What Would you do when you do See Animal Right Activists ?

[German Zoo World]

We all know There are Animal Right Activists. They are against any Species of Wildlife in Captivity. What Would be If the Activists are the Winners and There are No Zoos or Aquariums anymore? That Would be one of my worst Fears. What Would you do when you See some Activists at your local Zoo or Aquarium?

 

[TinoPup]

Ignore them, and make sure to thank all of the staff I see at the zoo. Engaging them only benefits them.

 

[Echobeast]

If they are on zoo property, make sure staff are aware of them. Most zoos wouldn’t allow protesting on their property and can rightly have them escorted out for any reason.

 

[Dhole dude]

Nothing. Why bother confronting them at a zoo when they won’t be willing to change their opinion. Like what has been said above, the best thing to do would be to alert a staff member, but it’s best not to get involved beyond that.

 

[Bisonfan]

nothing but if i had to say something i would ask them, how many endangered species have been brought back to a stable number and been put back in the wild.

 

[PossumRoach]

If they are protesting with a dog on a leash on a hot day, but a bottle of water for the dog and offer it some water. Otherwise ignore them.

 

[ZooElephantMan]

nothing but if i had to say something i would ask them, how many endangered species have been brought back to a stable number and been put back in the wild.

What would be the correct answer to this question?

 

[Bisonfan]

What would be the correct answer to this question?

Six species have been saved from extinction and around 1,000 endangered species have been restored to the wild.

 

[Batto]

There are several options:
A) Ignore them.
B) Yell "Look, there's a circus, a traveling dolphinarium, a rodeo and a slaughterhouse right behind you!" and then dash off, laughing manically.
C) Join them, win their trust and then destroy them from within with identity politics.
D) Play something danceable on your loudspeakers and invite the prettiest protester to join you, stating:

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine

And in case you are wondering @German Zoo World : no, "Atemlos durch die Nacht" is NOT danceable.

E) Rent a foodtruck, park it right next to them downwind and cook the greasiest, meatiest, smelliest and most delicious food all day long. You will either break them, drive them off or turn them into hungry clients, thereby at least make a nice profit out of them.

 

[TinoPup]

Six species have been saved from extinction and around 1,000 endangered species have been restored to the wild.

That number should be much higher. I don't have an exact number, especially when you include herps and species the public likely doesn't know about, but it's definitely double digits, likely triple.

 

[lowland anoa]

Nothing. Ignorance can be cured but theirs cannot be

 

[Randomname0183]

Engaging them sounds like looking for trouble (as ignorant as they may be, you won’t win anything from arguing with them as most are dead set on preaching their animal rights regardless of what you tell them) but if one does decide to engage you, you can point out a few facts or ask them politely to leave. As previously mentioned, you can speak to zoo personnel about this, as it may not be legal to protest on zoological property.

 

[TZFan]

@Batto, I loved every one of your answers. A) is the obvious answer but the rest were perfect. I loved destroying them from the inside and the food truck was hilarious.

I'm a big ignore them type but I cannot hide my distain for protesters. I lived in Ottawa the first time President Bush visited and they expected huge crowds of protesters which there were. They had police on every corner and several helicopters in the air at all times. As I walked to class that day I rolled my eyes at evey single protester I passed. Wasnt until I got to class that I realize that probably wasnt the smartest thing to do. Only reason I probably wasnt called out or worse was the cop on every corner. If thats what I did as a less confident kid over a subject I didn't care about I think I'd have a much harder time as a confident adult who is deeply passoinate about animals and zoos. Im not the aggressive type but Im passive aggressive. Id probably vent away from them furiously, be over heard by a protester I thought was a guest and end up in a bad situation. My luck. I cant hold my tongue when someone misidentifies an animal so I know I would struggle hard to keep my trap shut when someone is attacking my zoo. Hopefully they just stay away from my zoo so I dont have to fight that internal battle.

 

[Pootle]

Being as honest as I can and with experience, I'd probably ignore them and go about my zoo day out.
However, if I happen to 'have a bee in my bonnet', then I would approach them and ask
1. What they are doing it for?
2. What they intend to achieve with this protest?
3. What they do themselves for any animal wellbeing or conservation themselves that prompts them to be here today?


I had a good old 'ding dong' with some of these people in the late 1990's outside Southport zoo. They where just people who had read a magazine (pre internet) and thought they were in the right. When asked what should we do with these animals in the zoo, they said let them go free in the wild.

The wild of what? Southport?

 

[Bengal Tiger]

Being as honest as I can and with experience, I'd probably ignore them and go about my zoo day out.
However, if I happen to 'have a bee in my bonnet', then I would approach them and ask
1. What they are doing it for?
2. What they intend to achieve with this protest?
3. What they do themselves for any animal wellbeing or conservation themselves that prompts them to be here today?


