不幸的是,早在大多数美国人知道那里的残酷之前,我就已经去过那里了。那时我还很年轻。
2013 年,纪录片《黑鱼》上映。这部电影很快因其令人痛苦的内容而臭名昭著,它揭示了海洋公园向公众隐瞒了几十年的令人震惊的悲惨真相。
对于没有看过《黑鱼》的人,我建议你去看看。这部影片非常有趣,制作精良,但非常让人不安。《黑鱼》目前正在 Netflix上播放。
《黑鱼》内容翔实,涵盖了从第一只圈养虎鲸的诞生到与虎鲸相关的多起人类死亡事件的方方面面。影片还强调了虎鲸的智力和情感深度。
But after watching the documentary, it wasn’t the small tank enclosures or blatant lies that Seaworld spread that angered me so much, although both of those things are unacceptable. What truly shocked me to the core was learning about an Orca’s brain and that it is built unlike those of other mammals. Aside from being extremely large, the emotional processing portion of a killer whale’s brain is far more elaborate and proportionately greater to that of a human brain. Orcas feel and think in ways unimaginable to us. They aren't just intelligent. They’re biologically engineered to collaborate with others of their kind. In other words, socialization, as well as stimulation, are incredibly important to the well-being of these animals. In many ways they are like humans in that they are capable of expressing emotions and thinking things through.
After learning about an orca’s mental and emotional capacity, the tiny tanks, stolen babies, isolation, and lack of entertainment no longer seemed simply cruel. It seemed like unimaginable torture.
An account of one whale, who, after having her baby taken away, emitted long-range echolocation in an effort to communicate with her child— a sound never registered from an orca before — only further solidified my new feelings towards seaworld.
但看完纪录片后,让我感到愤怒的并不是狭小的水箱围栏,也不是海洋公园明目张胆地散布谎言,尽管这两件事都是不可接受的。真正让我感到震惊的是,我了解到虎鲸的大脑,它的构造与其他哺乳动物不同。虎鲸的大脑除了非常大之外,其情感处理部分也比人脑复杂得多,比例也更大。虎鲸的感觉和思维方式是我们无法想象的。它们不仅聪明。它们在生物学上被设计成能与其他同类合作。换句话说,社交和刺激对这些动物的健康来说是非常重要的。在许多方面,它们都和人类一样,能够表达情感和思考问题。
在了解了虎鲸的心理和情感承受能力后,狭小的水箱、被偷走的婴儿、孤立和缺乏娱乐似乎不再是简单的残忍。这似乎是一种难以想象的折磨。
有一条鲸鱼在它的孩子被抱走后,发出了远距离回声定位,试图与它的孩子交流,这是虎鲸从未发出过的声音,这进一步巩固了我对海洋公园的新感觉。
And, later, I heard news of an “Orca Suicide.” A male killer whale known for ramming his head into the walls of his enclosure all day long, had finally succumbed to an aneurysm. I just about broke down.
Keeping animals as intelligent and sensitive as orcas isolated and locked up is wrong. Plain and simple. There is so much evidence against keeping killer whales in captivity that it’s practically a joke — most animals in captivity can expect to live longer than their wild counterparts, but the life span of a captive killer whale is significantly lower than the life span of a wild orca. If that alone isn’t enough evidence to keep such beautiful animals out of tanks and in the wild where they belong, I don’t know what is.
Seaworld has announced that this generation of whales will be the last generation. It’s a step in the right direction, and I am impressed by their initiative, but it still won’t change how many and for how long Seaworld’s past and present orcas suffered. It almost seems like a cruel science experiment. Likewise, Seaworld's current whales are still kept in the same living conditions. While rescue organizations have successfully retired orcas from other parks to sanctuary sea pens and closed off ocean coves, therefore giving the animals a much better life, Seaworld’s whales will still be housed in their small chamber-like tanks that are still on display for public viewing. Keeping the whales in their current situations, but no longer breeding them, is equivalent to Ringling Bros retiring itself elephants to a concrete “sanctuary.” Despite captive orcas having a mortality rate 2.5 times higher than their wild relatives, Seaworld may have its orcas for another 30 years or more. For the whales, that’s the rest of their lives spent in the equivalent of a kiddie pool.
后来,我听到了 "虎鲸自杀 "的消息。一头以整天用头撞围栏墙壁而闻名的雄性虎鲸,最终死于动脉瘤。我几乎崩溃了。把像虎鲸这样聪明敏感的动物隔离起来关起来是错误的。简单明了。反对人工饲养虎鲸的证据太多了,这简直就是个笑话,虽然大多数人工饲养的动物都比野生动物活得长,但人工饲养的虎鲸的寿命明显低于野生虎鲸。如果单凭这一点还不足以证明应该把如此美丽的动物从水箱中拯救出来,放归大自然,我不知道还有什么能证明这一点。
海洋公园已经宣布,这一代鲸鱼将是最后一代。这是朝着正确方向迈出的一步,他们的举措给我留下了深刻印象,但这仍然无法改变海洋公园过去和现在的虎鲸遭受了多少和多长时间的痛苦。这几乎就像是一场残酷的科学实验。同样,海洋公园现在的鲸鱼仍然被关在同样的生活条件下。虽然救援组织已经成功地将其他公园的虎鲸退养到保护区的海洋围栏和封闭的海湾中,从而使这些动物过上了更好的生活,但海洋公园的鲸鱼仍将被饲养在它们的小密室般的水箱中,这些水箱仍在展出供公众观赏。让鲸鱼保持在目前的环境中,但不再进行繁殖,这就相当于畸形秀马戏团把自己的大象退养到一个混凝土的 "避难所 "中。尽管圈养虎鲸的死亡率比野生虎鲸高出 2.5 倍,但海洋公园可能还要再圈养虎鲸 30 年或更久。对于这些鲸鱼来说,它们的余生都将在儿童游泳池中度过。
Shanfa Chaiyadi Lives in Jakarta
Saudi Arabia
There’s no reason to visit this country.
