Natural Sanctuaries

Hi there!

Last week, I talked about the controversy of zoos - whether it is a form of education or cruelty. I ended off the post by mentioning having natural sanctuaries instead of zoos.

What are natural or wildlife sanctuaries and how is it different from zoos?

• Wildlife sanctuaries take in and care for animals that have been abused, neglected or abandoned
• They rehabilitate them and either return them back to the wild or take care of them for the rest of their lives
• Breeding or commercial exploitation of animals is a no-no
• Wildlife sanctuaries do not advocate close contact between humans and animals and minimise it as much as possible 

The Wild Animal Sanctuary takes in mostly carnivores that were once in captivity and suffered from human mistreatment. They operate on 720-acre refuge, 30 miles Northeast of Denver. (The Wild Animal Sanctuary, n.d.)

All pictures below are taken from The Wild Animal Sanctuary. 

The Tiger Roundhouse

Playful tiger

"Mile into The Wild"

One of the doubts I had was that the elevated pathway actually increased the animals' interaction with humans which resembles a zoo, but one of the interesting things I learnt was that large carnivores and most animals do not consider air and sky to be their territory and hence, those animals in the sanctuary don't get stressed out like animals in the zoo who face humans on their level. How cool is that! 

Do visit their website to clear some of your doubts!

While animal sanctuaries sound like a really good idea, it is also difficult to determine whether a sanctuary is being ethically responsible. Thus, it is important to do your research before visiting an animal or wildlife sanctuary. In my opinion, one of the easiest ways to determine whether a wildlife sanctuary is being responsible is whether they allow human interaction with animals, which is a big NO-NO. 

Thank you for reading!

References: 

Mansbridge, P. (2015). How Animal ‘Sanctuaries’ Aren’t Always What They Seem. [online] One Green Planet. Available at: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/how-animal-sanctuaries-arent-always-what-they-seem/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2015].

The Wild Animal Sanctuary, (n.d.). The Wild Animal Sanctuary. [online] Available at: http://www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2015].

Zoos - education or cruelty?

Hello there!

Before I start off with the blog post, I'd like to ask you guys a question:

How many of you went to the zoo as an excursion when you were in primary school?
How did you feel about seeing the animals in the Singapore Zoo?
Do you still feel the same way?

Personally, I used to enjoy going to The Singapore Zoo and to Jurong Bird Park when I was younger because that was the closest we could get to "interacting" with animals!

Check out this funny video about zoo animals going wild.

Zoo Animals Gone Wild (Ken, 2013).

I'm sure it made you laugh! But think about why they act like this.

After visiting the Zoo last year, I felt disgusted and disappointed with myself. The visit to the Zoo made me feel really sad inside because of the plight of the animals held in captivity.

Put yourselves in these animals shoes. How would you feel being confined to a small area, the agony of not knowing whether you'll be released one day, relying on someone for your food and water, not being able to socialise, being watched from day to night without any privacy of your own.........

Now, watch this video that sums up what you don't know about zoos in 1 minute.

What You Don't Know About Zoos (Ken, 2013).

Don't you feel your heart sinking?

What rights do us humans have to control these animals and take away their entire life?
How can we be this selfish? To gain economic profit while these animals' lives are being destroyed?

It might have been a great idea to have zoos as tourist attractions or even as a form of education in the past. But with advanced technology these days, I personally feel that we can scrape these zoos and learn about animals through documentaries or 3D movies instead. However, these documentaries have to be taken in a way that respects the animals as well. Apart from that, natural sanctuaries can also be a way to let the public learn about animals in a more responsible manner.

There are, however, some controversies about natural sanctuaries as well... which I will get back to next week!

References:

Ken, S. (2013). Zoo Animals Gone Wild Compilation. [video] Available at: https://youtu.be/lA5Kvkwseg4 [Accessed 12 Sep. 2015].

Peta2, (2014). What No One Told You About Zoos. [video] Available at: https://youtu.be/gw0SWsRB1Fo [Accessed 12 Sep. 2015].

Plight of elephants in the Tourism Industry

I'm back again!

Now, moving off from where we left off last week, I'd like to share about the sad and heart-wrenching plight of elephants that are captured and used in the tourism industry, especially in Thailand.

Elephant rides in Thailand (Green Trial Tours, n.d.).

I remember riding on an elephant when I was really young, maybe 5 or 6 years old. It never occurred to me then or anytime soon after, how these elephants were actually "trained" to be so obedient towards their human handlers. It was only last year when I read an article on Facebook about Phajaan, the process of crushing and breaking a baby elephant's spirit.

You can watch the video here. I watched it once, but I couldn't bring myself to watch it again. It really broke my heart. The photo below actually won an award, for being able to capture the torture baby elephants with such intensity.

Award winning image taken by Brent Lewin (NBC News, 2011).

Though we aren't in the position to stop these tourism industries from using these elephants, we can do our part by stopping the demand for elephant rides. Without the demand, these industries won't survive and won't do as well and hopefully, these elephants will be released to the wild or to animal welfare groups such as the Save Elephant Foundation in Thailand to be rehabilitated as much as as possible.

Refererences:

Green Trial Tours, (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://www.asiantrailtours.com/data/frontImages/tours/tours_image/1409212776_elephant-riding-in-chiang-rai-500-5.jpg [Accessed 3 Sep. 2015].

Karsten, M. (2013). Why You Shouldn't Ride Elephants In Thailand • Expert Vagabond. [online] Expert Vagabond. Available at: http://expertvagabond.com/elephants-in-thailand/comment-page-1/#comments [Accessed 3 Sep. 2015].

NBC News, (2011). Baby elephant tortured into submission before illegal smuggling from Burma to Thailand. [online] Available at: http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/03/03/6180772-baby-elephant-tortured-into-submission-before-illegal-smuggling-from-burma-to-thailand [Accessed 3 Sep. 2015].