Frankly I'm not clear in my head how all of this VR stuff ties into our cats and how it can stop zoos from eventually having animals. At some point I'd like to have a discussion with you about it all.  I just don’t know why zoos would be motivated to be on board with it. And I would think, sort of like camera traps, seeing big cats captured in film in the wild would be preferable to seeing captive cats like ours.

 

Howie tried to answer:

 

I think Carole's logic is that like any disruption to an industry that forces a company to change in response to losing business, if we can make this available enough and popular enough, if zoo attendance declined, they may see it as an alternative.  But if not, if we are successful in getting business to decline and they close, that is fine too.  This is a long term play, not something that would happen overnight.  Just like there is a big article in Business Week this week about Tyson investing heavily in Beyond Meat and companies that are managing to grow real meat in the laboratory versus raising and slaughtering animals to be ahead of the curve instead of a victim of it. May take many years, but we could be the germination of it.

 

My answer:

 

There is the added benefit that no one, other than a few crazies who draw their personas from it, really likes working with captive big cats.  They are difficult, expensive, dangerous and watching them in captivity just breaks your heart every single day, if you can see the world through their eyes...even for a moment.

 

When Kenneth Feld and I were talking about this in the parking lot back in the early 2000s he said he hated the animal business and would be out of it as soon as society said they didn't want it any more.  I have to believe that upper management in zoos must feel the same way, but they fear losing their income and status in the community if they voice that opinion.

 

VR gives them the opportunity to keep everything going, without dealing with wild animals, if the tech grows to provide a better experience than live animals.  You are right that wild footage would always be the premium, but no one is going to develop that tech unless someone proves there is a viable market for it.  That's what I see as our role.

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  These are my views and opinions. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.  Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk