Game mods defying Frontier and modern Zoological/Animal activist standards on keeping animals

jforce91

J
Hey there guys.
I posted about this on the r/planet zoo sub but i think it needs to be brought to official frontier threads...
A user by the name of [link removed]has seemed to take much joy in adding the orca/killer whale, a controversial and divisive animal, to the list of animals availabe for zoos.
While i have NO issue with any land animals or amphibious mammals such as seals being added to the zoo, the entire sub just seems to be edgelords completely ignoring frontier's, and multiple animal rights groups', issues with such an asset being added to the game.
The title of their post kind of says it all, as they don't seem to care about PETA or any other animal rights groups, such as the WWF's, findings on the impacts of keeping orca in captivity, and the OP and others seem to not care that they have strayed quite some distance from the original message and purpose of the game.

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Roxxsmom

Roxxsmom
I wouldn't be too worried about what PETA thinks, as they are against all zoos, and even the keeping of domesticated companion and working animals. But I agree that there are many, many animal welfare groups, conservationists, and animal behaviorists far less extreme than PETA which/who also question the ethics of keeping cetaceans in captivity, except for purposes of rehabilitation, perhaps. I think Frontier has been wise to steer clear of the marine park zone.

I don't know what anyone can really do about the choices modders make, though, except to choose not to partake of mods you feel promote unethical practices.
 

jforce91

J
Roxxsmom said:
I wouldn't be too worried about what PETA thinks, as they are against all zoos, and even the keeping of domesticated companion and working animals. But I agree that there are many, many animal welfare groups, conservationists, and animal behaviorists far less extreme than PETA which/who also question the ethics of keeping cetaceans in captivity, except for purposes of rehabilitation, perhaps. I think Frontier has been wise to steer clear of the marine park zone.

I don't know what anyone can really do about the choices modders make, though, except to choose not to partake of mods you feel promote unethical practices.
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Yeah I'm not a fan of PETA either, but the comments on the thread were just toxic. They basically equivelated to "I wanna build zoos and not care about conservation/animal welfare".
Though at one point the OP did refer to the orca as a fish which i got a chuckle out of.
Thanks for the support, though.
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
I'm hugely against the keeping of large cetaceans in zoos but I also don't give a hoot about anything PETA has to say. Any time my views align with PETA's is purely by coincidence.

In any event, there's little to nothing you can do about modders. As long as official content remains true to the idea that Planet Zoo is about building realistic zoos (which also means keeping ethics and conservation in mind, as the majority of real zoos tend to do) then I don't see why the opinions of any modders really matter.
 

FoxyDee

FoxyDee
Mods like this were about to happen sooner or later. At some point all the games are going to get some controversial mods (still better than those female character nude mods many games get, I want to throw up everytime I see those, lol). Personally I dont mind the orcas and dolphins mods, as it is a choice to download them, and they are not aligned to Frontier whatso ever.
 
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jforce91

J
FoxyDee said:
Mods like this were about to happen sooner or later. At some point all the games are going to get some controversial mods (still better than those female character nude mods many games get, I want to throw up everytime I see those, lol). Personally I dont mind the orcas and dolphins mods, as it is a choice to download them, and they are not align to Frontier whatso ever.
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yeah I know they can't do much about it. Just sucks that there are modders out there that don't care about the game's original intent
 

jforce91

J
NZFanatic said:
I'm hugely against the keeping of large cetaceans in zoos but I also don't give a hoot about anything PETA has to say. Any time my views align with PETA's is purely by coincidence.

In any event, there's little to nothing you can do about modders. As long as official content remains true to the idea that Planet Zoo is about building realistic zoos (which also means keeping ethics and conservation in mind, as the majority of real zoos tend to do) then I don't see why the opinions of any modders really matter.
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As i said i don't really care too much about peta either, was just kinda dying inside that people thought this mod was ok
 

SalamAnders

SalamAnders
Whatever or not you like orcas in captivity is a matter of opinion, and I don't think Frontier has ever posted their point of view on this topic.
So I can't really see how the modders are going against what Frontier stands for.

Modders make dinosaurs and unicorns as well, so they are clearly not only going for animals, Frontier might as well add themselves.

