66 replies to this topic

[Drew]

That will be confusing for the people who come on the forums and say "I don't want anything manipulated" and then harass everything when they are down there. I am getting fed up with hearing of the number of people who say one thing publicly and then behave completely differently.

So soon will be lots of people posting on Wetpixel asking "Can you tell me the resorts that manipulate creatures> So, errrm, I know which ones to avoid!"

Alex

Hey, sanctimonious remarks are da best! How else could those who got caught with their proverbial fingers (or whatever creatures) in the jar, be able to perpetuate the age old parental adage: 'Do as I say and not as I do!'

Actually I'd love to see the operators publicly denounce manipulation of critters in their advertising: 'No one prods anything at this resort!' or 'No touchy touchy at our resort!' Conversely, it'd be cool if they advertised their open policy: 'Pick up, flip and prod to your heart's content at our resort!' or 'We are all about touching the critters here!'

[John Bantin]

I love Wetpixel. You can't witness discussions like this on other diving forums! Come on Alex, tell us how you got those five pigmy seahorses to pirouette through space. Did you shake them up in a jam jar first? Don't try to kid me it's a computer job!

[DeanB]

I feel really bad about lifting an old piece of corrugated tin to see grass snakes now ...

Dive safe

DeanB

[John Bantin]

I had an assistant that had a pet spiny puffer in an aquarium, which he handled and puffed up every day. When it got too big for his aquarium, we took it to London Zoo. A week later we went to visit it. It was in the quarantine tanks. I spotted it but when it saw him, it recognised him, went crazy at the glass and puffed itself up. Tell, me that it was harming itself!

Edited by John Bantin, 10 April 2013 - 08:43 AM.

[E_viking]

Was that the fish version of Pavlov's dogs :-)

Edited by E_viking, 10 April 2013 - 09:58 AM.

[John Bantin]

Was that the fish version of Pavlov's dogs :-)

Probably correct - but it lived a long life! Like the Napolean wrasses at Ras Mohammed that, when they died, people said they got cancer from the food divers had been giving them. When I researched an article about it, David Frape, the distinguished animal nutritionist, pointed out that they had lived much longer than normal because they were so well-fed and they got cancer because that's what happens when you get very old.

It's never as simple as we think and we should not ascribe human characteristics and feelings to other species of animal!

[E_viking]

That is definately true that the longer you live, the higher the likelihood to get cancer.

The question is what is harrassment and how to define it!