No tourist visa available.
I’m not a Muslim, so I’m automatically banned from visiting Mecca.
The weather seems unpleasant. I wouldn’t want to wear abaya under such extreme sun heat.
No cinema or any form of entertainment. The only fun things to do seems to be eating and shopping.
It’s still an oppressive place, and is one of the biggest human rights’ violators.
A global exporter of “Wahabbism”, which is an extreme form of Islam.
Not a good thing.
【回答】居住在雅加达
沙特阿拉伯
没有理由访问这个国家。
没有旅游签证。
我不是穆斯林,所以我自动被禁止访问麦加。
天气似乎不太好。我可不想在这么酷热的阳光下穿罩袍。
没有电影院,也没有任何形式的娱乐活动。唯一有趣的事情似乎就是吃饭和购物。
它仍然是一个压迫的地方,是最大的人权侵犯者之一。
伊斯兰教的极端形式“瓦哈比教派”作为全球输出者。这不是一件好事。
Ronny Nielsen Business & Real Estate Consultant
Oh man, I have just the perfect place for you. Take a look at the picture below, it doesn't look that bad, right?
Welcome to Oymyakon in Russia.
This remote Russian town is known as the coldest inhabited place on Earth. Its 500 residents live in darkness for 21 hours a day with an average temperature of -50°C and temperatures have been recorded as low as -67°C.
It's impossible to grow crops there, so people live on reindeer meat, frozen fish, and ice cubes of horse blood with macaroni, according to WIRED. Indoor plumbing is also tricky, since the water freezes, so most people use outhouses.
Getting there can take several days. From Moscow, a flight to either Yakutsk or to Magadan is the closest you can get, and both are over 900 km (560 miles) away. The road from those cities that leads to Oymyakon is called "The Road of Bones." Don't drive it alone.
【回答】商业 & 房地产顾问
朋友,我有个绝佳的地方给你。看看下面的图片,看起来没那么糟,对吧?
欢迎来到奥伊米亚康。
这个遥远的俄罗斯小镇被认为是地球上最寒冷的居住地。里面的500名居民每天在黑暗中生活21个小时,平均气温为-50摄氏度,有记录的最低气温为-67摄氏度。
根据《连线》杂志的报道,那里不可能种植庄稼,所以人们以驯鹿肉、冷冻鱼和马血冰块加通心粉为生。室内管道也很棘手,因为水会结冰,所以大多数人使用户外厕所。
到达那里可能需要几天的时间。从莫斯科飞往雅库茨克或马加丹是最近的,两地都超过900公里(560英里)。从这些城市通往奥伊米亚康的路被称为“尸骨之路”,不要单独驾驶。
Martin Dièdre Lives in Lyon, France (2020–present)
I’m very open to discover most of the countries in the World but I’d say:
Saudi Arabia: The climate is suffocating and it’s mostly sand dunes and rocks. But the desert is not the only reason. Saudi Arabia to me is morally the most disgusting, cold-hearted, fake, conservative and hypocritical country in the World. It’s a bit the same for Qatar, Koweit, UAE, but Saudi is much more powerful which makes it even more influential and boundless.
【回答】现居法国里昂(2020 年 - 至今)
我非常愿意去发现世界上大多数国家,但我想说的是:
沙特阿拉伯:这里的气候令人窒息,大部分是沙丘和岩石。但沙漠并不是唯一的原因。在我看来,沙特阿拉伯在道德上是世界上最恶心、最冷酷、最虚假、最保守和最虚伪的国家。卡塔尔、科威特和阿联酋也是如此,但沙特要强大得多,这使得它的影响力更大、无边无际。
Tomasz Filipczak Studied Business Management & Leadership (Graduated 2019)
The North Sentinel Island.
In the Bay of Bengal, home to the Sentinelese tribe, lies an island whose people are known for killing anyone who ventures too close to the island’s shores, be that intentionally or by accident.
In 2006, two eager Indian fishermen were mud crabbing not far from the island.
As night fell they put down a makeshift anchor, which failed them while they were sleeping. The current pushed their boat too close to the shore, and the Sentinelese murdered them in an instant.
When Indian officials came to retrieve the bodies, a volley of arrows was shot at the helicopter forcing the pilots to retreat and eventually give up.
So little is known about the island that the population is estimated to be between 50 and 400.
The violent and defensive tendencies of the Sentinelese people have left India’s Government to enforce a 3-mile ban around the island, urging people to leave the North Sentinel Island alone.
Safe to say it’s a place on Earth I’d never go to.
【回答】学习商业管理与领导力(2019 年毕业)
北哨兵岛
在孟加拉湾,哨兵岛是森提奈部落的故乡,岛上的居民以杀死任何过于接近该岛海岸的人而闻名,无论是有意还是无意。
2006 年,两名热心的印度渔民在离岛不远的地方捕捉泥蟹。
夜幕降临时,他们放下了一个临时锚,但在他们熟睡时锚却失灵了。水流把他们的船推得离岸边太近,森提奈人瞬间就把他们都杀害了。
当印度官员前来取回尸体时,直升机遭到了一排箭的射击,迫使飞行员撤退并最终放弃。
人们对这座岛知之甚少,估计人口在 50 到 400 之间。
森提奈人的暴力和防御倾向使得印度政府不得不在该岛周围 3 英里范围内实施禁令,敦促人们不要靠近北哨兵岛。
可以说,那是地球上我永远不会去的地方。