Entertainment in Animal Cruelty.

Hello readers, I trust you are all well.

Today's share it a tough one. Tough but something relevant to our current modern social climate. Animal shows as entertainment for us humans.

I recently watched Tyke Elephant Outlaw and informate documentary about an African Elephant who had a mental break, killed it's trainer and then ran around Honolulu who was then shot over 80 times and finally died.  The saddest part was that no one listened to Tykes trainer who 13 months prior said she should not be used in any shows. She was then loaded on a ship in cramped quarters for 4 days. Then she and the other elephants were chained up before and after the shows. Of course the corporate agency that owned the animals made public statements that this has never happened, which the documentary when on to show that these types of incidences did infact occur leading up to Honolulu show.

We have heard this before, we have heard this story in Black Fish which documented the history of Tilikum the Orca/Killer Whale who had killed to date 3 people, which included one of his trainers. This documentary also went as far to show the conditions that the Orcas were kept in during non show times. Of course again the corporate entity that owns the animals deny regularly any mistreatment and go as far as to say that the animals love doing the shows, this sentiment was also expressed in the documentary about Tyke the elephant. At which point you have to ask your self, if a self aware animal - human or otherwise - was locked up all day, made to do trick and wear a party hat would they be happy to live that life?

Human slavery was abolished many years ago but we are still deluding ourselves that we can own "lesser" species.  What gives us the right? What gives us the right to train horses, and dogs to race to human greed? 

The most deplorable of all the corporate arguments was the attitude that these animals were being saved from extinction by capturing them and putting on shows for audiences. The shows were educational and allowed the people there to see the shows what these animals are like in the wild. What a joke! 

For the last 6 years I have also come to a realisation that with all our modern invention we still have zoos, holding animals in captivity for humans to gawk at. Animals should not be held captive at all. They are not here for our entertainment or pleasure, but rather their very own existence to be carried out of their own choosing.  For decades now I have had the luxury of being able to watch some stunning documentaries on a variety or animals in their habitats, many of which have been Attenborough BBC shows. 

My personal beliefs do also extend to having pets for myself. While I understand that many people want pets and feel the need for companionship. Working dogs on farms are a different matter, just to be clear. I get upset when I see pets becoming depressed because their human/s have gone away. I personally believe I could not put an animal through that kind of distress for my own selfish desire to have subservient companionship. Please do not think that I judge other on my personal beliefs as I do not.

I will conclude this post with a positive note. For the last few months I have been following a particular instagrammer who at first I just thought put up wonderful videos and photos of big cats. After a while I started to actually research the foundation that the photos and videos were from. Black Jaguar White Tiger. It is incredible what Eduardo Serio has been doing. He has such a passion for rescuing these big cats from hotels, petting zoos, circus shows, etc. Then I found information about the efforts he is going to, to end captive animals Mexico. The foundation is building a sanctuary for these animals to live out their days.