Having A Whale Of A Time?
I read this article on the BBC News website, about five 'killer' whales being named as plaintiffs in a court case, which raises some interesting questions.
Actually, the article itself doesn't raise many, if any, interesting questions, but reading it provoked some of my own. The gist of the article is that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have brought a lawsuit, in San Diego, against Seaworld (the owners of the properties where the whales are located), on behalf of the whales. They are citing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the USA, which abolished "slavery or involuntary servitude".
PETA are claiming that the whales are enslaved, which, bearing in mind they are wild-captured animals being held in captivity, and 'forced' to perform 'unnatural' acts, seems a reasonable claim. But, as Seaworld's lawyer, Theodore Shaw, is reported to have said, "Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the 'We the people...' when the Constitution was adopted."
He's got a point, and, consequently, it seems highly unlikely that PETA will win in court. But then, I think it highly unlikely that PETA's objective is to win, more likely to gain attention for their cause.
I'm all for the ethical treatment of animals, but I have some reservations about PETA. It is alleged that although they claim to eschew violence, they make large donations to the Animal Liberation Front, who apparently set fire to the Coulston Foundation primate-research facility some years ago.
I don't know about that. The issue I have is this: how do we, as humans, know what animals want and like? How do we know that those whales are not enjoying their lives? Just because I wouldn't want to spend my days doing what they do, and living like they do, doesn't mean that they feel the same way. Saying that 'if they were released they wouldn't stay there' is not proof that they are unhappy.
Claiming to know what animals want, and what's best for them, is not very dissimilar to claiming to know what gods want, and what they think is best for everyone. I wrote about what people think their god thinks, just the other day, and I suspect that a similar mechanism operates when we think about what animals think.
There is a difference, of course. We can observe animals' behaviours which can give us a clue to how they are feeling, or at least some of them at any rate. I'm just not very convinced that the whales in question have such a bad time. Their lifestyle is nowhere near on a par with battery hens, for example.
But whatever the pros and cons of PETA's actions, be kind to an animal whenever you get the opportunity.
