Christin Groth
April 7, 2011
Over winter break I spent a lot of time looking for a captive wildlife internship that would fill the internship requirement for my captive wildlife minor. I came across an internship at a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility. Although it was already past the application due date, I read through the application because from looking at their website, this sounded like an interesting place. In this application, there was a page with a few of the center’s philosophies on working with captive wildlife, and I found one of them very interesting. It read, “WRR does not use animals in education programs. We firmly disagree with using animals as public display and feel this places the animal under undeserved stress and sends a mixed message to the public suggesting wild animals can be tamed and made into good ‘pets’. . . What are your thoughts on this philosophy?”
Looking at this question with an open mind, I can see and understand parts of this philosophy. I do agree that using an animal in an educational program can be stressful for that animal, but this can be minimized. When an animal is chosen to be used in an education program, that animal can become accustomed to the increased attention through handling and training. Animals can adapt to captive lifestyle in a way that makes interventions with humans less stressful.
Another point to be made is that this is a wildlife rehabilitation center. If they have animals that are injured but will recover to a point that they can be released again, they would not use that animal in a program. In this case they would want to handle that animal as little as possible so that it does not get used to humans. Human desensitization has been proven to be detrimental in the wilderness. This being said, some injuries are too extensive, and that animal would not survive in the wild upon being released. As long as these animal’s injuries heal to a point that is not painful to them, they can serve as a great teaching tool rather than being euthanized or put back in a cage for the rest of their lives.
Then there is the part that talked about sending a mixed message to the public suggesting that wild animals can be tamed and made into good pets. Again, I can see their concern on this issue because I understand that the public may see that beautiful animal being handled and in turn want one themselves. Here I feel that it is important for the individual putting on an educational program to stress a few concepts. First they should stress that this animal has been injured and cannot be released into the wild. It is not uncommon that animal injuries are human influenced, so here people can be taught that their actions can have a large impact on wildlife. The public should also be reminded that as a wildlife rehabilitation center, there are permits, rules, and regulations that need to be kept in order to have these animals. These regulations are there to ensure that while an animal is kept in captivity, it is kept under good living conditions.
Like I said before, I never did end up filling out this application, but this is what I would have said. I understand and can see valid points in their philosophy, but I guess there is a little conflict in our views. Under the right conditions, animals can be a valuable teaching tool used to enhance public awareness and appreciation of wildlife.
3 comments:
I think that animals can be a very useful educational tool used to help people learn. Some of the best learning experiences can be reinforced with live animal displays. At the same time, if an animal is stressed then you may want to keep it out of public use/in a observatory. That way the animal doesn't get extra stress for any unneeded reasons. More of a win for both sides that way.
I would have to agree with your point of view. While being used for education might not be the ideal situation, it's better than being locked up for the rest of its life, never getting new experiences. I've gotten the chance to volunteer at the Raptor Education Group Inc. in Antigo WI and whenever they give presentations they do stress the reason as to why the bird that they're showing can never be released. They also explain that they apply for special permits every year in order to keep the birds for that reason. However, what I dont think a lot of animal educators emphasize enough is that despite being used to people, these animals could easily still cause a lot of harm to a human because they're still wild animals.
I would also agree with your point of view. I can see and understand both sides, but I believe that if it is done in the correct way and the reasons behind it are stated clearly and correctly, using wildlife in education can be very beneficial. As far as the messages being sent to the public that these animals can be tamed as pets, I believe that as long as it is stressed that the animal is there solely for purposes of rehabilitation, that that message can be reduced.
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