Translator: tova cohen Reviewer: Denise RQ
I used to want to be a SeaWorld trainer.
When I was five years old,
my mom came home with a videotape of the movie "Free Willy"
which is a story about a young boy who helps free an orca from captivity.
After watching this movie for the first time,
I was so mesmerized by the orca
that I started to watch the movie several times a week.
And this routine lasted for months. It became my childhood obsession.
So two years later, my parents took me to SeaWorld,
so that I could see the orcas in person.
I was so excited!
I remember wanting to do exactly what the trainers did:
swim with the whales and be able to interact with them everyday.
It seemed like the dream job.
It wasn't until years later, when I was 13,
that I realized I didn't know much about these animals
besides the fact I wanted to work with them.
At SeaWorld, I saw them do tricks, I saw the trainers drive off the whales,
but I didn't learn anything about the orcas.
So I decided to do some research
on how they live in their natural environment.
I learned that orcas can swim up to 100 miles a day,
they have strong family bonds,
and that they communicate through using their natural sonar system.
And then I thought back to what I had seen at SeaWorld
and realized they obviously couldn't swim 100 miles a day.
I later learned that they were not with their families,
and that they can't use their sonar system
because the sound bounces off of the concrete wall back to them.
Then, as I was having these second thoughts about orcas in captivity,
the documentary "Blackfish" came out which is about this exact issue.
I learned the orcas are put in the tanks with others from different populations
that would never even cross paths in the wild,
which results in aggressive behavior towards each other in the tanks.
I learned that they also have a shortened life-span,
and that the females are impregnated
way younger than they would reproduce in the wild.
So my dismay over the exploitation of orcas and other marine mammals,
soon expanded to other animals used for entertainment.
I learned circus elephants are trained using electric shocks and bull hooks,
which literally penetrate their skin so that they perform tricks out of fear.
In the wild, elephants can roam up to 30 miles a day.
In the circus, they are chained down in boxcars for most hours of the day,
sometimes for days on end.
This cruelty caused me to have second thoughts about all animals,
and how we, humans, treat them.
It didn't seem right
that I was paying attention to certain animal rights' issues and not others,
so I eventually started to question the treatment of farm animals
who are held and slaughtered for food.
I learned that breeding mother pigs are forced to live in cages so small
that they can't even turn around for their entire lives.
Their piglets are taken away from them within weeks
to be fattened up for slaughter,
and the mother pigs are forced to go through this process again and again.
As for cows, I thought that there could be nothing wrong with dairy,
I thought cows just produce milk.
It's a natural process, so how could that be cruel?
But then I learned that because of growth hormones and unnatural diets,
today's dairy cows produce ten times more milk than they would naturally.
Calves are dragged away from their mothers
so that humans can consume the mother's milk instead.
And after a dairy cow has gone through this process so many times
that she often collapses of exhaustion, she is sent off to slaughter, too.
And for chickens,
the ones being raised for slaughter are crammed into filthy sheds
and are genetically modified to grow so big so rapidly
that they often collapse under their own weight.
Laying hens are confined into tiny cages during egg production
and have their sensitive beaks cut off to avoid damage from pecking at each other.
So after learning all of these things, and watching the videos
which show the ways in which these animals are slaughtered,
I told myself, if I could hardly watch this,
how could I support this?
So I became vegan.
Which means I don't consume any animal products.
And I felt a lot better after that
because I finally aligned my actions with my beliefs.
But I wanted to do more with my passion for animal rights.
So, as I was looking into more and more issues,
I came across a speech by Dr Jane Goodall
who was talking about our relationship with animals,
and how we, as humans,
have no right to be treating them the way that we do.
I was so inspired by her speech
I decided to apply to be on her National Youth Leadership Council,
and was accepted.
On the council, I'm focusing on educating others
about animals rights and ocean conservation,
because those are two of my main passions.
Here are some suggestions
for what you could do to help animals in your everyday life.
First, don't buy a ticket!
By refusing to support marine parks and circuses
that exploit animals,
the demand for this outdated practice will eventually die out.
It's worth noting that Ringling Bros. recently announced
that they will phase elephants out of their circus acts.
However, not until 2018,
and they still plan to exploit lions, and tigers, and other animals.
So there is still work to be done.
But we need to put pressure on marine parks, like SeaWorld,
to do the same for their marine mammals.
Instead of going to the show,
visit animals in their natural environment,
like going on a whale watch or visiting a farm sanctuary.
There are ways to appreciate and learn about animals without exploiting them.
And lastly, consider "meatless Mondays."
If all Americans did "meatless Mondays" for one year,
it would save 1.4 billion animals from factory farming.
That's a big difference. And anyone can do that.
Animals are not commodities,
they are living beings that deserve respect.
Please consider this with each choice that you make.
Thank you.
(Applause)