Flagstaff High School

Encaged 

Piper Bauer

When looking for a fun and special thing to do with kids, a common attraction is going to an aquarium. While children may see this as a magical place, the truth behind it is animals are being locked away — never experiencing ocean currents, never having the freedom to explore the world they were born into. 

Most harmful aquariums aren’t harmful in the way of physically abusing their animals; the way the animals are harmed is by being in a small artificial home their entire lives. An example of abuse is a killer whale that is kept in an aquarium, eventually having their dorsal fin collapse, as the tissue is affected by a lack of water support and high-speed swimming. It’s also very common to find depression in animals in aquariums as their unnatural environment stresses them out. 

After these animals have been in this forced environment, they become dependent on it. They can no longer go home and live in the ocean as they don’t know how to hunt their own food. All they’ve ever known is their life trapped in a cage, living to perform. Many will never see their pods, the families they were supposed to stick with throughout their entire lives. 

While many aquariums are harmful, there are some exceptions. Some aquariums purely rescue animals who aren’t successful in their environment or were injured. The most common example of this is the Georgia Aquarium. On their website, Link to aquarian, they share many stories with animals they’ve rescued with animals such as sea turtles, manta rays, sea otters, sea lions, and many more. They help provide these animals with another chance at life. 

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t support aquariums overall, many of the animals can’t be released in the wild and still need support. Next time you go to an aquarium, be cautious of how the animals really feel. Remember that even in captivity, animals deserve respect and care.

Link back to The Talon 7th Edition