Comments by "Jonathan Stephens" (@JonathanStephens84) on "One Year After 'Blackfish,' SeaWorld Goes On Offensive" video.
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Sam Richie Why do you refuse to accept risk is ever present when working with wild animals just as it is with anything else in life? The probability associated with a risk goes up depending on a number of factors, but you are focussing purely on one. Why don't you explore the risk factors with Tilikum a little more, who had a difficult history before being transferred to Sea World? Of course no-one has ever been seriously injured by a wild orca, because very few people swim with them in the wild (not to mention it being a legal offence in many parts of the world).
The question we should be asking is with respect to the data, and if it is really valid or large enough to support your hypothesis?
Tilikum, who accounts for three deaths, should be excluded from the sample size, as he was not kept in Sea World's captivity across his full life span and suffered from traumatic bullying from other captive whale which could and should have been prevented by separation from them. Also to be excluded from the sample size are whales which were separated from their mothers due to capture in the wild, which is no longer relevant to the current world situation.
I am only interested in data drawn from a sample set consisting of those born in captivity in Sea World's care and remaining in Sea World's care. If you are using wider data, to support an argument against Sea World, you are not being fair to Sea World. This is objective reasoning, and anyone arguing against it is doing so to further their own agenda. Anyone care to generate the deaths and injuries per human contact hour now, and compare it to this probability of a zoo/safari keeper being killed by a lion/tiger, or a driver being killed on his/her daily commute, based on the above restrictions on data use?
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M Brk Your comparisons of deaths attributed to snakes, scorpions, hippos and jellyfish is quite misleading. Firstly these are land animals where their populations are a lot larger (many orders of magnitude larger) and the probability of human interaction or proximity is much higher. Even comparing sharks would be misleading as small sharks are able to swim into relatively shallow water near beaches, etc. Further in the open water where you will find whales, you are likely to be in a boat. There have been recorded cases of whales damaging boats (likely to be accidental, or deliberate play).
I don't disagree with your second paragraph.
Your third paragraph is wrong where you say they do not contribute to research which has usefulness to wild orcas. It may be true that their research output, related to wild orcas, is low. There are some mitigating reasons for this, which I won't go into here. I read the blog, but it is a blog, which has naturally has a degree of subjectivity in it, and this one is certainly biased to the extent they are not acknowledging any positives at all. I'll edit this comment to include a link to backup the above research related sentences later today.
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David Keenan I understand where you're coming from, although I don't think I will ever share that idea. For me, I can't consider a species in captivity, directly against a species in the wild. For captive species, who's to say that they don't enjoy their very different life in captivity? If they've never lived in the wild, how can they miss it? They do not know any alternatives. For me comparing the experiences of captive species to wild species will always be an 'apples to oranges' type comparison. How can you be sure that the whales don't enjoy their captive lives? I know blackish tried to show they are distressed but as I've said earlier, they use a lot of misleading media tricks to do this.
On a different note it's also worth remembering that a lot of people in the wider society don't watch good objective documentaries such as those on National Geo, and wouldn't learn about these animals without a trip to Sea World. I remember my own learning experience as a child, which, especially at kid's age, is a far more effective and enjoyable learning format than watching documentaries, for most kids.
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M Brk 'I understood your point but didn't agree with it. I don't make comparisons between life in the wild and life in captivity, as captive born populations have never experienced the wild. This affects how I treat your other points in the paras below.
Separation from life partners' is surely only appropriate when considering wild Orcas, which are no longer captured. Regarding Sea World disinformation, I'm not here to defend SeaWorld, I'm hear to question the logic and understanding of so many armchair activists who simply watch the Blackfish mockumentary and think they are experts.
How can you be so sure a captive animal needs to hunt? If your argument is that they enjoy hunting, why can't they substitute it for playing with toys, for example? If captive Orcas have never lived in the wild they can't miss it. Should we free all domesticated dogs by the same logic, or argue keeping dogs is wrong. I so somewhat agree with your comment on restricted tanks, and am all for increasing the size of the tanks. My different opinions on these issues are predicated on the main issue, that we differ in our willingness to compare captive animals (never having lived in the wild) to wild animals.
I'm puzzled by the endless deaths and aggression. Where did you get the numbers from, and how recent is the data?
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AnimalLeftist Lol, research is irrelevant, and my IQ is to blame. It's just another day in the world of the anti-caps' crusade to capture the moral high-ground by any means necessary. May I suggest you spend a little more time in the 'centre', i.e. listen and reason to both sides of the debate.
Regarding your 'research' (wink, wink), I've read your YouTube channel and found most of the links to be from blogs. You've referenced NOAA fisheries twice, one of those times, to repeat others' less informed accusations that Sea World whales live shorter lives than those in the wild. Unfortunately, you suffer from a problem many others do, which is to suffer from statistical ignorance. It's easy to pull figures, without really asking yourself the numbers are truly valid to support conclusions rather than supporting one's own bias.
Your numbers from NOAA are what whales can live UP TO. I don't think NOAA would be happy with how their figures have been taken out of context. Sea World has clearly got better at caring for whales, as the length of their lives has been increasing since they first started. However, these are all irrelevant counter arguments to spin a different picture.
The real question that should be asked is the following: Is there enough confidence, i.e. is the sample size big enough to allow for a hypothesis to be drawn as to whether the captive animals live as long (or longer), or shorter lives as those in the wild? The answer is not at this time. This is just one aspect of anti-/pro- captivity debates where we could go down a rather amusing rabbit hole if you'd like?!
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no other reason than entertainment?
Regardless of what some may think, I regard the Orca displays as a form of interaction that most people, would otherwise not get the opportunity to have. There are numerous educational benefits from all the SW shows, which I really believe are not just put on for entertainment, but education, just like any other zoological establishment.
In terms of justifying 'it', I ask you to read my older posts, across the last few months, because frankly I'm getting tired of repeating the same arguments. Whether you like it or not there are two angles to this debate. It is a debate, and until you see it as a two-sided debate we are going to get nowhere discussing this.
Recognising the above, I would like to ask you one question to gauge your background. Sea World and Orca captivity aside, what other subject matters to campaign for would you say you associate with, or care about? Please answer in order of priority. If you answer this question, I will give my answer as well.
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