Baby shark do do do do do do

[Awwlookatmybabyspider]

Yay born and girl twin.sharks have been born at Blackpool Sea life centre. The first ones I think.
Congratulations to everyone.
Theyre ever so adorable.

Would be cuter in the wild where they belong

I agree with @PristineCondition what's there to celebrate about two animals being born into captivity?

I hate you

I now have that song stuck in my head

Just googled

How freaking cute!! And for those judgy fuckers, it’s for conservation purposes not fun

They used say the orcas at sea world are for conservation too

Just been on holiday swimming with lots of sharks including tonnes of babies, they are cute!

Gorgeous aren't they.
Look at their mouths and fins. Couldnt you just put them on a butty and eat them all up.

I wish they would close down every bloody sea life centre in the world. How can people be so stupid to go swimming with sharks and not think that something sinister must have happened to the animals to enable it. But no, they've got a nice picture to show off when they get back so who cares about the animals' welfare.

Bloody hell, someone is a bit bitter today

Sea life centres and zoos (bet you hate them too) do so much for wildlife. It’s not like it used to be.
It now really is about conservation purposes. The amount of species of fish they are able to keep alive because of their breeding efforts. Many would be extinct by now

they've got a nice picture to show off when they get back so who cares about the animals' welfare.

Interesting ethics from someone who thinks it doesn’t matter If farm animals have miserable lives and has no interest in improving their welfare. Or do you only care about the welfare of cute animals?

It now really is about conservation purposes. The amount of species of fish they are able to keep alive because of their breeding efforts. Many would be extinct by now

That’s actually inaccurate. Marine aquariums are one of the biggest consumers of fish from the wild

Not bitter @Soubriquet just can not stand stupid sea life centres that do far more harm than good.

@Veterinari you've spun my posts on another thread to try and come at me on this one. Firstly, I don't find any marine animals cute- I have a very severe phobia of them, to the point where I can't sit next to a person eating seafood. Secondly, on the other post, I was stating that I think the posters were hypocritical for saying that they only eat 'ethical' meat, when I don't believe that such a thing exists.

That may have been what you intended Pinkyyy but it is definitely not what you said. In fact you actually said that you weren’t Interested in the welfare of animals used for meat. I wouldn’t usually bring it up but it seems rather hypocritical to be raising welfare concerns for healthy animals bred in captivity that will be well taken care of and reduce the harvesting of animals from the wild, but not to care about healthy animals that are likely to experience much poorer welfare on farms.

You seem to have a habit of turning up on these threads just to piss on the OP’s chips whenever they try to do/say something that would result in positive change for animals.

healthy animals bred in captivity that will be well taken care of

If you honestly believe that then I'm quite simply astounded. I'm not sure how you can say I have a 'habit' of disagreeing with OPs, do you only post on threads to agree?

If you have alternative evidence, eg that they aren’t healthy, bred in captivity and won’t be well taken care of them please share it. I’m happy to learn if there’s alternative evidence.

My point was that it’s rather hypocritical to be raising welfare concerns here when you don’t Seem to care about animals more generally. Thoughyou’ve not raised any specific welfare concerns re: captive shark breeding and management, just alluded to welfare generally. What is it specifically that you are concerned about?

Are you seriously suggesting that you need specific evidence to believe that these places are hell for animals? How about the fact that the orcas have less than half their life span in captivity and many of them attempt to kill themselves by repeatedly ramming their heads into the walls of their miniscule tanks?

As for me caring about animals, I am certainly not an animal lover, however when there are places like this that still exist despite all their wrongdoings, I am sickened. I think the farm animals debate is something different entirely, and the point I was making on that thread was that if you only want to eat 'ethical meat', you shouldn't be eating any at all.

Umm.. orcas aren’t sharks. I totally accept your point re: orca welfare - though your information re:lifespan is incorrect (it depends on how you define the wild lifespan which is highly variable) but i’m Struggling to see the relevance to captive-born sharks. You think the farm animal debate is different but the orca debate is the same? How so? Apart from the obvious aquatic similarity the welfare issues are quite different.

