One hot summer day I took a trip to Vallejo, California with two friends to go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. After we arrived and after the initial thrill of the first couple of rollercoasters, we decided to saunter around. We ended up passing a touch pool with sea rays that sat still in a cement tank the size of a small pond with mercy, brown water. As little children with one hand in the lukewarm water and another hand holding a cherry slurpee the size of their head cried that the sea rays weren’t swimming towards them, I thought to myself, “of course they don’t want to be touched by you.”

On the Six Flags website, the Company History page details Angus Wynne, the founder of the first Six Flags in 1961 which was located in Texas, who originally founded a series of parks that were located closer to where people lived making them more convenient and accessible. He planned for these parks to have theme attractions and innovative rides but no animals. (Six Flags Company History). Until Six Flags took over an animal business that trained animals for television and movies with a marine park in 1996 (Hartlaub).

According to the 2017 Six Flags annual report the location in Vallejo, California and Jackson, New Jersey are the only two locations out of the fourteen locations that have animal attractions. If these animal attractions were really so profitable, why don’t more locations have them?

Regardless of Discovery Kingdom not having the consideration to properly care for these animals, the animals seem purposeless on financial side of Six Flags. Compared to organizations that actually use the animals for educational and rehabilitation purposes, Six Flags is greatly behind. Now that Six Flags has roller coasters, I question why they are putting the animals in these horrible conditions at all. Six Flags should move these animals in better facilities to give them a better life.

Marine parks and zoos encourage the awareness of animals which promotes their preservation. When parks do things like touching or feeding to increase audience’s experience, it can be even more effective. Some may argue that things like touching and feeding in zoos are cruel to the animals, but according to a survey by a marine biologist student, Kayla L. Patama, at Nova Southeastern University, almost 50% conservationists believe feeding and touching animals are important in marine parks. So, what’s the discrepancy? Why do half of conservationists believe things like touching and feeding are important and educational and the other half don’t?

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom’s educational experiences are almost all centered around feeding and touching animals. You can touch sea rays, feed giraffes and seals, and swim with dolphins.  There’s even an option where for an additional $400, you can shadow an animal specialist and interact with the multiple animals that the animal specialist works with (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom). There is no question that six flags offers up-close experiences with their animals, but is that even educational?

Those who aren’t at Six Flags for the rollercoasters, are most likely more concerned with touching the animals than learning about their endangerment. Once they touch the animal, they can go get another cotton candy and will completely forget about the animals all together. Because Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is labeled a “theme park” families are going there with the prospect of entertainment, not education like if they were attending say an aquarium or museum. If the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom environments are really to promote preservation of the animals, I would highly recommend updating the facilities so that the animal encounters are actually memorable and informative.

My experience at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom showed me that the animals are there for profit not education. If the animals are truly there for educational experiences, there would be better facilities and better educational opportunities. If Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is one of the only locations with animals, the animals can’t really be that lucrative. So, why doesn’t Six Flags release the animals to a conservation habitat or better facility? It is quite possibly a decision of corporate greed because it is cheaper just to keep them there than to transport them and get rid of the habitats on the Six Flags property. The animals are noticeably depressed and poorly cared for. What’s the point of torturing these animals, if most people are just there for the roller coasters anyways?