- Aug 10, 2012
- 255
- 137
You act as if because a movie was put out there to portray one of the sides, the Internet was subsequently shut down so that people could not see the other sides.
You act as if because a movie was put out there to portray one of the sides, the Internet was subsequently shut down so that people could not see the other sides.
You do know they're not fish, right?
SAN DIEGO – Drivers heading south on Interstate 5 near Mission Bay Sunday may have noticed one of the highway signs was defaced by a critic of SeaWorld San Diego.
Someone apparently climbed to the top of the sign hanging over the middle of the busy highway and painted over it.
The vandal changed the exit sign to “Sea World SUCKS.”
The incident happened amid protesting outside SeaWorld over Memorial Day weekend. Protestors expressed their concern of the orcas being held in captivity.
It was unknown when Caltrans would remove the vandalism.
“This act of vandalism demonstrates that, once again, these extremists are more concerned with publicity stunts than actually helping animals,” SeaWorld San Diego spokesman Dave Koontz stated Sunday.
I visited last year with a group, before I saw or heard of the doc and was uneasy with the 'show' aspect which seems to be more important than preservation, or rescue, those things are an add on to a script for the team members.
Personally, I am not fond of animals in captivity without being due to a rescue, or endangered species breeding program that is planning to release to the wild.
I do feel that the business is the main driver, and everything else below that in terms of priorities.
Of course the show is going to mainly be first and foremost about the show elements and entertaining the guests. And of course SeaWorld is a business first. But you have to look at the bigger picture.
People dont go to SeaWorld to be preached to...if you think of SeaWorld as a place to learn about conservation youre kidding yourself. Sure thats part of it, but people can educate themselves on that at home for free. SeaWorld's chief purpose is to entertain people and thats how they make their money. So obviously the show isnt going to be a marine biology lesson, its going to be entertaining to hold people's attention and gain their money.
HOWEVER, its what SeaWorld does with their money that people are failing to realize. Its not just important for SeaWorld to get peoples dollars because theyre a business...its important because with that money, they devote themselves as a company to conservation efforts and saving animals no longer fit for the wild.
While you may look at the entertainment aspect of it as a shameless money grab, its actually more beneficial to their conservation efforts. Because the more money they draw in, the more they can donate to saving these animals in the wild. The most ironic thing about that is the people protesting SeaWorld are more than likely spending the $90 they would on admission on other things that dont go toward the cause they seem so desperate to defend.
Again, still more than the people protesting have donated^Im not refuting that at all though. First and foremost, yes, they are there to make money. But 1 cent out of every $100 is not something to brush off, considering SeaWorld is such a huge company. Regardless of their status as a publicly-traded company, they still make massive strides to help animal conservation and they cant do that effectively without money. And that money is derived from their ability to entertain guests with their animals.
It does say on their website 'surpasses $10 million in 10 years' so it is around that amount..Sea World does more however..I'm not sure of the exact figures but I know they have donated more than that through the Conservation Fund alone, and the figures you quoted are from an anti captivity group. They also don't account for the money SeaWorld spends rescuing animals and for the perpetual care they provide for animals that can never be released into the wild due to medical conditions. At the Orlando park alone they care for dozens of animals unable to fend for themselves in the wild that are also never on public display. These animals need constant care and that isn't cheap and obviously there's no glory for the park in it. It's done because it's the right thing to do.
Places like Miami Seaquarium that treat their animals horribly are the ones capitalizing on their animals. Seaworld, one of the best animal care/conservation companies in the world, are not. Seaworld isn't making profit just to care for the animals making them the profit, they are spending money taking care of many animals. And it's not all about the money spent, Seaworld does form a lot of events that people volunteer for, without the organization who would come together to help the animals.