TY - JOUR
T1 - Cetacean conservation and the ethics of captivity
AU - Muka, Samantha
AU - Zarpentine, Chris
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Recent decades have seen increasing opposition to cetacean captivity among the general public. However, these discussions often do not address captivity in the context of conservation. At the same time, approaches within conservation biology—compassionate conservation and multispecies justice—call for greater attention to the impact of conservation interventions on individual nonhuman animals. Many questions remain about the implications of these approaches for conservation practice. In this paper, we focus on two recent case studies in cetacean conservation. These case studies highlight how some forms of captivity can contribute to conservation and can help clarify what is at stake between advocates of these approaches and their critics. We argue that some forms of captivity can be ethically justified as part of an ex situ conservation effort, even in cases where they involve risk to individual cetaceans.
AB - Recent decades have seen increasing opposition to cetacean captivity among the general public. However, these discussions often do not address captivity in the context of conservation. At the same time, approaches within conservation biology—compassionate conservation and multispecies justice—call for greater attention to the impact of conservation interventions on individual nonhuman animals. Many questions remain about the implications of these approaches for conservation practice. In this paper, we focus on two recent case studies in cetacean conservation. These case studies highlight how some forms of captivity can contribute to conservation and can help clarify what is at stake between advocates of these approaches and their critics. We argue that some forms of captivity can be ethically justified as part of an ex situ conservation effort, even in cases where they involve risk to individual cetaceans.
KW - Captive breeding
KW - Cetacean captivity
KW - Compassionate conservation
KW - Ex situ conservation
KW - Multispecies justice
KW - Vaquita
KW - Yangtze finless porpoise
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85113518353&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109303
DO - 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109303
M3 - Short survey
AN - SCOPUS:85113518353
SN - 0006-3207
VL - 262
JO - Biological Conservation
JF - Biological Conservation
M1 - 109303
ER -