[DLS]

I do not think so.

Even if an animal was injured in such a way that it could not survive in its natural habitat should it be saved, confined for life, used for breeding or public viewing. Or should it be left alone and let nature take its course?

And what about endangered species? Do you think that we should breed them in captivity and then release them back into their native habitats? THERE IS NOT ENOUGH OF THEIR NATIVE HABITATS LEFT TO SUPPORT THEM! That is one of the main reasons they are disappearing in the first place.

Why do you think bears, coyotes, deer, cougars etc. end up in towns and cities, do you think they want to be there, of course not, but some of them have no choice.

Their natural habitats {now referred to as wildlife corriders} are overcrowded with their own species. The old, injured and young get pushed out and in order to survive they raid your garbage, bird feeders, eat your roses etc.

What to do? I do not know. Do you have any ideas?

 

[Ludi]

What to do? Change our way of life to accomodate other living beings, which at least in part means doing away with monocultural farming and changing to growing food in smaller fields or in gardens, using our cities and suburbs to grow our food and allowing or restoring native habitat on the prairies and forests. Permaculture is one system of designing human settlements which accomodate wildlife and allow the majority of the land to remain wild or be restored to wild habitat. It would mean changing our entire way of life to respect all life as well as our own, because it is all connected. The wellbeing of other living things is the same as our own. On a personal level, it might mean trying to grow our own food in our yards in a way which encourages other living things (no pesticides), and planting our yards to native plants instead of lawns. A great deal of habitat could be restored if we used our cities and towns more efficiently, growing food and even building materials locally and not on vast monocultural farms or overgrazed ranches.

 

[DLS]

A daunting task isn't it Ludi . you are right, we must start with our own yards, homes and lifestyles.

 

[Ludi]

I think so much of it needs to be a change of attitude, which will bring with it a change of behavior (both changes going hand in hand). The attitude that humans and other living beings are in this together, that we're all connected, is, I think, of crucial importance. One idea which I think is not helpful is the idea so many people seem to have that "the environment" is something "out there" somewhere, not very many people think of the environment as being the same as their house and yard. But we need to see "the environment" in our yards, and encourage life in them, instead of cleaning and mowing everything into sterility. We need to be willing to share our spaces with other critters, even if it's inconvenient. Even though we may not feel much power to stop destruction of wild spaces remote from us, like the Amazon, or Burmese rainforests, we can make changes in our own lives. It's not easy, but it is so important, even from a purely selfish pragmatic standpoint of our own human lives and health. What we do to the rest of the living world we do to ourselves.

 

[Snow White]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLS

And what about endangered species? Do you think that we should breed them in captivity and then release them back into their native habitats? THERE IS NOT ENOUGH OF THEIR NATIVE HABITATS LEFT TO SUPPORT THEM! That is one of the main reasons they are disappearing in the first place.

What about this scenario: The habitat is destroyed, the population declines. After a while, the habitat recovers. Meanwhile the gene pool has gotten to the point of lacking diversity to an extent where a few individuals, say, being eaten by a predator would tip the population over the edge. Of course, that's simplifying things a little, or else I'd have to write a few pages...

 

[DLS]

Yes Snow White, anything is possible, I would love to see things right themselves in my lifetime, but I do not know if it is probable. I do have hope, without hope there is nothing. But, I still do not agree with keeping wild animals in captivity for any reason.

 

[Snow White]

I'll concede that it's extremely hard to predict whether a scenario like the one I described would actually work out if you reintroduced a population bred in captivity to the area. I suppose there's no way of telling beforehand whether the harm would be outweighed by the benefits of maybe, just maybe, saving a bit of ecosystem.

 

[Life2k]

I don't know.How long are their teeth and claws? Are they meat eaters? Are they agressive and no longer afraid of mankind? How big do they get? This may be an animanl by animal decision.

 

[DLS]

As far as saving endangered species goes, with all the scientific advances out there can we not just store sperm, eggs or tissue samples to preserve a species or must we confine the animals themselves in order to preserve them.

And as far as to what these confined animals eat, well I would presume the meat eaters eat meat. Which makes me wonder, how much meat does a Zoo go through in ONE day feeding their meat eating captives, and where do they get that meat from?

 

[Snow White]

I'm not aware of any way that could be achieved at the moment without putting the animals through worse things than keeping them captive. You'd presumably have to get around the issue of a surrogate mother. Plus, IVF requires giving the egg donor hormonal treatment in humans. Unless you clone your animals, which didn't work out that well with Dolly. If the species in question is keystone, there's no point in waiting until we haven the technology, becaus the other species that depend on it will have disappeared in the meantime.

 

[DLS]

Great thoughts Snow White for sure, I truly do not know if there are any satisfactory options to preserving a species without confining them. But I do know this, if someone said to me that if I stay where I am I will only survive for 23 months, but if I come and live in a cage they will watch out for me , breed from me etc. I seriously would choose to live my last 23 months right where I am now, but then again, we are not an endangered species, or are we?

 

[Marie]

Should wild animals be confined for any reason?

Sometimes they need to be put in time out.. but this isn't about my nephews.. is it?

 

[GhostUser]

i need a time out.

 

[kpickell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marie

Should wild animals be confined for any reason?

Sometimes they need to be put in time out.. but this isn't about my nephews.. is it?

Crate training does work well.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/07/08/cage.html

 

[livethroughthis]

I believe it's okay for rehabilitation, as long as the goal is for the animal to return to it's natural habitat.