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ANIMAL RIGHTS

PETA Files Whale Slavery Lawsuit Against SeaWorld

PETA has filed a lawsuit charging SeaWorld with violating the 13th Amendment by enslaving killer whales. This could be interesting.

The suit, which PETA says it will file Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego, hinges on the fact that the 13th Amendment, while prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, does not specify that only humans can be victims.

Jeff Kerr, PETA's general counsel, says his five-member legal team - which spent 18 months preparing the case - believes it's the first federal court suit seeking constitutional rights for members of an animal species.

The scorn heaped upon this lawsuit in the court of public opinion will be roughly equal to the scorn once heaped upon the ideas of abolition and female suffrage. Somebody please have Jay Leno read some Peter Singer before he starts to discuss this news.

[AP, photo via AP]

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BY HAMILTON NOLANOCT 25, 2011 5:52 PM12,016  130ShareDISCUSSION THREADS

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 tigris010Tue 25 Oct 2011 7:44 PM PETA is awful. This lawsuit is going in the wrong direction (animal slavery?). 

That being said, I went to Sea World last year and was totally excited to relive some childhood memories. Instead, I was horribly depressed and spent about three hours after we got home reading about the awful practice of capturing and training these whales for these dumb light shows. I don't think that zoos are inherently evil, but whales are too big and too intelligent to be kept captive like this. We can't (or, Sea World won't) provide adequate and healthy living space for them. I don't think the joy and excitement of seeing a live whale up close can compare with the horrific way they're kept and live their lives. I'm not giving any more money to Sea World.
 GucciGucci @tigris010I hear you. I'm never with anything PETA does but the SeaWorld thing is just fucked up. I loved going to the circus as a child but now when I see the elephants I want to cry, and I'm this super ass kicking tough guy bad ass (who can totally kick your ass).
 Busby Berkeley @tigris010the way I look at it seeing as Whales are still being bruttely hunted in the wild I am ok with keeping a few of them safe at the variuos Seaworlds. Who knows one day we might need to clone some of them after they are hunted to extinction.
 LessThanZero @tigris010So are elephants, on that. Having seen animals on safari in the wild, I cannot in good conscience ever patronize a zoo or aquarium ever again. Elephants in the wild walk miles every day with their herds - sometimes up to 50. Gorillas in the wild are the most incredible creatures you'll ever bear witness to - it's like looking into the eyes of your ancestors, 4 feet away from you. Seeing them in the zoo afterwards, depressed and staring listlessly out the plexiglass...zoos are inherently evil, I can't not feel that way anymore. I never used to until seeing animals in the wild. 

But, you are right, PETA's practices are by and large fucked up.
 SugarflyMcQueen @LessThanZeroI understand where you're coming from. but some zoos do take part in important conservation efforts and breeding programs with the intent of responsible re-introduction into the wild. The Amur leopard, for example, may number less than 40 animals in the wild, but has around 300 animals in captivity with the eventual goal of re-establishing the wild population: 

[en.wikipedia.org] 

Also, not all zoos are created equal. Some zoos (especially older urban zoos) still struggle to provide adequate enclosures for their animals (and indeed there are probably some animals that are best not kept in such places at all). Conditions in other zoos are improving - the North Carolina Zoo (the one nearest to me) houses a number of African savannah animals in large, open-field enclosures, but it is in a pretty rural area so they have the space to do it.
 LessThanZero @SugarflyMcQueenYou're right, there are some that do good work in the conservation field, I shouldn't ignore that. It's just very sad to me though - even at the San Diego Wildlife Park, which I think is similar to what you're referring to in North Carolina, a huge open "safari park" type experience, the larger animals are still in smaller enclosures. Plus, I mean, you just can't compare San Diego or NC to Kenya, or South Africa, or Zambia, you know? It just breaks my heart. I do appreciate their conservation efforts, the zoos that actively work towards helping wild populations.
 sarasasa @LessThanZeroI hear you. Elephants are probably the first animals I'd save if I had a huge ark and meteorological premonitions. I just can't go to the zoo anymore, I swear those elephants are clinically depressed. Just looking at their sad faces in that small enclosed space, surrounded by a ditch while squealing children hold food up for them. Ugh. I have occasional dreams of breaking in and riding them out to freedom.
 LessThanZero @sarasasaOMG, me too, we should do it together. The animals are SO depressed. It was the gorillas that really made me say no more, I went to the San Diego Wildlife Park thing a few years ago thinking maybe it wasn't that bad but I just felt sick to my stomach the whole time and I'll never go to another zoo anywhere. They were completely listless, their coats were dull and dirty, they were NOTHING like seeing them in their natural habitat - they're the most incredible creatures, seriously, it killed me seeing them down in SD :(