blackbearmagic:

derangedhyena-delphinidae:

“You may be asking yourself, “Okay, but how can I help?” I’m not a researcher or marine biologist or scientist. One way to help the Southern Resident pod is to educate yourself. We can always learn more and expand our understanding. The Orca Encounter at SeaWorld encourages this by giving a detailed account of statistics, information and risks that these orcas face in the wild. Also, did you know that actually visiting SeaWorld helps these killer whales in the wild?” x

This is exactly what I’m talking about when I say Seaworld squanders people’s concern, redirecting it to ITSELF.

It’s funny how much this irritates me, considering we used to (and occasionally still do) use this line at my aquarium. That whole “come to our institution to learn more, and say that you’re helping conservation” thing.

Granted, with our institution, it’s a bit different. We’re a non-profit, and ticket revenue literally all goes toward animal care–it’s divided between the care for our collection, and supporting our very active rescue/rehab center. All money, whether it’s ticket sales or donations, goes towards animal care costs. So, I mean, it’s technically not wrong to say that coming to our aquarium supports animal care/rescue.

I think the reason why our staff is steadily falling out of love with this line is that it feels… lazy. There are plenty of people who will take that statement at face value, enjoy a nice day at the aquarium, and make no attempt to change any environmentally-detrimental habits they might have. There’s no challenge to improve. It’s a pat on the back, and nothing more.

I haven’t seen the entirety of SW’s new “educational” shows–I watched part of a video of one, and was mostly focused on how disinterested the orcas were in their trainers, contrasted with the dolphins at my aquarium, who always seem so tuned-in to theirs–but, given the institution’s track record, I expect there’s probably no challenge at the end.

And when I say challenge, I mean… like, here’s an example. One of my duties at the aquarium is to give, upon occasion, an educational talk in our dolphin exhibit. I don’t interact with the dolphins at all, although sometimes they will come up, put their chins on the slideout, and stare at me (and it wasn’t cued by a trainer, they’re just genuinely curious about me)–but at the end of my talk, I challenge people to consider reusable options like bags and bottles. One of the things I mention is that I’ve been using the same classic nalgene bottle for thirteen years, and how that equates to about 2,000 single-use bottles saved; I ask my audience to look around and imagine the impact we would make if every person sitting there now was making that choice, and ask them to consider making it.

I’ve been told that bringing up my gross old bottle is great, because not only does it make things personal and “relatable”, but it also shows that a reusable water bottle… really is reusable. That it’s a long-term investment. And that if someone’s spending money every week on bottled water, that investment may look pretty nice when they realize how long a good bottle can last them.

But also, like… “a detailed account of statistics, information and risks that these orcas face in the wild”. 

Again, haven’t seen their new “educational” shows all the way through, but I feel like they probably don’t include information on how their audience can help with those “risks”. They probably just tell them about it. Just tell them about the horrible horrible things that are happening and going to happen to orcas in the ocean.

Anyway, telling people that coming to an institution is “doing something” feels more and more lazy with each passing day. If you tell them you’re going to educate them, and then actually educate them, they aren’t going to complain about it. Oh, but wait. That would require you to care about something other than your own profit. Right.