Vegetarian Star

Jack Hanna, who has been vocally supportive of SeaWorld since the incident involving a trainer being killed by a whale at the park, remains positive about the organization.

In an interview with DIS Unplugged, the zookeeper shared his thoughts on the park and animal safety.

On continuing programs at SeaWorld despite trainer deaths:
Does an accident or a death at NASCAR or Indy or even sometimes in certain sports around the world hesitate people in going? The answer’s no. Not just for that, Dawn (Brancheau), whose memorial service is this weekend, gave her life doing something – as her family said, what she loved to do. She loved to educate people. The millions of people this young woman has educated over the years is phenomenal.

On the possibility of future tragedies:
Things happen, yes. Will things happen again? Of course they will. It could be the Columbus Zoo. It could be any zoo throughout the country – the 220 zoos and aquariums. Because we work with safety of our visitor first and safety of our animals – that’s our number one goal, but could something happen? Of course it could happen.

On more government regulations for educational programs at parks like SeaWorld:
Yeah… well, I hope they don’t change anything at SeaWorld. That’s my opinion. I would think people in Washington would have other things to worry about right now. Was Dawn’s death a tragedy? Sure it was. It’s incredible, one death, anybody’s death is a tragedy. But think about other things that are tragedies: the war, the economy, job loss, I could go on and on. You’d think in Washington they’d consider working on things like that that are a little more important than trying to figure out… you know, SeaWorld does it the best there is, period.

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Jack Hanna and animal rights activists aren’t best friends forever.

More recently, he and PETA’s president Ingrid Newkirk shared words over the value of holding dolphins captive in places like SeaWorld.

Another area where he and activists may differ is the area of zoos, where animals are restricted to small spaces versus being free to roam for miles in their natural habitats.

Hanna thinks this is something that’s unavoidable, as some animals cannot be released into the wild.

“I’ve tried working with animal rights groups, and some of those people are just plain nut cases,” Hanna told Northern Express. “You can’t just put all the animals back out into the wild. That’s why we have zoos – good zoos, not bad ones. We have 220 of them in this country. Ninety nine percent of our animals come from other zoos – animals that are born in captivity. Not everyone has the means to travel like I do, and this allows people to see these animals up close. People leave learning something.”

With animal rights activists like PETA, it’s not necessarily the wild they’re recommending, but sanctuaries.

These environments would offer the larger living spaces that more closely mimick an animal’s natural habitat.

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Jack Hanna On Larry King Live

Larry King hosted Jack Hanna and PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk on Larry King Live, where the two got into a heated debate over whether keeping whales like the one that killed SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, is safe for humans and animals.

Newkirk said the conditions aren’t ideal for the whales and that they are “swimming in their own diluted urine” and she hopes the company is sued.

Hanna said the benefits of learning about whales outweigh the risks and compared the trainers to astronaunts.

“Larry, didn’t our astronauts go up in the space shuttle and we lost them when they came back? It was a terrible thing. They went back up in space, didn’t they? We want to learn from space and help mankind. That’s what SeaWorld does. These are dangerous animals. This young lady sacrificed her life and would be sitting here today saying she’d do it again for the great work she’s done and SeaWorld has done to educate tens of millions of people over the last years.”

Do you agree with Hanna?

Or is there a better way to educate the public than through marine parks like SeaWorld?

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Jack Hanna appeared on the Early Show where he discussed the recent tragedy of the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau by a killer whale.

Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez questioned SeaWorld’s judgement for keeping Tilikum, given the fact the whale had been implicated in the death of other trainers.

Hanna defended both SeaWorld and the practice of keeping whales in captivity.

“I take my hat off to SeaWorld to take a killer whale that someone said we should euthanize, (and) bring it to SeaWorld,” Hanna said.

“We do everything we can (to put) the safety of our animals and visitors first. The SeaWorld in-vitro planted, they can now take sperm and eggs and have a baby killer whale. Let’s say 20, 30 years from now, there’s 200 killer whales left in the wild. Let me tell you where we’re going to go: We’re going to go to SeaWorld and see what to to save this magnificent creature. That’s how valuable it is for what we’re doing with research. I hear all these other people commenting with killer whales. Give me a break. Seaworld are the ones that know more about killer whales, and the millions of dollars they spend this rescuing whales is unbelievable. And we put them back out in the wild. So no one hears about this.”

What’s your take on whales being kept in marine parks like SeaWorld?

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Jane Velez-Mitchell has used her position as a well known journalist on HLN to spotlight animal issues on several occasions.

Recently Jane and Nancy Grace had the opportunity to interview Jack Hanna, host of Jack Hanna Into The Wild–along with some of his animal friends.

After recounting a story about a dog who helped solve a crime by urinating on a tire, Jane discussed the pigs she met at a farm animal rescue center.

Some highlights from the transcript:

GRACE: You`ve had encounters with pigs? Is there anything you need to share with us?

(LAUGHTER)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, actually, because I`m an animal activist and I go to rescue organizations…

GRACE: Oh, there she goes! I was wondering how long it would take! Go ahead, Miss PETA!

(LAUGHTER)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I go to a group, like Animal Acres here in Los Angeles, where they rescue farm animals that have been abused and they allow them to live the way animals should live. Pigs are incredibly intelligent animals, as intelligent as dogs. They have an incredible sense of smell. As you`ve just been seeing there, they are sentient creatures with feelings. They are being used by some in some test cases to sniff out drugs and as…

GRACE: Oh, drug pigs!

Are narcotic pigs the future of the police department in your hometown?

Learn what vegetarian animal Hanna introduced later on the show from the full transcript.

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