Morning All - spiel time!!
Was reading your post again Stace about animals in captivity and you asked me what I thought about it all. Well I am great lover of animals and it makes me sick when thinking of the lives that many animals are forced to endure. But there is a sliding scale there regarding the type of captivity - I have been to sea world in San Diego and while the tricks the orca whales could perform was fun at the time to watch ... many of the dolphins and I will always remember with sadness the pilot whale in a very small tank - they would be very bored and depressed as a result. Not into animals performing for the ticket paying humans.
Same with Zoos especially Gorillas I have watched. Some of them do not look very happy at all.
Here in Bern there is a Bear pit with 2 bears. They are going to finally big them a bigger enclosure due to public pressure. but at the moment they really are in a pit for all the tourists to see.
For many children living in cities who never get the opportunity to see many types of animals of course it must be a huge source of excitement and education for them - but wild is best - if they are able to get a chance at that these days!
I heard of a dolphin place in South America (can´t remember where) - they could come and go as they pleased and many did. Now that is a good compromise - I think they could jump over a low wall to go out to ocean. All animals like security but who likes captivity?
Same goes for animals in cages, pens, reared for consumption. I have seen some revolting pictures that SAFE (save animals from exploitation) have published. Not healthy eating I reckon, nor good for the karma.
Its a big issue feeding and entertaining.