Animals in captivity

Module 5: Wild animals

1. Wild animals in the wild (before Thanksgiving)
• Is there a vast problem of wild animal suffering?
• Intervention vs. laissez faire (Singer vs. Plamer/D&K)
• One-off intervention vs. systemic intervention (gene drives)
• helping one species (spotted owls) by killing individuals of another species (barred owls)
2. Wild animals in captivity (today and Wednesday)
• zoos and aquariums (field trips discussed Wednesday)
• sanctuaries
3. Hunting wild animals (Friday)

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Lori Gruen, "Dilemmas of Captivity"--from Ethics and Animals: An Introduction

Judging zoos, aquariums, etc.

1. Are they good or bad for the individual wild animals who live there? 
2. Are they beneficial for wild animals still in the wild?  Do they foster conservation effectively?

Question 1: Are they OK?

Question 2: Because of zoos, are they better off?

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Gruen: captivity is generally bad for captive wild animals for two reasons--

1. Loss of liberty
2. Loss of wild dignity

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Gruen's points about liberty

1. Liberty is instrumentally good for wild animals
• in captivity they usually have unmet needs
• example: birds in aviary can't fly; zugunruhe
• next time: your observations
2. Liberty is intrinsically good for animals--constitutive of their wellbeing
• however well off an animal is, they'd be better off if they freely met their own needs

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Gruen's points about dignity

Kantian dignity: humans have dignity because they are self-aware, adopt their own goals, and understand right and wrong.  Gruen: no application to animals.

Political dignity: humans have dignity to the extent they are recognized as citizens in a society--can speak, assemble, vote, etc.  Gruen: no application to animals

Animal dignity: any being has dignity to the extent it can exercise its species-specific capacities. Wild and domesticated animals can have dignity, potentially. Gruen's doubts: Is every natural animal behavior really dignified?

Wild dignity: wild animals have dignity to the extent that they have their own lives, live in their own world, and possess a kind of sovereignty.  Captivity deprives wild animals of this sort of wild dignity. Gruen: this is the right concept for wild animals, but has no application to domesticated animals.

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interlude: dignity and domesticated animals

NYT--Intergroomer contest

Dogs with bread faces

Gruen: No loss of wild dignity (dogs can have none), but treated as objects

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What else is good and bad about captivity?

1. Loss of liberty (instrumentally and intrinsically bad)
2. Loss of wild dignity
3. Other?

What is good about captivity?

1. Solves the problems that cause wild animal suffering!
• predation?
• low infant mortality
• no drought or famine
• no hunters

What would Gruen say?

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Animal sanctuaries

• for chimpanzees retired from animal labs - Chimp Haven
• for elephants who didn't thrive in zoos - The Elephant Sanctuary
• for wild animals who didn't work out as pets
• for rescued dogs, cats, farm animals (domesticated)

Do sanctuaries give animals complete liberty and dignity?

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After captivity, can wild animals be returned to the wild?

• The Good Whale