By Ryan Henson
Opinion Editor
I was watching Animal Planet last night and there was a marathon on of a show called “Fatal Attractions.” It chronicled the lives and gruesome deaths of exotic animal owners across America. There was one man who had several monstrous monitor lizards roaming free in his apartment, another women who had an extensive collection of venomous snakes, and a man who trained tigers and had his young daughter in the cage with him. Clearly these people operate on a different level of reality.
It’s obvious to most people that owning wild animals is incredibly dangerous and so when these people die because of their attraction to such lethal beauty its not really a surprise. Still what bothered me the most about the show was the horrible existence these animals had to endure. These are animals that were never supposed to live within the walls of a studio apartment or behind the rusty bars of a small cage in rural Wisconsin. They were ripped out of a natural existence, the one that biology and nature had outfitted them for, and made to live to satisfy the perverse, selfish curiosity of obsessive humans.
There simply isn’t a good reason for bringing an African elephant to the middle of the rural midwest of the United States. Even worse than just being brought as a pet, the elephant in one episode was brought so that its owner could train it for the circus. The very fact that we make wild animals perform tricks for our enjoyment and then shuffle them back to their cages for the time in between shows is really messed up if you think about it. Circuses used to take their animals all over states and across states, the animals enduring seemingly endless travel stuffed and crammed into the dark, hot confines of trailers. Is this really a life that anyone could see these animals enjoying? Hell, how would you like it? How would you like to spend the entirety of the rest of your life behind bars? Never again able to move freely, to go where you wished when you wished, or to fulfill your natural purpose as a human being. Or how about just as a mammal?
I remember last semester I took a trip to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. one weekend. I’d always had such fond memories of going to the zoo as a child. I mean doesn’t everyone? As a kid it’s a thrill to see animals that you only see on TV or read about living and breathing only a few feet from you. And I expected to feel the same thrill and elation this time around. But something changed and I knew it as soon as I got there.
I began to think about how weird it was that I, an animal, was going to a place where other animals are imprisoned by my species to look at them for a good time. Now I know the value of captivity in some cases, such as when the species is endangered and also when reintroduction into the wild is impossible. Still I can’t forget just how terribly sad and scared all the animals seemed to be.
The gorillas in particular stood out. Maybe because of their proximity to us in feature, intelligence and genetics maybe just because their eyes locked with yours when you came close to the glass that separated you. In those eyes I saw a deep and disturbing sadness.
I couldn’t help but think that this couldn’t be what life was meant to be for these beautiful animals.
I’m not a radical animal rights activist but I know when something bothers me enough that I can’t just shake it that something must not be right. Keeping wild animals in cages for selfish entertainment purposes is a cruel and arcane human tradition, and one that we should recognize as no longer acceptable.
March 18, 2011
Volume LXXXI Issue 18
You may not consider yourself to be an animal rights activist, but by your choice of words in this article, it is clear that watching their propaganda on TV has quietly indoctrinated you. Lines like ‘ripped out of a natural existence’ are right out of the animal rights ‘playbook’.
There is a whole lot to the world of captive animals than what meets the eye. Animals are a lot like us, and would rather not work for their food, etc. if they don’t have to. This is especially true of big cats, which I work with extensively. If done with love and care, and with a working understanding of the nature of these animals, they not only survive in captivity, but thrive, and are happy there. If you want proof, go visit a small zoo, run by a small, dedicated staff somewhere. These places typically have staffs that routinely interact with their animals. This intimate relationship, just as important for lions as it is for lovers, is what really keeps captive animals happy. Unfortunately, the big zoos are not as good about this (but thankfully improving), because they tend to do things in the name of ‘science’ rather than ‘relationship’. So your experience at the National Zoo does not surprise me. (When I visited there in 2002, I was not impressed by their big cat exhibit, either. And indeed, their white tiger had died the day before the visit, and they inadvertently killed a lion just a month later.)
