

There are some wildlife education programs where an animal is temporarily captured from the wild, provided with highly nutritious food and extensive veterinary care, kept for a finite amount of time (usually a season or 1-2 years) to be an "animal ambassador" where people have a chance to see them, and then released back into the wild in a much stronger, healthier state than they would have otherwise been without human intervention. I think that's about the only ethical way to do something like this, but that kind of program is usually done with smallish animals like owls and rabbits, not a whole-ass pod of orcas.

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izzittho t1_jbuot5s wrote

This is basically what a lot of actually good zoos do. And for threatened/endangered species, they work on breeding programs, often with other good zoos, to get individuals re-released into the wild to re-establish populations.

The zoo part of it all basically exists for awareness/fundraising for all of that - they let the public see and get to know/love the animals so they can see the importance of protecting/saving them, and generally only keep long-term any animals that just cannot be released, with the goal of actually minimizing the amount that they need to keep. I think that’s a good thing.

You can really see the difference in their behavior and in the enclosure designs and everything. For one, you can’t always see the animals, which is exactly how it should be. They’re allowed to hide when they want, are never alone except for animals that prefer to live alone (some lizards, etc.) Basically, zoos can be good. Captivity generally isn’t the best place for any wild animal, but given the amount that already exist there, there are a lot of zoos that are taking it in an ultimately good direction.

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