'Affinity' Animal Rights Protest

[themagician]

Two things I find hilarious in the video:

When the lady says 'Yeah I think it went really well'

And 'Everyone should be asking for a refund'

Okay, so, no it didn't go well. Honestly I don't think it could have gone any worse. I get people have opinions, and some are very strong minded about their beliefs and stand by it, and good for you. But don't for a second think you can go to a place like this, where families are enjoying themselves, and kids can't wait to enjoy the beauty of the dolphins, and then people like you come along and ruin it for all of them. And secondly, so does that mean you went and asked for a refund to, because how else did you get in. I doubt you broke in. So you bought a ticket or have a pass, and despite providing access to the other parks, it too provides a support to SW, and paradise country who also has animals. And the fact that two off duty police officers who were probably enjoy their day, and they then had to leave their families to deal with this is rediculous. Again, people have their options and I understand that, but when you have to go out your way and end up ruining people's day, that just isn't on.

Edited February 11, 2017 by themagician

[Troy81]

I feel dumber for watching their video, yet I just gave them another view.  Stoopid me.  10 minutes I ain't getting back.

[pushbutton]

For a change a very good report in todays Courier Mail. 

 

 

[Santa07]

[Redboost]

2 hours ago, pushbutton said:

For a change a very good report in todays Courier Mail. 

 

 

Whilst this is great news, potentially these dicks might get annoyed at their lack coverage and inability to spread their propaganda, and try something more extreme next time out. Like dressing themselves in a dolphin carcass.....

[pin142]

Should jump in the shark tank and protest their captivity too...

[pushbutton]

35 minutes ago, pin142 said:

Should jump in the shark tank and protest their captivity too...

Now that I'd happily pay for a ticket to watch!

I imagine they'd get plenty of publicity too.

[omega237]

and turn a protest into a bloodfest.

[Slick]

People are dumb. I was in the middle of writing this huge "worry about credibility in journalism in the fake news age" opinion piece, then hit command+a and just started again to keep it simple.

There's no more prestigious journalistic institutions and no more encyclopaedias on CD's or in books that hold all the facts and information to the world. Freedom of and to information in the digital age has opened up an equalised platform both correct and incorrect information, and the fact that society still can't pick the good from the bad scares the shit out of me, because it's so easy today to put your fingers in your ears and pretend that climate change isn't real, Trump is a cool dude or in this case, that Sea World harms animals.

@joz said it best in this thread & I blasted @POP in another thread about Tiger Island not too long ago. Point is, watching one documentary on how a park overseas treats a specific animal that's related to a park here in name only and thus think everyone's evil, well, you're an idiot. Open your mind. Check the facts from both sides. Do some research. Check the citations and see where the general or scientific consensus lies.

[Reanimated35]

12 minutes ago, omega237 said:

and turn a protest into a bloodfest.

[Jamberoo Fan]

14 hours ago, Redboost said:

...their lack coverage and inability to spread their propaganda...

They did fairly well actually in getting (social) media coverage:

• 2 Facebook Live streams reaching 24,000 people (48,000 people in total)
• Numerous lengthy articles in domestic & international news publications (reaching millions of readers)
• Numerous television news stories both in QLD & interstate (reaching millions of viewers)

The media just didn't take their side instead mainly focusing on their method of protest & the crowd's reaction.

Looking at their Facebook page, whilst it was a protest featuring multiple protest groups (there was at least 2 protest groups participating), the main protest group (Justice For Captives) are relatively new - only formed a few weeks ago so their main aim of the protest wasn't really to "spread their propaganda" but to begin a debate, which they seem to have been successful at given the media coverage.

Before the Affinity protest yesterday, it seems they visited the Penguin Encounter exhibit and were concerned at the exhibit's design. They notified SW of their concern & the next day, went back to SW, revisited the Penguin Encounter exhibit to find - to their surprise - that their concerns were not addressed & that the exhibit had less ice than the previous day. Then they went to Dolphin Beach, where they were concerned about the lack of shade for the dolphins.

Eventually, this happened:

SW's GM tweeted about yesterday's Affinity protest and they, indirectly, responded back via Facebook:

Judging from this Facebook comment on a post they made about The Age's news article on the Affinity protest, it seems they do anticipate doing another major protest at SW in the future.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Jamberoo Fan

[themagician]

The page has received over 600 additional likes in the last 48 hours

[rappa]

800 likes out of 24000 views. That's a statement in itself now isn't it. 

[jjuttp]

To be fair, i do feel the penguin exhibit is a bit small and shit. And that/s from the guy who's spent a few years working in zoos and the likes.

[bladex]

it's a joke alright their whole group is one pathetic joke. what a bunch of asshat uneducated tree hugging hippies! they will achieve NOTHING doing this so let them try something again i hope they get their asses thrown in jail. sw will be ready for them next time

Edited February 12, 2017 by bladex

[Tim Dasco]

They tried to enter today and got removed very very quickly. 

[Bush Beast Forever]

Don't you hate it when the so called experts don't take random unqualified people's advice?

Just the other day I made a suggestion to the Roads and Maritime Service in Sydney about the main span on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and was surprised and disappointed the next day when the RMS didnt take my gratuitous advice!

[jake_hunt]

"if the dolphins are well enough to be in the show, they can survive in the wild."

Uh, no. Firstly, they are cared for, provided for and protected whilst in the shows and under captivity in Sea World. In the wild, these luxuries are not the same. It's 24/7 fending for themselves, which I imagine is 686543237890 times more stressful and dangerous for an injured animal than doing a couple of tricks twice a day.

