Fishy business at the Aquarium

What bugs me about the people bitching about the captivity of whales and dolphins at the Vancouver Aquarium is that they are complaining because the aquarium keeps these animals, which are mammals (just like us) that are cute, or, more likely, "smart."

What do these people think about other fish and animals in the aquarium which are not "smart," i.e., they are "dumb," relatively speaking?

I don't get the sense these people's attitude is "let's start with the smart whales and dolphins, and if we are successful at discouraging their presence in aquariums and/or liberating them, we will then move on to the other fish and animals."

It's no great secret that all animals and fish in zoos and suffer STRESS. Remember the pacing polar bears in Stanley Park?

I wonder why we need zoos and aquariums at all, when you can easily see animals and fish in books and on the Internet.