Response to Article - Unnatural Living

I read the article titled Unnatural Living on The Straits Times (11/07/11), where they talked about whether keeping of animals captive is beneficial to the animals themselves. I am a firm supporter of keeping the animals captive.

People always talked about animals losing their freedom and their hunting instinct if held in captive. I personally feel security is more important than freedom. What is the point of having the whole world to run in, if there is a real threat of losing your habitats, being hunted by legal and illegal poachers, or simply a lack of food available? I believe there are studies shown that animals living in captive actually live longer then those in the while. Unless there is a possibility that a country is willing to stop developing and leave huge pieces of lands/ seas untouched, these animals faced real life-threatening issues than freedom.

As for the loss of their hunting instinct, let's not forget that human beings started out as hunters too. But throw a random human being into the jungle now with no technology, no medical facilities, will he be able to survive? Yes it is sad if a lion do not know how to hunt, but again between this and the fate of the Tasmanian Devil, I'll choose the former.

On the issue of animals in captive being made to do trick for performances, I see it more for a practical senses. Performances draw crowds, and crowds bring money. I believe that taking care of animals takes a lot of resources and having performances helps to bring in some income. Treat it as a job for the animals, they work, they get rewarded with treats and get fed. Isn't this what human beings are doing?

To conclude, I feel that the world has develop so fast, that it is not possible to hold on to the idealistic thinking that we can still leave the animals in the wild. Human beings have the responsibility to protect the other species of animals, and the best way is to keep them captive in an artificial environment. I do agree that however the environment should be as conducive, and as similar to nature as possible. These animals also needs to be treated with respect. Even if they are to be trained for performances, they should not be abused if they cannot learn specific trick.