- Joined
- Mar 15, 2003
- Messages
- 6,635
O.K., most of you know my viewpoint on the keeping of cephalopods in captivity, and while it got me into trouble last year, I promise to keep this discussion civil.
How do you feel about the ethics of keeping captive cephalopods in an artificial environment?
Do you think that it brings about more knowledge than it causes harm, thereby making it justifiable?
I do keep, and have kept, captive cephalopods, and have never felt bad about it. The take of wild animals in a stable population has been proven time after time to not negatively harm the wild population.
But.
In the case of some of these animals, are we perhaps removing too many, too quickly in the supposed pursuit of "science" ?
I sometimes feel that we are on a slippery slope here, and while all of this excitement about bringing the wonders of the ceph world to the general public is cresting, are we at the same time dooming a lot of the animals we are supposed to be caring about to a nasty and untimely death?
Responsibility. That is what it boils down to.
How do you feel about the ethics of keeping captive cephalopods in an artificial environment?
Do you think that it brings about more knowledge than it causes harm, thereby making it justifiable?
I do keep, and have kept, captive cephalopods, and have never felt bad about it. The take of wild animals in a stable population has been proven time after time to not negatively harm the wild population.
But.
In the case of some of these animals, are we perhaps removing too many, too quickly in the supposed pursuit of "science" ?
I sometimes feel that we are on a slippery slope here, and while all of this excitement about bringing the wonders of the ceph world to the general public is cresting, are we at the same time dooming a lot of the animals we are supposed to be caring about to a nasty and untimely death?
Responsibility. That is what it boils down to.