Animals Used for Entertainment Results in Fatal Death

Animal cruelty for the sake of human entertainment is a crime and needs to be stopped.

Animals are beautiful, majestic, and extraordinary. They are colorful, big, small, fuzzy, slimy, rough skinned, scaly. Overall, animals are the most amazing thing this world has to offer, but we humans just can’t have nice things. As if the environment wasn't enough, with pollution and global warming, we have to harm and torture even the most precious and perfect creatures this world has to offer. Humans don’t just harm animals, they ruin them, they ruin their spirit. Inside out. Animals offer their help with the environment like pest control, climate control, and pollination yet we humans despise the help and take advantage. Animals like bears, birds, orcas (killer whales), and many others that are being domesticated are victims of humanity’s cruel and destructive tendencies, and you might be part of the problem. Below are 3 animals that are wrongfully targeted and abused and are in need of our help

Sloth Bears

There are the so-called “Dancing Bears” which originated in India whose names are Sloth Bears. These bears are unique as they have a long snout, long tongue, curved claws and a beautiful black shaggy coat with white on their chest shaped as a crescent moon. Though they do look intimidating and ugly as some people may think, these animals are unique and are a very beautiful species. These bears have done nothing but live and are targeted for human sick entertainment. These bears are getting harmed by people as their homes begin to get destroyed and are forced to be used as a toy. 

These living and breathing animals are suffering for human satisfaction as they are repeatedly getting beat, teeth being ripped out of their socket, a rope tightly wrapped around their neck that goes through their noses, constantly being yanked around and having a burning sensation in the nostrils as the thick rope cuts their skin and bells jingling beautiful melodies as the bears body gets tortured to dance and their sore swelling paws from constantly walking on the dry, hot ground. Being blinded and health slowly deteriorating. Constantly flinching and only understanding pain. 

Dancing bears have been around for numerous years. In 1972, a law was enforced to outlaw the dancing bears under the Wildlife Protection Act. Even though this act happened no one was protecting the bears since they are big creatures and no shelters or zoos were taking them in and these “owners” took advantage of this and owned the bears which made the dancing bears to continuously be tortured and beaten. This is very popular in India as 800 to 1,200 bears could be living in this fear of death and dancing for people's sick pleasure. 

Orcas

Though Orcas, also known as Killer Whales, are large in size and have an eye-catching color of black and white and a big mouth with a row of 40 teeths that are razor sharp to tear their food down. They are known for communication of clicking sounds, whistles, echolocation clicks, pulsed calls, low-frequency pops, and jaw clap that waves through miles in the water. Even though orcas are big in size they are very amiable animals by nature and would never hurt a human unless they have been stressed and constantly stuck in a suffocating, small, dirty tank. 

The process of capturing an orca is very heartbreaking as it takes teams of people with speed boats, deafening explosives, and airplanes. The team try to separate the young calfs with their mothers but because of the orcas intelligence, they mislead the people and other adult orcas get chased so the mothers and calfs get to escape but because of the airplanes, the mother and calf have to reach for air soon so get spotted and quickly get capture as the calf gets stripped from their mother and raised alone and isolated. Orcas usually are in pods of 2-5 family members which makes them highly social, intelligent, and almost a human personality. In reference to this, if you have watched the new Avatar: The Way of the Water movie, there is a scene in which a team of humans capture a huge whale to kill and it is almost identical to how people capture these helpless animals. The same deafening bombs get thrown to mislead the orcas and cause them to lose their direction and completely discombobulate those creatures. 

If that's not bad enough, once captured, Orcas live in small tanks which are stressful to them and are never cleaned. Those creatures get depressed and float in the water as they feel lost and lose their spirit in themselves since they grew up lonely, with no family, and no friends which makes them aggressive and desperate to escape. Something noticeable that happens to the Orcas is their fins getting tilted/folded to the side which is a concern to notice since it only happens when they are in high levels of stress, dehydration, and poor health. Those small enclosures badly impact the orca's health. The lifespan of an Orca in the wild is 50-90 years, but when in captivity they live 10-45 years. Captivity robs these beautiful creatures of long and healthy lives, and all for the “thrill” that we get from getting splashed when they jump up in the air to do a trick they never wanted to perform.

Imagine if you were in that scenario, alone in a small place, isolated from the world, fighting for your ground, forced to do tricks, your health deteriorating, slowly losing your mind. Those animals are like us, social. They need their family, they need their friends and being locked in a tank and constantly spinning in a circle is very stressful. 

Exotic Birds

Birds don’t usually get as much attention in the animal rights conversation, but now it's becoming a serious problem as their population increasingly plummets. 1.39 billion birds are dying because of the increase of human population, bird trafficking, and loss of habitat. Birds get smuggled and even die in the process as they are tightly stuffed in a small case and shipped long hours, which slowly suffocates the poor creatures. If you have watched Rio then you would know exactly what I mean when I say smuggling and bird trafficking.

These birds are forced to be in a place that wasn't even made for them and ruins their way of living since birds are made for their own place, not for a person's home, not in a cage. Only in the forest where they can fly free can birds thrive. Trapped in a cage in your living room, with only a few feet of space to live is the exact opposite of what these feathered friends deserve.  

Everyday, 13.7 million birds are dying. Everyday. Every single day. Imagine the horrors the birds have to be faced with, imagine. Getting captured in your beautiful home, possibly getting an injury that costs your life, getting stuffed in a cage, getting shipped and just constantly being sold around for money? Paper? Is a paper worth a bird's life? A bird is made to be free and have their own lives, who are we to judge how a bird lives. Why make them suffer? Why do this for money? 

In the end, these animals are powerless, they have no voice. Therefore, it is up to us, people who have a voice, to be heard and protect the rights they deserve. You may feel helpless because you can’t do anything about the situation but you can. There are various programs that help these animals and even if you can’t do anything, even the feeling of guilt can help make a change:

• There's a program called Orca Conservancy which specifically helps those animals. 

• There's another for Sloth Bears called Bears which help the sloth bears from their loss of habitat. 

• And lastly, here's another program that helps with trafficked animals called Wildlife Trafficking Alliance. 

These animals need our help and even the small step of searching the problem and educating yourself will be a step for a life being saved.