One of my oldest and best friends invited Benjamin and I to her son’s birthday party. I was so excited until I heard where the party is taking place: the aquarium.
I haven’t been to the Zoo in years. I know that the last time I went I was still that young person amazed and awed by all animals and just itching to see them in “real life”. But then I got there, and I remember feeling helpless and so very sad for the creatures and their lack of space and natural habitat. I cried at the Great Ape exhibit to see those poor, intelligent beings sitting, playing with their feet in their barren rooms.
It’s been even longer since I’ve been to the Aquarium.
I know that some of the Zoos and Aquariums do a lot of conservation for the environment and for the animals that they keep in captivity. I know that some species would probably be extinct if it weren’t for their efforts. I can’t believe that people who work for those places are all evil and neglecting and abusing animals.
Here is a quote from the National Aquarium’s website:
“Our Animals Love to Play
Aquarium staff ensure that all the animals have diverse and stimulating environments to explore. Items used for enrichment are so well used that many of them need to be replaced on a regular basis.“
According to Karen Dawn’s book, Thanking the Monkey, dolphins swim hundreds of miles per day in the wild. In captivity, you can see their entire enclosures. No more hundred mile swims. No more complex underwater worlds to play in. How could any place provide artificially what nature provides naturally?
I knew my own personal answer to the question before I wrote the post. But how would you deal with this? Do you explain to your friend why you can’t go? Or make up an excuse? Or would you just go, and be sad? Similar questions have evoked all sorts of answers from vegan friends of mine.I don’t think that there is a wrong answer, as long as it’s acknowledged and pondered.
I am not going to go, and I’m going to explain why to my friend. Maybe I’ll ask her to read this post.
What do you think?
Personally, I would let him go. I think it’s important for your son to go to a party with children his age, as well as to see and marvel at the animals. Despite his young age (you don’t mention his age but from pix he looks like a lil tyke), this might be something that influences him for a very long time. Maybe he falls in love and develops a life-long passion for marine life and conservation.
If he were a little older, I would use it as an opportunity to discuss the good and the bad things about the National Aquarium. For example, the “Aquarium’s conservation, education, and research efforts make a vital difference in the status of our oceans,” but, the environment isn’t a natural one and leaves much to be desired.
Such is the world be live in — it isn’t perfect, but we can use it to appreciate what is there and learn what more can be done.
I would rather take him to a sanctuary like Poplar Springs to teach him about animals. Nowadays, the internet is a wonderful resource for videos and images of marine life and other animals in their natural habitat–I personally think that’s a better way to learn about the way animals live.
I do agree completely with your point about discussion–I think it’s really important to talk about the good and the bad with kids–they are smart enough, which I don’t think enough parents give kids credit for how smart they are. I know when he goes to school in a few years he will have trips to the Zoo and I know that will spark good discussion. By then he will be old enough to think about it and take part in making the decisions based on our discussions.
I wouldn’t go. I wouldn’t forbid my child from going to a reputable zoo or aquarium once he’s old enough to go without me, but I wouldn’t go. I too can see that there is value in the conservation work that many aquariums and zoos do, so I actually think that morally this is a grey area. But personally I just find it too depressing to go. There are plenty of other chances for the kids to spend time together; the last thing a child needs to witness is his mom forcing herself to put on a happy face “for appearance’s sake” when she actually wants to throw up and cry. That’s not helping anyone. But that’s just me.
I’d just tell the parent the truth — thanks for the invite, but aquariums make me too sad.