#happyhammy

[derangedhyena-delphinidae]

You know what really grinds my gears? The insistence of pro-captivity documents that the captive orca population is perfectly fine and 100% sustainable because the mortality rates are the same as those found in the SRKW. You know, the whales that are starving to death. But no, that's a perfectly normal population and it's totally not disingenuous to use studies on them to make captive orca numbers look better. I've been reading through Loro Parque's argument "encyclopedia" and my head hurts.

Agree 100%.  Along those lines, Douglas DeMaster’s take is always my go-to when procaps attempt to use that particular study or anything sourcing from it. (’DeMaster notes that the comparison that Robeck and his colleagues made between captive killer whales and a disturbed wild population is not useful.’) That 'resource’ of LPs is legitimately awful and they really must not expect anyone to be thinking while reading it.

[hamsters-in-cups]

“But wait!” (you might say) “Those are hamsters ON cups, not hamsters IN cups!”  But look closer my friend, for ON the pitcher that comes with these cups there is an image of at least 1 hamster (plus what might be a tiny bear and an even tinier dog??) IN a cup!!  ALSO, if you zoom in on the stack of 2 small plates you will see that they bear an image of a hamster taking a bath IN a teacup,complete with rubber ducky. 

This “Happy Hamster Dinette Set” is being offered for 6 Euros from https://mesanneesvintage.fr/produit/dinette-happy-hamster/

[derangedhyena-delphinidae]

Ever played any of the SeaWorld video games? They're garbage shovelware (shocker), but the plot of Shamu's Deep Sea Adventure makes me wonder. Effectively, the game implies that SeaWorld was built on top of the site of an ancient civilization, Atlantis, and stole magic and artifacts from that civilization, and now "evil" Poseidon is pissed and sends the Kraken to destroy the park and free its animals into the ocean. Also, when Shamu is poisoned, his dorsal fin flops to the side. Hmmm.

I haven’t played them, but I did watch playthroughs on Youtube out of a morbid curiosity. It’s... yhea. (If anyone wants to seriously hurt their brain, go watch playthroughs.) 

[derangedhyena-delphinidae]

Have you seen the "scientifically debunking anti-captivity arguments" document that Loro Parque released recently? Curious to hear your thoughts on it.

I have seen it. It’s awful.I honestly don’t know what thoughts I can possibly have on it besides “great, more gish galloping garbage that I have to deal with people pointing at and citing as if it means something.”I presently don’t have the time to rebuke it in any detail. Though if there’s something specific you’re interested to know “the flipside” of, I can try to help out. 

[derangedhyena-delphinidae]

happyhammy replied to your post “On the Blue World Project cancellation:”

Been trying to explain this to people who aren't as familiar on the subject for a while. Was SeaWorld influenced by activist activity as far as their decisions on the BWP? Maybe, in that they deemed that the money just wasn't in animal attractions. Was it ultimately their decision to reallocate the BWP funds to non-animal attractions? Absolutely. If they truly wanted to improve the quality of life of their orcas via BWP, then they would have gone ahead, breeding or not.

Hopefully the timeline of straight-up news articles and investor documents will help you point this out to folks in the future. I’m eventually going to have a video on this with all the links/etc also.  Between all of this, the timing of the BWP announcement, and the unending posturing Manby was engaged in, I - personally - very seriously doubt that they had any intention of building BWP, activist input or no. 

[derangedhyena-delphinidae]

It's kind of a shame. These guys don't seem to even want to consider what you're getting at. What I got from the Kayla piece was how strange it is to post about getting ice cream in response her death. (Do you have a link to that? If you're comfortable sharing.) I'd think that was odd and even callous to do in response to even a pet dying. That's a part of your family, you'd like to think. I get that people have personal ways of coping, but at the very least, it's questionable.

Yes. You get it. I don’t want to link to the post/account b/c I don’t want folks to harass that person. (I have 1500+ followers here and 500+ on IG, and I’m under no delusion that they are all going to universally play nice.) This is a screenshot of the post in question, and the other posts on the account make clear that this person’s an orca trainer in Orlando. The comments on the image itself are people expressing condolences about Kayla.

You understand that I am not going after anyone’s grief. I don’t doubt that caretakers care about the animals they’re in charge of, (though re: cetaceans I do doubt their functional commitment to such when they work for a place like Seaworld.) As I said on instagram, using this as a coping mechanism is one thing. Posting about it on social media with #icecream hashtags and no discussion of the matter in question at all, is a different matter entirely. This image is what struck me about the situation. They posted this image for all to see. I did not *actually believe* this was in reference to Kayla’s death at first, until I realised it was in fact a trainer’s account, posted on that Monday, and that the comments on the image were all people expressing condolences. On a picture of ice cream.  

[taylormadepaciparadise]

Jamie is our special needs hamster, but look at him go. Daddy made the hammock for him #happyhammy #syrianhamster #syrian #homemadehammock #specialneeds #specialneedshamster #cleverhammy #ilovemyhammy

[taylormadepaciparadise]

Jamie rules! #happyhammy #syrian #syrianhamster #cleverhammy #hamstersrule #hammiesrock