Ok, while it is good to see many concientious people voicing their concerns, a lot of extraneous non-issues are being brought up. While there is a lot we don't know about the animal kingdom in general (humans included) a good bit is know through Veteranary research, Animal Husbadry, Professional Animal Trainers and Behavioral Psychologist just to name a few. To both PETA members and their detractors - I recommend you spent time learning about (scientifically and empically), getting to know and caring for a non-human individual.
Below are some important issues for consideration.
1) Were the penguins captured in the wild or were they raised in captivity. If they were raised by humans in captivity, humans are what they identify with. They are no longer wild and they wouldn't know how to live in an wild colony. This is neither bad not good, just a fact of their existence like being born in Oshkosh or San Pedro.
2) If they have been raised by caring and inteligent human, then they have formed a cross-species bond. Thus, these penguins are most comfortable when they are with their family (read owner, caregiver, provider, etc).
3) While zoos are not natual habitats, there things that make artificial habitats comfortable - even desireable to animals. Much of it is species and individual specific and little of it has to do with what we think it should look like. Setting up a minature SeaWorld may make you feel more comfortable but it doesn't mean that the penguin would appreciate it at all. It takes a person who is experienced both with the species and with the individual to determine what is needed to make the individual animal happy. For most animals, it starts with food, shelter and being near other creatures you reguard as caring and familiar. While a pen may seem small by human standards, the important consideration is the animal's comfort. A responsible, caring owner would be albe to tell if their animal was cramped and uncomfortable.
4) While the above is true animals that are stressed do exibit some common behaviors - pacing, refusal to eat, aggressiveness. Pacing, which many animals held in old zoos have exibited, is a sign of bordom. But there is a difference between pacing - in which an animal seems locked in a trance, and walking about looking at your surroundings.
Agressiveness to a stranger can be many things but aggressivness to ones owner is a definite sign of a problem. If an animal is not exibiting fight or flight behavior with their caretaker, then they are probably well cared for.
5) I do recognize these penguines. They are a breed commonly refered to as the Jack-Ass penguine. While in the wild they spend a lot of time in the ocean, they form their breeding colonies on the Western coast of equitorial Africa. Thus they were probably quite comfortable with the temperature in an air conditioned convention center.
6) If it is true that these penguins have been working in movies and entertainment with their owner for a long time then they are accustomed to being around strangers. The important thing to them is that their owner (someone they know and trust) was there and signaled to them (through voice patterns and body language) that everything was OK. Also, if they have been working with their owner for a long time, they must trust and feel comfortable with her: unhappy animals don't work.
While I have never witnessed a Tom Cat doing this, I know that many mammals do - lions being one of them. The important thing is why they do this. Since I know about lions, I'll use them as the example.
A pride is ruled by one male lion - his job is to patrol the territory of the pride and repel intruders. In exchange he gets to mate with any in estrus female within the pride. For the females, this means that there is a high likelyhood of their ofspring living to adulthood.
Competition among male lions is extremly strong. If you have a pride, you are constatly trying to fight off young males who have an extremly stong desire to take your pride away, since this would allow them to have sex and pass on their genes. It would also mean that they don't have to hunt for their own food.
While the females will sometimes repel competing males, their general attitude is to the most powerfull of lions. So if a more powerfull competitor appears, they don't argue much when he runs off their current male. Again, their motivation stemming from a desire to see their ofspring survive to adulthood.
When a lion takes over a pride, the females with cubs will not come into estrus until their cubs reach adolesence. Since that could be more than a year off, it makes biological sence for a new male to kill all cubs. Waiting for a female to finish rearing her cubs, come back into estrus and then rear his own cubs is a great risk. He may not be able to keep this pride long enough to see his ofspring reach adulthood. Thus all cubs will be killed - biologically encouraging the females to come back into estrus. This allows the male to immediately begin producing his own ofspring.
While this seems cruel by our standard, it is not senseless killing. Killing in order to pass on your genes is not the same thing as killing because you enjoy it. Jeffery Dahmer killed because he enjoyed it.
That does not logically follow. While I have never witnessed a Tom Cat doing this, I know that many mammals do - lions being one of them. The important thing is why they do this. Since I know about lions, I'll use them as the example. A pride is ruled by one male lion - his job is to patrol the territory of the pride and repel intruders. In exchange he gets to mate with any in estrus female within the pride. For the females, this means that there is a high likelyhood of their ofspring living to adulthood. Competition among male lions is extremly strong. If you have a pride, you are constatly trying to fight off young males who have an extremly stong desire to take your pride away, since this would allow them to have sex and pass on their genes. It would also mean that they don't have to hunt for their own food. While the females will sometimes repel competing males, their general attitude is to the most powerfull of lions. So if a more powerfull competitor appears, they don't argue much when he runs off their current male. Again, their motivation stemming from a desire to see their ofspring survive to adulthood. When a lion takes over a pride, the females with cubs will not come into estrus until their cubs reach adolesence. Since that could be more than a year off, it makes biological sence for a new male to kill all cubs. Waiting for a female to finish rearing her cubs, come back into estrus and then rear his own cubs is a great risk. He may not be able to keep this pride long enough to see his ofspring reach adulthood. Thus all cubs will be killed - biologically encouraging the females to come back into estrus. This allows the male to immediately begin producing his own ofspring. While this seems cruel by our standard, it is not senseless killing. Killing in order to pass on your genes is not the same thing as killing because you enjoy it. Jeffery Dahmer killed because he enjoyed it.
