This was my first table talk experience. On this one, we discussed Tiger King. I watched Tiger King over quarantine with my family on Netflix. I enjoyed watching the show and was shocked by a lot of the events that unraveled in the show. Once joining the zoom, we started discussing the extensive mistreatment of cubs and tigers. Many of these tigers are sold and then a year later when they become “too big” they then get rid of them. This makes me sick thinking about the neglect that these tigers are experiencing. I understand that many consumers only want to interact with baby tigers, but it’s unethical to extort these animals for profit and personal gain. Tiger king was so sensationalized but we didn’t see too much emphasis on the animals. I have to admit that even I kind of forgot to focus on the animals. I was also caught up in the discussion of Carole Baskin and her deceased husband. Did she do it or not? In this table talk, I learned that this documentary was started with the intention of it being like “Blackfish” for big cats. Blackfish is a documentary on the problems with SeaWorld and why SeaWorld is bad. I definitely feel that Tiger King missed the mark if they intended to finish with the intentions that they started with. I think that the pandemic helped its success. I usually don’t watch documentaries, but when this was released it felt like most of the US was out home and had nothing else to do. Despite the success, people still aren’t concerned with the cats–it’s more about Carole Baskin and how crazy Joe is. The captive breeding of endangered animals is still a problem to me because they are not in their natural environment. Olivia, another Rose scholar, made a good point that it’s bad to just breed for the sake of having tigers. It is better and more ethical to HELP the species than just breeding them in captivity. At the end of the discussion, I was stumped when we were asked if we believed zoos are ethical. I answered no, but I learned that the AZA has things in place to protect animals in zoos. That was a relief to hear! Overall after this session, I understand more about the extensive network of animal abuse, and breeding and selling tigers–more than I understood from just watching the show.
Rose Scholars Fall 2020
Endless possibilities
I agree that this table talk was very interesting. I like how we compared Tiger King and discussed if it was like the “Blackfish” of its topic. Although it is unsure if Tiger King accomplished its initial goal, its controversy definitely brought some key discussions to light, which is always very useful.
That was such an interesting take on Tiger King, thanks for sharing! I only watched one or two episodes, but some of my immediate thoughts were that Joe’s habitats did not look ethical. Unfortunately there are a lot of zoos out there without enough money or compassion to care for their animals properly. Despite this, I do feel like some zoos do good work, educating the public and helping conservation efforts. I don’t think I can say as a whole, all zoos are unethical.