When I was younger I was kayaking on vacation, and had some trail mix with me. I thought it’d be funny to scoop up one of the jellyfish floating past and use it like a bowl (it was an interesting shape jellyfish, it was sort of curled in a half-dome, but inverted to what you might expect so the tentacles were on the outside of the half-dome). It stung me a little at the end of the interaction, but not for the majority of the minute or two I held it. Generally I did, and still do, think its a pretty entertaining and a funny story.
I told someone today, and they thought it was animal abuse. I asked if it they thought it was worse than factory farming, which i consider to be pretty bad – and they said yes because factory farming has utility. They felt being a benefiting participant in that system carried less weight than my direct interaction with a critter I was face-to-face with for my own gain. I really think the ratio between how much harm it did that jellyfish to hold a couple of dried nuts and apricots and stuff and the harm done over a the lifecycle of an animal in a factory farm makes the jellyfish bowl a real misdemeanor and illogical place to get concerned about animal abuse. I think killing bugs has got to be worse than subjecting a jellyfish to being used as a bowl for 5 minutes, and I know this person is happy to kill spiders.
So while I can at core agree that jellyfish probably didn’t appreciate it, which makes it some form of abuse maybe, I just don’t really think its something that warrants looking at me like it makes me someone to watch out for. They compared it to TikToks of people repeatedly stabbing live large bugs with toothpicks. I feel like that’s a magnitude of difference for sketchy signals relative to me being like ‘haha jellyfish granola bowl’.
Is the jellyfish bowl story a funny one to share or did I abuse the jellyfish for my own gain in a condemnable way?
YTA – Just because there are worse type of animal cruelty doesn’t mean that what you did wasn’t. Maaaaybe if you were a little kid who didn’t know better, but you seem to think you’re pretty funny.
Wow, you created your account for this made up pish
Yes, interacting with animals in the wild, handling them untrained and removing them from their habitat for your entertainment is animal abuse.
No it’s not as bad as other types of abuse.
Some people will find it funny and some people will never see humour in it and don’t enjoy the use of wild animals for pranks.
You’re not likely to get a full consensus on this one.
Whilst I agree that animal abuse is bad, jellyfish don’t even have anything resembling a brain. Anyone who claims the jellyfish suffered should also refrain from hurting plants, as they have the same capacity for suffering.
Whoever downvoted me is free to explain why thicker cell walls is ground to ignore ‘abuse’, whilst a complete lack of a central nervous system isn’t.
YTA- Though the comparisons to factory farming and killing bugs are extreme. Your story as using a jellyfish as a bowl shocked and horrified me. I don’t think it’s funny, it’s strange and weird to use a living animal as a bowl. Idc if they don’t have brains, that’s weird.
I don’t see how it could be argued that you didn’t use the jellyfish for your own gain in a condemnable way. Whether battery farming happens or not is irrelevant, really.
It’s also weird af.
I’ll take: Things That Never Happened for 500, Alex.
YTA
You most likely killed the jellyfish. They can suffocate and suffer severe damage very quickly. 5 minutes is too long, and it stressed the animal.
And even if it looked okay afterward, the internal damage is usually irreversible. So you really are an AH. It was def animal cruelty and just because other types of abuse are worse, it doesn’t make you any less of an abuser.
you are definitely a fucked up person
What kind of weirdo sees an animal minding its own business and decides to torture it for their own personal gain? You’re fucked up. YTA.
YTA
Just because it’s not as bad as “factory farming” doesn’t make it any less of a case of abuse. Not only was what you did INSANELY ODD, but it was abuse.
Wow, that’s a jellyfish-tastic tale! I guess you’re the epicurean explorer who turned a marine adventure into a granola bowl? Now that’s what I call a “stinging” breakfast!
Please log off from your WiFi and save the rest of us from your cerebral excreta.