I had a good old 'ding dong' with some of these people in the late 1990's outside Southport zoo. They where just people who had read a magazine (pre internet) and thought they were in the right. When asked what should we do with these animals in the zoo, they said let them go free in the wild.

The wild of what? Southport?

The issue with these people is that they have no idea what they are talking about. They should do some research on reliable sources to make decent conclusions. Unfortunately they just take random nonsense off of some weirdo YouTuber who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, or some strange animal rights page that makes up thing trying to make zoos and aquariums seem bad.

 

[TZFan]

The issue with these people is that they have no idea what they are talking about. They should do some research on reliable sources to make decent conclusions. Unfortunately they just take random nonsense off of some weirdo YouTuber who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, or some strange animal rights page that makes up thing trying to make zoos and aquariums seem bad.

Hold up! Random crackpots on YouTube aren't always right and might to care to report accurate info?!!! Man I need to rethink my whole life. What's real? What isn't? My reality is shattered. Better go on YouTube and see what a self help YouTuber says to do... What thats no good either? Lol. Some people.

 

[Batto]

As I walked to class that day I rolled my eyes at evey single protester I passed.

Be careful with the eye-rolling; it might have unexpected results. ^^

I'm not the aggressive type but I'm passive aggressive.

Life is too short to be passive, aggressive or both. Even though it is hard to envision an aggressive Canadian outside of an ice hockey rink, ey. ^^

The issue with these people is that they have no idea what they are talking about.

In the majority of cases, this is true, especially for the loud and obnoxious ones. There are, however, people who know their stuff and are nevertheless critical of zoos. They might interpret some aspects differently than zoo nerds, and might even be correct.
As a matter of fact, there are actually quite a lot of things I'm critical of in regard to many zoos. Does that mean that I need to "do more research", @Bengal Tiger ?

A couple of months ago, the aquarium and reptile section of HdN was openly animadverted by a small yet fanatical local animal rights activist group. Funny enough, the "HQ" of said group is located within walking distance of WdG. However, they haven't discovered us (yet?). They make it clear on their website that they despise all zoos, but tend to visit them for free via journalist IDs, with the intent to write very emotional and rather incoherent hit pieces. This kind of "journalism" secures them their income via public donations by naive private animal lovers.
It made me wonder how I should react if they ever tried to visit WdG.

- Let them in? That would give them power over me and further their business model.

- Not let them in and risk hateful reactions, slander or even sabotage?

- Maybe let them in, but under the (as contracted) condition that they are not allowed to film anything nor report about their visit?

Let's see if this situation ever becomes a reality...

 

[Mr.Ivory]

I would ignore them and walk way they are not worth the effort to get a headache

 

[Gavinj90]

There are, however, people who know their stuff and are nevertheless critical of zoos. They might interpret some aspects differently than zoo nerds, and might even be correct.
As a matter of fact, there are actually quite a lot of things I'm critical of in regard to many zoos. Does that mean that I need to "do more research", @Bengal Tiger ?

Agree with this.

It's not as simple as "we're right and they're stupid." There's absolutely nothing wrong with looking at things critically and questioning things. Of course there are clueless idiots most of the time, and yes, this is a group for fans of zoos, but that doesn't mean we should accept everything at face value and not critique it. The way we tend to automatically parrot the "conservation" lines fed to us by zoos' Public Relations officers as an immediate catch-all defense is evidence that we're often not willing to look at things objectively.

Also, if it weren't for changing public perceptions (and protests), would zoos have developed into what we see today or would we be stuck with concrete pits and iron cages?

 

[Zoofan15]

Agree with this.

It's not as simple as "we're right and they're stupid." There's absolutely nothing wrong with looking at things critically and questioning things. Of course there are clueless idiots most of the time, and yes, this is a group for fans of zoos, but that doesn't mean we should accept everything at face value and not critique it. The way we tend to automatically parrot the "conservation" lines fed to us by zoos' Public Relations officers as an immediate catch-all defense is evidence that we're often not willing to look at things objectively.

Animal rights activists appear ‘stupid’ because they’re often misinformed and focus on emotive language rather than factual based evidence.

A journalist recently criticised Wellington Zoo for keeping their lionesses in a cage, saying they should be returned to Africa where they came from. She was apparently ignorant of the fact they don’t live in a cage, they were captive born in New Zealand (not wild born) and that captive bred elderly lions wouldn’t last five minutes in the wild.

Zoos pedal a lot of nonsense too. That newborn male gorilla isn’t vital to the future of his species - he’s headed for a bachelor troop at best.