The People for the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals (PETA) have never been short of voicing silly, shocking and offensive campaigns in the furtherance
of their ideological animal-rights agenda and this certainly has included marine animals. Its failed court action in February 2012 against
the Sea World marine parks claiming their killer whales should be deemed slaves
under the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution being a case in point.
Recently PETA turned it’s attention to some
captive Humbolt penguins that appeared in a Christmas display in Liverpool
which received coverage in the UK tabloid Daily Mail newspaper: a paper known
for it’s affiliation and support of animal-rights issues juxtaposed to
celebrity gossip and right-wing political polemics.
The Daily Mail article can be found HERE.
The Daily Mail article can be found HERE.
The paper reported PETA’s
claims suggesting the mistreatment of the birds and the compromising of their
welfare. The birds in question were trained by the well respected zoological company which
houses these and many other animals in it's own private zoological gardens; its animals have been used in many film and television programmes
including wild life documentaries by the likes of David Attenbough.
It should be noted that the birds in question are all captive bred some of which were
hand-reared and none where caught from the wild. They are tamed and trained and are fully
comfortable around humans and in novel situation such as the display they took part of the pre-Christmas Ice Festival in
Liverpool. When not taking part in such
events they are housed in a purpose built penguin exhibit
which is of a standard that would certainly pass inspection under the UK Zoo Licensing regulations. So much so, that
the penguin group at the park have bred and reared chicks within this environment. Therefore PETA claims that the birds are: “petrified
and disoriented” when taking part in public events is clearly ill-informed.
PETA also made much of the fact that these
are “tropical birds” from Peru and Chile with The Mail adding that wild Humbolt
penguins: “usually nest on the warm Pacific coasts of Peru and Chile”.
Indeed, the wild species of this bird are found on the coasts and islands of the above mentioned countries but this environment is far from tropical as it is exposed the cold, nutrient-rich Humbolt Current which affects the sea and air temperatures in the areas the birds swim, feed and breed. In scientific terms Humbolt penguin are defined as a temperate species not tropical.
Indeed, the wild species of this bird are found on the coasts and islands of the above mentioned countries but this environment is far from tropical as it is exposed the cold, nutrient-rich Humbolt Current which affects the sea and air temperatures in the areas the birds swim, feed and breed. In scientific terms Humbolt penguin are defined as a temperate species not tropical.
It should be noted that many Humbolt
penguins in zoos around the world (including the UK) are exposed to low temperatures
and experience contact with cold winter climates with no apparent ill effects to them if housed in properly designed exhibits.
Further, guidelines on the care of the Spheniscus species of penguin (which include the Humbolts) recommend that exhibits have water mist systems to cool birds in hot summers as heat is far more of a problem to these birds than cold.
Perhaps as an example of told hypocrisy one need look no further than an article the Daily Mail published in August 2011 actually promoting the use of snow in the husbandry of Humbolt penguins in the Scarborough Sea Life Centre.
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| Spheniscus species of penguin on snow at Whipsnade Zoo December 2012 |
Further, guidelines on the care of the Spheniscus species of penguin (which include the Humbolts) recommend that exhibits have water mist systems to cool birds in hot summers as heat is far more of a problem to these birds than cold.
Perhaps as an example of told hypocrisy one need look no further than an article the Daily Mail published in August 2011 actually promoting the use of snow in the husbandry of Humbolt penguins in the Scarborough Sea Life Centre.
Perhaps one of the oddest comments made,
even by PETA’s standards was: “that penguins can transmit numerous diseases
that can be harmful to pregnant women”.
Unfortunately, PETA would not state which “numerous diseases” they
referred to which makes it difficult to formulate any truth to this specific
claim. Indeed, many animal species
including not just wild but domestic cats, dogs and farm animals can transmit
diseases to humans but the likelihood of this being an issue with the penguins displayed
in Liverpool seems somewhat unclear.
Moreover, with an attendant vet on hand such issues would have been addressed and if they did pose a danger to public health it is very unlikely they would have been allow to take part in such an event.
The statement seem to demonstrates a rather sad desperation on PETA’s to not only generate false and misleading information on the welfare concerning this group of birds using emotionally loaded rhetoric but to also compound this with dubious concerns for the public health of pregnant women in Liverpool - many of which may be in more danger of disease transmission from their own domestic pets. Although PETA itself will not be concerned regarding this matter as one of it less publicised agendas is the desire to eliminate pet keeping as they consider it and other animal use as "slavery”.
The statement seem to demonstrates a rather sad desperation on PETA’s to not only generate false and misleading information on the welfare concerning this group of birds using emotionally loaded rhetoric but to also compound this with dubious concerns for the public health of pregnant women in Liverpool - many of which may be in more danger of disease transmission from their own domestic pets. Although PETA itself will not be concerned regarding this matter as one of it less publicised agendas is the desire to eliminate pet keeping as they consider it and other animal use as "slavery”.
Perhaps a more disappointing result of this
episode is that some members of the zoological display community seem to think
PETA have a point with one comment even saying that the owners of the birds
where no better than operators of the infamous roadside zoos that can be found
in the USA.
This is somewhat disingenuous as the birds themselves are maintained to a very high standard and housed for the most part in an environment as good or better than many modern zoos or aquariums.
Moreover, zoos and aquariums have both historically and contemporary displayed and handled various trained and habituated animals including penguins within the public areas of zoos or areas outside the zoo faculties for reasons of publicity, promotion and education.
This is somewhat disingenuous as the birds themselves are maintained to a very high standard and housed for the most part in an environment as good or better than many modern zoos or aquariums.
Moreover, zoos and aquariums have both historically and contemporary displayed and handled various trained and habituated animals including penguins within the public areas of zoos or areas outside the zoo faculties for reasons of publicity, promotion and education.
The fact that these animals may be displayed for
reasons of promotion (as in the case of
the Liverpool penguins) is not relevant when discussing an issue of animal welfare as
the actual situation for the birds would be exactly the same if this was a solely educational event. Although, this is not to belittle the
important role in education that good zoological collections should be undertaking,
it could be reasonably argued that many people exposed to these birds in Liverpool
may well have come away with a greater interest in these penguins than prior to
this exposure. Education, particularly
public education, has come a long way from the days of the formal lecture or
prep talks a fact that has been well recognised for many years in the
development of zoos and aquarium educational programmes.