Also i’m Not aware of any situations where many of them attempt to kill themselves by repeatedly ramming their heads into the walls of their miniscule tanks? i’d Be interested to see any examples/evidence of this.

My question remains the same - you challenged my point that these animals are healthy, bred in captivity and well cared for. You’ve said you are sickened so clearly feel very strongly and have raised welfare concerns - i’m Asking you to articulate those concerns as i’m Pretty well informed on these issues but want to learn if i’ve Missed something

www.seaworldofhurt.com/orca-smashes-head-loro-parque-video/

A simple Google will bring up many results of head banging.

Of course orcas aren't sharks, but they're all kept in the same places- sea life centres. I'm by no means an expert but I did quite a lot of looking into these places a couple of years ago and it's disgusting what you can find out about them. The people who work in them are forced to lie about life expectancy etc to cover up the fact that the animals live a fraction of the time they would in the wild. I don't wish to start up the farm debate again because I left that thread because of you bombarding me and I don't wish for a repeat- as I said I'm not an expert and am speaking my own opinions.

You are picking out american tourist traps not sea life centres

Completely different concept

Tourist traps are there to bring in tourist, animal rights second.

Sea life centres try to balance both.

@Pinkyyy i’d Absolutely agree with you that the orca in that video appears distressed. However i’m Still not clear on what on earth that has to do with the captive breeding of endangered shark species in a UK facility? You seem to be conflating completely unrelated issues.

I’m sorry if you feel like i’m Bombarding you by asking for evidence or trying to understand your opinions, but your viewpoints seem to be rather strident and without a reasonable factual basis. Of course you’re entitled to hold whatever viewpoint you like, but when you make unfounded sweeping statements on a public discussion board, it’s reasonable that somone might challenge them. You came on this cute and happy thread to critique shark welfare and sneer at posters who were trying to share something nice, yet you’ve actually provided zero evidence of any problems in shark welfare beyond your own opinion. I think it’s great that you have opinions, but in general i’m Going to challenge inaccurate or uninformed opinions, and i’m Happy to learn from people who have more knowledge on a subject than me. I’m sorry if you choose to be offended by that

So do sea life centres not invite public visitors? Perhaps that is where I am wrong.

I am in no way trying to say that people shouldn't find the sharks cute, but surely they'd be much cuter in the sea rather than in a bucket?

You obviously know much more about this than I do @Veterinari and it does (more so on the last thread) come across as slightly bombarding, but I completely understand that you're just trying to figure out where I'm coming from. I'd love someone to show me some good examples of the work done at these centres and I'd be pleased about it, but I still worry that the harm caused by them massively outweighs it.

That’s fair enough and there absolutely are concerns - the trade in marine animals harvested from the wild is one significant one, and a good reason why captive breeeding should be supported.

I’m afraid I struggle a little by people who are outraged by ‘cute’ orcas but who are quite happy to buy into the suffering of other animals, and to be unsupportive of efforts to improve their welfare. After all the animals don’t care that they are cute or not

Of course they do, but the welfare of the animals is paramount

The enclosures are quite big and sometimes it can be hard for members of the public to spot what they are looking for as the animals are able to hide where they please.

@Veterinari I see your point, but the cute factor doesn't really apply to me due to my phobia. I just liken these places to animals in a circus and think people posing for pictures with tortured animals is absolutely horrific.

@Soubriquet I disagree, they are tourist attractions and rely on that money to run. Please research the enclosure sizes and you'll find that they are absolutely not big enough. Regardless of their size, they will never be as big as the sea where the animals should be.

I just liken these places to animals in a circus and think people posing for pictures with tortured animals is absolutely horrific.

But non of that applies in this situation - just a poster sharing news that is good for conservation. I totally understand your discomfort with captive orca facilities but it’s not really relevant here, and not a good reason to derail and sneer at someone else’s post. There’s Enough negativity in the world already.