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Ok, while it is good to see many concientious people voicing their concerns, a lot of extraneous non-issues are being brought up. While there is a lot we don't know about the animal kingdom in general (humans included) a good bit is know through Veteranary research, Animal Husbadry, Professional Animal Trainers and Behavioral Psychologist just to name a few. To both PETA members and their detractors - I recommend you spent time learning about (scientifically and empically), getting to know and caring for a non-human individual.
Below are some important issues for consideration.
1) Were the penguins captured in the wild or were they raised in captivity. If they were raised by humans in captivity, humans are what they identify with. They are no longer wild and they wouldn't know how to live in an wild colony. This is neither bad not good, just a fact of their existence like being born in Oshkosh or San Pedro.
2) If they have been raised by caring and inteligent human, then they have formed a cross-species bond. Thus, these penguins are most comfortable when they are with their family (read owner, caregiver, provider, etc).
3) While zoos are not natual habitats, there things that make artificial habitats comfortable - even desireable to animals. Much of it is species and individual specific and little of it has to do with what we think it should look like. Setting up a minature SeaWorld may make you feel more comfortable but it doesn't mean that the penguin would appreciate it at all. It takes a person who is experienced both with the species and with the individual to determine what is needed to make the individual animal happy. For most animals, it starts with food, shelter and being near other creatures you reguard as caring and familiar. While a pen may seem small by human standards, the important consideration is the animal's comfort. A responsible, caring owner would be albe to tell if their animal was cramped and uncomfortable.
4) While the above is true animals that are stressed do exibit some common behaviors - pacing, refusal to eat, aggressiveness. Pacing, which many animals held in old zoos have exibited, is a sign of bordom. But there is a difference between pacing - in which an animal seems locked in a trance, and walking about looking at your surroundings.
Agressiveness to a stranger can be many things but aggressivness to ones owner is a definite sign of a problem. If an animal is not exibiting fight or flight behavior with their caretaker, then they are probably well cared for.
5) I do recognize these penguines. They are a breed commonly refered to as the Jack-Ass penguine. While in the wild they spend a lot of time in the ocean, they form their breeding colonies on the Western coast of equitorial Africa. Thus they were probably quite comfortable with the temperature in an air conditioned convention center.
6) If it is true that these penguins have been working in movies and entertainment with their owner for a long time then they are accustomed to being around strangers. The important thing to them is that their owner (someone they know and trust) was there and signaled to them (through voice patterns and body language) that everything was OK. Also, if they have been working with their owner for a long time, they must trust and feel comfortable with her: unhappy animals don't work.
That does not logically follow.
While I have never witnessed a Tom Cat doing this, I know that many mammals do - lions being one of them. The important thing is why they do this. Since I know about lions, I'll use them as the example.
A pride is ruled by one male lion - his job is to patrol the territory of the pride and repel intruders. In exchange he gets to mate with any in estrus female within the pride. For the females, this means that there is a high likelyhood of their ofspring living to adulthood.
Competition among male lions is extremly strong. If you have a pride, you are constatly trying to fight off young males who have an extremly stong desire to take your pride away, since this would allow them to have sex and pass on their genes. It would also mean that they don't have to hunt for their own food.
While the females will sometimes repel competing males, their general attitude is to the most powerfull of lions. So if a more powerfull competitor appears, they don't argue much when he runs off their current male. Again, their motivation stemming from a desire to see their ofspring survive to adulthood.
When a lion takes over a pride, the females with cubs will not come into estrus until their cubs reach adolesence. Since that could be more than a year off, it makes biological sence for a new male to kill all cubs. Waiting for a female to finish rearing her cubs, come back into estrus and then rear his own cubs is a great risk. He may not be able to keep this pride long enough to see his ofspring reach adulthood. Thus all cubs will be killed - biologically encouraging the females to come back into estrus. This allows the male to immediately begin producing his own ofspring.
While this seems cruel by our standard, it is not senseless killing. Killing in order to pass on your genes is not the same thing as killing because you enjoy it. Jeffery Dahmer killed because he enjoyed it.
That does not logically follow. While I have never witnessed a Tom Cat doing this, I know that many mammals do - lions being one of them. The important thing is why they do this. Since I know about lions, I'll use them as the example. A pride is ruled by one male lion - his job is to patrol the territory of the pride and repel intruders. In exchange he gets to mate with any in estrus female within the pride. For the females, this means that there is a high likelyhood of their ofspring living to adulthood. Competition among male lions is extremly strong. If you have a pride, you are constatly trying to fight off young males who have an extremly stong desire to take your pride away, since this would allow them to have sex and pass on their genes. It would also mean that they don't have to hunt for their own food. While the females will sometimes repel competing males, their general attitude is to the most powerfull of lions. So if a more powerfull competitor appears, they don't argue much when he runs off their current male. Again, their motivation stemming from a desire to see their ofspring survive to adulthood. When a lion takes over a pride, the females with cubs will not come into estrus until their cubs reach adolesence. Since that could be more than a year off, it makes biological sence for a new male to kill all cubs. Waiting for a female to finish rearing her cubs, come back into estrus and then rear his own cubs is a great risk. He may not be able to keep this pride long enough to see his ofspring reach adulthood. Thus all cubs will be killed - biologically encouraging the females to come back into estrus. This allows the male to immediately begin producing his own ofspring. While this seems cruel by our standard, it is not senseless killing. Killing in order to pass on your genes is not the same thing as killing because you enjoy it. Jeffery Dahmer killed because he enjoyed it.