In 2019, I paid serious attention to animal protection because of the many articles about animal abuse. Animals harmed in the report include wild animals that used to be sold as costumes, used animals to attract visitors through interactive performances in scenic spots, animals that are kept in aquariums for performances, and so on. Which let me real to notice it and search for more information about animal abuse and animal protection. The word “animal protection” is no longer just a word remembered because of repeated advertising slogans.
As I think more about this topic, I believe that the area where we humans live and the area where wild animals live should not be integrated, and animals should keep a distance from us in life. In addition, animals are not our entertainment and consumables.
As part of human life, entertainment has been developed into various activities that allow people to participate in the experience.
As early as the eighties(80’s), animals became popular entertainment in the circus as protagonists and selling points. After the circus’s decline, performances on the water represented by dolphins and sea lions were produced. There are also some performances derived from local animals, such as elephants.
A graduate student from MA illustration (《NO ART in the Zoo》Peisi Zhang) described the state of animals in the zoo with her work. The situation of the animals, when people look at the animals in the zoo, they look as looking paintings one by one for the visitor. Animals seem to be works of art, and they lose their individual meaning. I have the same feeling when I visit the zoo. As many artworks. Don’t know it’s people are seeing animals or animals are visiting people, and who is in the cage being watched.
To perform some actions that were cheered loudly by the audience, and life in captivity caused a lot of irreparable damage to the animals. Not all the animals we see in zoos and aquariums be showed because they cannot survive in the wild and are rescued.
In addition to dolphins trained as “acrobats”, whales that live in aquariums without performing are physically and mentally harmful either.
A whale travels a hundred miles a day and dives as much as 300 feet to forage, And they live in tightly knit family groups, often not leaving their birth family.
They have culture and dialects, and they have exciting communication systems and big brains. There is nothing to do in a concrete tank for a brain like that.
A concrete tank is like an auditory hall of mirrors art first. They’re going to get back a lot of echoes, and eventually, they’re going to realize there’s nothing to echolocate on. And at that point, they simply shut down.
Their growth is forced to stop, and brain activity is pressed to pause, but the whale’s body does not stop growing. A human being may not differ too much in height from infancy to adulthood. But an adult whale averages 15 feet. However, they live in places that are not much bigger than their bodies. Sadly, mental and psychological illnesses caused by being kept in aquariums can shorten their lives, and perhaps they will not have time to grow into adulthood.
Captive whales rarely live more than 20 years, and fewer than 50% lived more than 4 years after captured.
Loneliness is a major cause of stress, depression and death in captive killer whales.
The year before last, two whales were used as part of an exhibition in an aquarium in a hotel where I lived. Although the whales’ aquarium isn’t so small to hold them, they only need to swing their tails twice and swim in less than twenty seconds for one circle. Two whales swim in circles against the inner wall of the aquarium, the longest distance they can go. There is a notch in the set in the aquarium, which is blocked by a fence. One of the whale lean in it and touch the hole whenever he/she swims to that position, then stay for a few seconds and then come back and continue circling. I don’t know if he/she’s swimming there because it’s a little larger in radius than other places where he/she can swim or if he/she’s curious about what is behind that fence. But whatever the reason, it hurts me to see it swim over and hit that fence. He swims in circles and repeats, swimming towards it and crashing into it repeatedly. Ultimately, I couldn’t stand there to watch it, so I left.
Although with the rise of television, because of the lack of innovative performances in circuses, the popularity of animal protection increased, and the circus gradually weakened. But in most parts of the world, there are no clear low to ban all animal performances, so there always have people who don’t stop the shows. The animals that were harmed and the form of harm may have changed, but the number of animals harmed has not decreased.
I made a short film for a half minute to describe the state of these animals.
As shown in the movie, the animals float in space in a sealed, transparent box. There is no light in the area, but they can see the glowing Earth – their home. However, they can’t control the movement of the box and land on Earth – to back to their homeland. Go back to the forest, the desert, or the ocean.
Their body movements are also frozen, these poses are the audience’s favourite movement, and the trainer trains these movements as the most accustomed movements of the animals. Perhaps the trainer could not train the animals into fully controlled puppets, but he successfully trained them as crystal ornaments that were more popular with the audience. The audience cannot control them, but they are pleasantly surprised to show a look that the audience will like during the performance. They are crystal clear and colourful, attracting the audience’s attention.
For these animals, which have lost their ability to survive in the wild, the flower light illuminates them. They refract the light from each other, and everyone is illuminated. They seem to be alive and can move.
This light is their hope for rebirth. But in real life, who will play the light, and how to achieve the effect of this light? The little girl in the film discovers this light, and what can she do for these animals?
More parents take their children to watch dolphin shows than adults go to the aquarium to watch dolphin shows. And this activity brings a false education to the children as if to tell the children that we as human beings should dominate them. Children don’t have the opportunity to learn about whales and their culture.
I hope this will draw everyone’s attention and thinking about these things. For animals that have not yet been harmed, how to prevent them from being harmed and reduce the possibility of being harmed? How do we maximize the help of animals that have been harmed? What better way for children and everyone to understand animals outside of books?
Animal sanctuaries are already in place to help animals recover their wild abilities as quickly as possible, and some teams have developed highly realistic animals. All of this is helping us to get more animals protected and returned to their homes.
Some people may think high-fidelity animals must have some simulation deficiencies and cannot have the surprises that may occur when interacting with real animals. But what is the purpose of our contact with animals? Do we necessarily need to have a 100% authentic experience? Does the missing part affect our aim?
I hope everyone can learn more about the animals and understand their culture. And treat them as equals. Respect other creatures. And keep our distance from them.