Then, there are circuses and other shows with animals. I know people who train cats for show work, and their cats. These are well socialized, happy animals, whose capacity to love, be happy and still be cats has not been diminished. They are a joy to be around. I have also talked to people who have dedicated their lives to working with circus animals. Their stories of what they have done over the years to keep their animals happy and healthy would simply amaze you. And indeed, a scientific study of the conditions for animals working in circuses in England showed (much to the chagrin of the activists there who demanded the study), that there were no problems with the animals in circuses there (but in the end, they were banned there, despite the report). Recently, Bolivia banned all their animal performers there. I do not know all the issues, but they moved 25 lions from Bolivia to a sanctuary in the US. In Bolivia, at least these animals were allowed to thrive and reproduce. Here in the US, they will never be allowed to reproduce (and some of these lions were cubs). These lions, even the cubs, are therefore as good as dead. No breed = extinction.
Finally, there is ‘Fatal Attractions’. This show, funded by the animal rights folks, displays only the sensational aspects of exotic animal ownership. Most exotic animal owners, including those shown on the show, are dedicated to what they do to an extent most people would not understand. I know at least three people who share or have shared their bed with an adult African lion on a routine basis. For these folks, they were not doing this because they wanted to ‘be sensational’. They did it because there was a bond of love. I had the privilege of working with one of these lions, and he built a really deep bond with me that persisted until the day he died of old age. Lastly on this subject, you might be interested to know that the folks with the best safety record working with big cats is these so-called ‘pet owners’. These days, almost all incidents with big cats are happening in accredited zoos. And as it is, big cats have killed an average on only 1 person a year here in the US, going back well over 20 years.
Last, but not least, realize that captive husbandry of these animals is what will save them from extinction. Human encroachment is rapidly wiping out their natural habitat. Captivity is their only real hope for survival, and the captive population needs to be diverse: Zoos, wildlife parks, circuses, magic shows, educational centers, pet owners, etc. They can all play a part in preserving our animal heritage. This is a responsibility we have as humans is to ensure that the animals that are here with us continue to be here with us. Extinction can happen very quickly. The tiger wili probably not make it another 20 years in the wild. The tsunami from the recent earthquake in Japan has apparently wiped an entire species of wild cat. Their continued existence will only be assured if there are enough of these cats in captivity.
Working with animals is all about love. And extinction is forever!
Zoos simply can’t hold the numbers. It is safer to keep big cats as pets than it is to let them run around as nuisance animals in human-populated areas, and there is that phrase that seems to have lost so much meaning: Human rights.
There are three very good reasons to risk our lives. One is because the animals are always a resource. Another is because humans need this contact with nature and the animals. Yet another is because, and you would think that the animal rights people would be all over this one, it is fitting that we share our homes with animals instead of displacing them. Did anyone think of that as an alternative instead of simply shouting at and condemning humanity?
Your article is poorly researched and perpetuates ignorant myths. The issue with “Fatal Attractions” is that is a television show that is meant to capture the audience into some realm of terror. If they simply filmed exotic owners that followed their safety protocol and didn’t act like idiots, which by the way is the majority, they would have no excitement and their ratings will drop. Did you seriously base this on a television show without taking that into account?
First of all, in the real world, most of those animals are NOT “ripped out of natural existence” as you like to put it. Many are captive-bred and are kept in clean, well-maintained environment. They have never known an existence in the wild. Second, a good exotic owner has numerous safety protocol be it large cat or venomous snake. There are many people that have exotics and unfortunately this TV show showcases only those idiots that treat them as if they were their pet dogs. So, before you start going on a rant over a television show, talk to some real exotic owners before perpetuating further ignorance that they already have to fight upstream.
Learn a little bit about the situation animals are facing in the wild, the impact humans are having on the wild places where those animals live. Then educate yourself about the conservation efforts being mounted by zoos globally. If you still think zoos don’t serve a purpose, fair enough. But please make your criticism from a position of knowledge.