Also Frontier's view and message off conservation and animal welfare is also rather odd sometimes.
The game allow you to breed albinos and other color mutations in extreme numbers, without it being a big deal. This is not good for anything.

I don't use mods myself. I am not against modding, I just want to support Frontier's continuing work on the game as long as they still support it.

My biggest concern with modders is not their view on animal welfare, but more that I fear they will make official support die out earlier than it has to.
 

jforce91

J
SalamAnders said:
Whatever or not you like orcas in captivity is a matter of opinion, and I don't think Frontier has ever posted their point of view on this topic.
So I can't really see how the modders are going against what Frontier stands for.

Modders make dinosaurs and unicorns as well, so they are clearly not only going for animals, Frontier might as well add themselves.

Also Frontier's view and message off conservation and animal welfare is also rather odd sometimes.
The game allow you to breed albinos and other color mutations in extreme numbers, without it being a big deal. This is not good for anything.

I don't use mods myself. I am not against modding, I just want to support Frontier's continuing work on the game as long as they still support it.

My biggest concern with modders is not their view on animal welfare, but more that I fear they will make official support die out earlier than it has to.
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Albeism and melanism are common in more species than you may think, and yes you can increase your chances of creating albeist or melanistic animals by matching darker or lighter coloured animals together.. this is even practiced by dog and snake/reptile breeders. As long as it's not a result of incest there is very little damage to their overall health; even in the wild, the white lions of the timbavati are thriving.
Frontier HAVE STATED that they will not be including cetaceans in the game, or go down the same path as marine mania.
It's different when it's an animal who we can conclusively prove suffers in captivity, being prone to multiple physiological and neurological disorders due to the fresh, chlorinated water and cramped quarters.
 

arafan

A
I've searched very quickly for a source of the WWF statement, but couldn't find any. Could you provide us one?
 

Sahara

S
You'd be surprised how many times mods are made in games that have nothing to do with what the original game was or intended. I don't see why you should be upset by a modded orca in a video game. It's not like he's promoting or encouraging keeping orcas in captivity. It's just for fun. Zoo Tycoon 1 and 2 both had animals that don't survive in captivity. Heck, ZT1 had humpback whales being kept in tanks, that doesn't mean they want to see them in zoos. It's just for fun, it's no different then adding a t-rex or a mammoth to the game.
 

SalamAnders

SalamAnders
arafan said:
I've searched very quickly for a source of the WWF statement, but couldn't find any. Could you provide us one?
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I don't know about WWF in America, but in Europe they don't often deal with issues regarding animals in captivity. They usually focus on nature, wildlife, biodiversity, climate crisis and stuff like that.
So I would be surprised if they have gone into orcas in captivity
 

SalamAnders

SalamAnders
jforce91 said:
Albeism and melanism are common in more species than you may think, and yes you can increase your chances of creating albeist or melanistic animals by matching darker or lighter coloured animals together.. this is even practiced by dog and snake/reptile breeders. As long as it's not a result of incest there is very little damage to their overall health; even in the wild, the white lions of the timbavati are thriving.
Frontier HAVE STATED that they will not be including cetaceans in the game, or go down the same path as marine mania.
It's different when it's an animal who we can conclusively prove suffers in captivity, being prone to multiple physiological and neurological disorders due to the fresh, chlorinated water and cramped quarters.
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My point wasn't about whatever it is common or not. Breeding albinos on purpose is not good animal welfare. It comes with a lot of health issues. Most modern zoos try to avoid breeding on animals with albinism and other color mutations
 

jforce91

J
SalamAnders said:
My point wasn't about whatever it is common or not. Breeding albinos on purpose is not good animal welfare. It comes with a lot of health issues. Most modern zoos try to avoid breeding on animals with albinism and other color mutations
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Albinism includes leucism and other melanin-defficient genes. The white lions of the timbavati, who are a wild leucistic lion population, do not seem to suffer any particular disorders or dicomfort.
There's many examples in the wild of leucistic animals that have lived log, healthy lives.
Where you may be getting confused is there has been a push by zoos to refuse the breeding of white tigers, which are 99.999% of the time the result of inbreeding.
 
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