#captiveanimals

When the topic of releasing captive-bred animals into the wild, I think Zoe Cormier effectively answers the question of whether this is correct or not. In his article on BBCearth, he begins by telling the story of Keiko, the orca who stars in the movie Free Willy (1993). Keiko was a wild-caught orca who was raised in captivity in his youth and was then released back into the wild 23 years after his original capture date. During his reintroduction to the wild, he was taught how to hunt and navigate his surroundings. After being released back into the wild, he made several attempts to join a wild orca pod but failed and he even continued to make human contact with citizens who lived in the area. Cormier tells us that he never managed to integrate with a wild population, struggled to hunt anyways, and eventually died of pneumonia in 2002. He then explains to us that small animals such as frogs can be released out into the wild but as for complex mammals such as primates, elephants, or dolphins and whales, who require years to teaching from their mothers and social groups, can find reintroduction much more difficult since they don’t have these skills necessary for survival. Later on, Cormier then reveals that not only is it hard to teach captive animals how to become ‘wild,’ it is also very expensive. One example he demonstrated was that rehabilitating a simple orangutan costs animal care $250 a month. It may cost $5,000 or $10,000 to eventually release an animal, and their operations are always limited by funds. 

Zoe Cormier makes an effective argument as to why animals that are born and raised in captivity should stay in captivity. When an animal is taught how to live with humans for their whole lifetime, it would be very difficult to teach it how to live on its own in a few years. During an animal’s younger years, they require a mother or someone to help raise the young creature just like how a baby needs their mom and teachers to raise it to become a healthy and smart human being. Additionally, using the example Zoe used of the orangutan, the more animals there are to be released, the more money and effort it would cost to complete those release projects. They also risk failing just like how Keiko did when he was introduced into the wild. 

My deduction is, when an animal comes into human care, they either have to learn in their youth how to be wild or how to live under human care. Someone may argue that even though animals have a risk of dying after being released, they are still living in their natural environments. I would say this is a flawed claim because if an advocate’s goal is to provide better welfare for the animal, having it sent out into a potentially dangerous environment where it has no experience being in is wrong. Most of these re-released animals are complex mammals such as dolphins or large cats so they require a mother figure to teach them how to use their skills. If a mother isn’t available, these projects might end in another animal being sent out into its death sentence if they don’t have the necessary skills to survive, just like Keiko. 

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