Secondly, animals who are born in or live in captivity for an extended period of time CANNOT fend for themselves in the wild. They instinctually learn that humans will bring them food, that there are no predators in the water around them, that they don't need to protect themselves because they have carers to do it for them. Once they learn these "new instincts", releasing them into the wild is a DEATH SENTENCE. Because they don't know how to hunt, they don't know how to protect themselves, and they wait around for humans to feed them.

Sea World is an example of animals in captivity done right. There are two types of animals you CANNOT humanely release from a zoo or captivity: one that is unwell or injured and unable to fend for itself, and one which was raised in captivity or has been there for a very long period of time. 100% of Sea World's dolphins and other animals fit into at least one of these categories. So go home hippies, and find a real issue to protest against.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The fact that each live stream has 24,000 views doesn't in itself = 48,000 people reached. it can just indicate the same 24,000 people watched both videos. 'View Counts' are also distorted by media, and - even people like us who do know better, who watch it to understand what happened. I'll conservatively give you 4000 views are by people who actually support their cause.

Its been said and done to death. We've talked about 'our' sea world in comparison to SeaWorld in the US, pretty much from the time of Blackfish. this Mob have no idea what they're talking about - they're getting facts mixed up with the US park by claiming SWGC has kept whales in the past.

They also reference distorted facts - such as how many dolphins have died in the park's care - without allowing for the fact that many of those were rescues that potentially had a low chance of survival anyway.

I think the best thing to do here is to ignore them - don't post links to their posts \ videos - as every outlet they get contributes more 'views' which will be interpreted as an indication of popularity. They'll very quickly find themselves on the ban list at the parks, at which point the damage they can do will be minimal.

I did however see an article over the weekend (thanks @joz ) and while i'm not sure whether or not it made it to Parkz, here it is (or here it is again as the case may be ) - this is what we should be giving airtime to:

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/lifestyle/pets-and-wildlife/the-truth-about-sea-world-gold-coast-theme-park-reveals-all-and-answers-critics/news-story/df63b6e3c8c0cd4b493b5a9c2664a2ee

(and what do you know - the bully has something good for once)

[Jamberoo Fan]

On 13/02/2017 at 2:23 AM, Tim Dasco said:

They tried to enter today and got removed very very quickly. 

They were in there for at least 2.5 hours so not exactly "very very quickly".

On 13/02/2017 at 9:25 AM, AlexB said:

The fact that each live stream has 24,000 views doesn't in itself = 48,000 people reached. it can just indicate the same 24,000 people watched both videos. 'View Counts' are also distorted by media, and - even people like us who do know better, who watch it to understand what happened. I'll conservatively give you 4000 views are by people who actually support their cause.

I agree that 24,000 views in 2 videos can mean nearly the same 24,000 people viewed both videos but similar to what you said, I'd say 9,000 viewers (combined Facebook page likes) were people who actually supported their cause while all the rest were just members of the general public viewing the video due to the media's attention to the Affinity protest.

[Reanimated35]

On 13/02/2017 at 8:25 AM, AlexB said:

I'll conservatively give you 4000 views are by people who actually support their cause.

 

5 minutes ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

I'd say 9,000 viewers (combined Facebook page likes) were people who actually supported their cause while all the rest were just members of the general public

[iwerks]

I am so pissed off with the over simplification by this protest group.  It's just lazy three word slogan protesting and I really hate their smug attitude to everyone and everything that doesn't agree with them 100%.  Like the attitude of that lady in the video just after she scared the crap out of some very distressed children and broadcast it live over the internet.  They're so subjective and not objective. Their language is so laden with oversimplifications and moral righteousness (not forgetting their personification of the dolphins).  

I wish they'd just state the facts.  First, get the name of the park right.  State what you would like to happen, which hopefully doesn't involve releasing captive bred dolphins into the wild.     

I found this quote in an interesting website:

Quote

Apparent exceptions to this (successfully releasing dolphins into the wild) are dolphins born in captivity. There is no ‘returning’ them to their natural habitat. They have none.

https://dolphinproject.net/about-dolphins/releasing-captive-dolphins/protocol-for-releasing-captive-dolphins/

I just wished they quoted some reliable sources, sometimes.  I'm still haunted by the fascinating, but tragic, story behind the release of the Atlantis Dolphins.

http://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/share/AquaticMammalsIssueArchives/1993/Aquatic_Mammals_19_2/19-02_Gales.pdf

There's actually a few things I don't disagree with them about with regards to Sea World.  The problem is, the world isn't black or white.  The simple fact, that many people don't seem to realise, is that Sea World doesn't own the dolphins.  It's part of a much larger program.  

So, whenever a protestor oversimplify things, overreaches or just outright lies, I'm going to be there to correct them.  I'm only going to do it on the Sea World Facebook page, though. 

Edited February 15, 2017 by iwerks

[Jamberoo Fan]

What does everyone make of this?:

[Reanimated35]

More reasons to laugh at idiots and also watch people potentially break done NDA if they are still valid after their employment ends. 

Or it could be all made up and complete bullshit. 

[Slick]

Can't wait. Looking forward to seeing a name, position and reason why the left a long with what they saw.

Worst case scenario, they're an idiot with a grudge to bare against an old employee. Best case scenario, they may actually highlight a flaw with animal care that we're all not aware, Sea World fixes it, the animals get better care then they did before and it's one less thing for these folks to whinge about.