Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Petlife.
How Horseback Riding Nearly Gelded Me.
Setting the Stage for This Day’s Near Tragedy First, I thought, “Everyone is doing it. I will write about sex!” But, there is enough sex going around Medium writing these days. Besides, I don’t want to catch a textually transmitted disease.
By Don Feazelle4 years ago in Petlife
Sea Shepherd Extremists Use Dead Dolphins As “Props” For Protest
Having to have grown up visiting the New England coastline with my family every spring and fall, I had been fortunate enough to have experienced marine wildlife that was pretty much close to home. I have seen a number of marine mammal species such as Atlantic white-sided dolphins, North Atlantic right whales, grey seals, humpback whales, minke whales, and of course, fin whales. In addition, I had also grown up seeing other marine species that are often found in New England waters like swordfish, blue sharks, and even a great white shark. Seeing such marine wildlife has inspired me to not only know more about the Gulf of Maine’s marine ecosystem, but it also inspired me to work with animals, and even educate others on marine ecosystems and what they can do to protect it.
By Jenna Deedy4 years ago in Petlife
should whales be in captivity?
Should killer whales be captive? Some think yes some think no today I will be talking about some reasons why captive whales and animals do not do very well in captivity. Whales are typically caught and brought in from the wild, there are some whales that have been bred in captivity but have been separated from their mothers at a young age. This is one thing that really messes with the way whales live they live in pods with their family these captive whales are put into an artificial pod, and when they have babies they’re taken from them. This causes what seems to be a depression with the whales. Captive whales are kept under bad conditions with an unnatural diet of dead fish that is thawed. This causes the male whales to have a bent or collapsed dorsal fin. Captivity causes these animals to endure so much. These creatures deserve to be left in the wild. There are at least 166 orcas in captivity, 129 of these whales are now dead. There have been about 166 deaths of orcas in captivity including miscarried and still born calves. There are 20 whales in captivity at the three United States SeaWorld parks and at least 49 whales have died at SeaWorld. The whale capture of 1970 is probably the most infamous, this capture concluded in 7 whales captured and 5 whales died that day. There is only on captured whale still alive in captivity, she is at the Miami Seaquarium. There have been 19 orcas taken from the wild and placed into captivity. There were 10 whales illegally captured whales in Russia in 2018, but where released in the summer of 2019. These creatures are not meant to be held in captivity and made to perform for our amusement. Though many people either do not care what harm can come to these animals and their trainers, there are some who think and fight for these animals to stay in the wild. The owners of the brand SeaWorld are the people who need to realize that these creatures are dangerous. They can and have killed their trainers, these whales are powerful and have a very smart brain. They work out problems and take out their frustrations on whatever they want. SeaWorld has always blamed the trainers and not the whales for the trainers deaths. The most famous whale for killing his trainers is Tilikum. Tilikum has killed 3 people in his 3 decades of being in captivity before he passed on. There has been one whale that was released. Keiko also known as free Willy who captured many hearts in the free Willy movies. He was released but as many believe this was not for his well being, but for the well being of places like SeaWorld. SeaWorld and many people who work with SeaWorld want these animals to stay in captivity and continue to perform for our amusement. SeaWorld thinks that these animals are just for show and amusement, though this is not true. These animals are beautiful creatures who belong in the wild and should stay in the wild. Though there is no laws keeping people from capturing these whales but you do need a permit to capture them and take them into captivity. These laws are specifically put into place for entertainment and scientific reason. Though some believe it should be illegal there is little they can do. As stated previously orcas and many other animals do not do well and are not able to adapt to the life of captivity. These are just some of the many reasons that orcas and other animals should not be held in captivity. This also shows that SeaWorld and other ocean animal parks do not think about the well being of their animals.
By Maria Johnson4 years ago in Petlife
Tips for Training your Doggo
Hey there my fellow dog lovers! I want to share some tips and tricks that I either found out on my own or found on a billion different websites- yes.. I tried to do my research lol. I got my gorgeous, sweet, peanut head, Rusty in February of 2019. Whenever I adopted him, he had to stay a few more weeks until his appointment to be neutered. Turns out that that worked out perfectly (should have been a sign of how great he would be (; ) because I was also in the middle of moving out of my mom’s house. I knew that Rusty had anxiety based off of his bio but there was something about him and I knew he was mine! I visited him a few times a week so he could get used to me and I already had him sitting more on first command by the time I was able to go pick him up! I have to say... he is a VERY smart dog but I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself *pats self on back*. He hardly had any accidents and potty trained fairly easy! Within the first two weeks, he learned to stay, lay down, give his paw, and roll over. Now all of these took another week or so to be on first command but it did awesome. He is also currently learning left and right paw and gets it correct pretty often!
By Katie Luker4 years ago in Petlife