To think many animal lovers are total hypocrites

[coatilove]

I actually dislike majority of animals, I didn't grow up with them have never had a special relationship with any and have no interest in them at all.

However, I watched a documentary on Netflix tonight called blackfish and I cannot understand how killer whales are being held in captivity and made millions of pounds and so called 'animal lovers' go to watch them and swim with them?

As someone who dislikes animals it still makes me sick to my stomach to see an animal in captivity and I could never pay to support BS like sea world - so how can animal lovers do it?

How do animal lovers eat animals? Or go to zoos?

It baffles me, AIBU?

I'm very similar to you really, never seen the appeal of pets and dislike most animals! But I hate seeing animals in captivity, particularly in small zoos or showy type places where they make animals perform.

Animals in captivity for human entertainment is disgusting. I don't think many animal lovers support them.

I don’t go to zoos etc but I do eat meat occasionally.
Funnily enough I was talking to a vegetarian friend about my volunteer work at a local wildlife rescue and she said “yuk, I could never do that”
I asked her what she would do if she found an animal in distress and she said “don’t know, nothing”
So who is the animal lover? Her or me?

Are they animal lovers or just ordinary people that don’t think about it?
I’m an animal lover and hate any abuse or disrespect of animals/insect/any living thing and think all living things should be living free.
You can’t group ‘animal lovers’ all together as if they’re one hive mind.

What makes you think the audience in these sort of places would describe themselves as “animal lovers”, OP?

I can’t go to zoos. Always refused to take my kids. Never had pets, generally scared of all animals. Massive carnivore.

I find non-vegan animal welfare activists the greatest of hypocrites.

If you eat animals you cannot honestly describe yourself as an animal lover. It’s that simple. You don’t eat the dead bodies of beings you profess to love!

I am not a huge animal lover, actually. But I still don’t eat them because I know it’s fundamentally morally wrong to deprive another living being of its life, brutally kill it, so you can have its dead body in your mouth for a few minutes then shit it out a few hours later.

I don't particularly like children, but I am sickened when I hear stories about the awful things done to them.
Disliking something does not mean you revel in their discomfort.

@givethatbabyaname

I can’t go to zoos. Always refused to take my kids. Never had pets, generally scared of all animals. Massive carnivore.

I find non-vegan animal welfare activists the greatest of hypocrites.

“The greatest of hypocrites”?

Have you seen any of the news this week?

I have probably helped more animals than the average vegetarian.

Also, someone who is a carnivore, massive or otherwise, eats meat and only meat. No fruit, vegetables or anything that isn’t meat.

However, if you simply include meat in your diet, you’re an omnivore.

@Hoppinggreen

I have probably helped more animals than the average vegetarian.

What a ludicrous claim to make!

@Warmduscher

What makes you think the audience in these sort of places would describe themselves as “animal lovers”, OP?

Well the documentary claimed all the trainers that swim with them claim to be animal lovers which is why they go into the job! So I reckon probably a lot of the people that see these shows have animals.

Same with zoos, of the millions of people that visit them surely many are pet owners/animal lovers

Ah I see, so the trainers described themselves as animal lovers so you extrapolated that based on no evidence whatsoever and assumed the same applied to the audience.

Got it.

Well the documentary claimed all the trainers that swim with them claim to be animal lovers which is why they go into the job! So I reckon probably a lot of the people that see these shows have animals

I have seen Blackfish. Such large sea mammals should never ever be in captivity.

IME 'animal lovers' are the people who use it as an excuse to let their dogs roam off leads and harass people, not pick up their dog shit or have a million cats that use their neighbours garden as a toilet.

With zoos, it's a double edge sword though. On one had, there is the conservation argument, that without zoos some of these wonderful creatures would be extinct. But I also think they are cruel.

I’m always puzzled by threads which are basically AIBU to get angry about something for which I have absolutely no evidence?

warmduscher why is it ludicrous?

Yep! YABU. Also you sound like a tedious arse. HTh.

@Warmduscher

Ah I see, so the trainers described themselves as animal lovers so you extrapolated that based on no evidence whatsoever and assumed the same applied to the audience.

Got it.

🙄 millions of people visit sea world in a year. I don't need evidence to say some of those people are animal lovers. By virtue of probability, some of the audience will be 'animal lovers' ffs

@Hoppinggreen

I have probably helped more animals than the average vegetarian.

How do you come to that conclusion then? Animals don't die for my diet.

@Hoppinggreen

warmduscher why is it ludicrous?

Because it’s based on no evidence whatsoever.

Blackfish was so distressing to watch. I remember a relative telling me about her hopes to swim with dolphins and when I explained how wrong it is to do that she was horrified with the realities of the exploited and abused animals. A lot of it boils down to education.

When I was a child I loved the grand national when my family would all bet on different horses but nowadays I’d never gamble on anything involving animals. Eating meat is different to using animals for entertainment though. It’s part of our biology to consume meat, although with all the options available to us today, it’s no longer necessary.

What I don’t understand is why you would say you dislike animals OP. Not everyone has a strong emotional attachment to them but disliking other creatures seems strange to me.

@Hoppinggreen

I don’t go to zoos etc but I do eat meat occasionally. Funnily enough I was talking to a vegetarian friend about my volunteer work at a local wildlife rescue and she said “yuk, I could never do that” I asked her what she would do if she found an animal in distress and she said “don’t know, nothing” So who is the animal lover? Her or me?

Not a all vegetarians claim to be animal lovers though - is that something she's said or an assumption you've made based on her diet?

I find people who don't like animals to be quite odd. I can't imagine not loving animals - they're what makes the planet so magical.

That aside, as an animal lover I do not support exploitation of animals for human entertainment. Some is less cruel than others, but none is in the interest of the animals. I don't go to zoos, but understand they can have a role in preservation of endangered species and have specialist hospitals for animals.

I don't support things like racing or circuses as that is pure exploitation of animals for human entertainment.

I do eat meat. I don't agree with raising an animal as a pet and then betraying it and killing it. If animals are for food they should be handled sufficiently for their health, kept in as close to natural conditions as possible eg paddocks not feedlots and killed humanely.