Is the safari zone unethical?

Let's think about this. A bunch of Pokemon living in a safari where you can throw rocks at them and catch them. Maybe they never lived in nature? How did they get there? It's the same for any other safari. I never threw rocks at Pokemon to be honest.. maybe one, on a chansey. Still feel bad about it.

But seriously, would you consider the safari zones being unethical?

I mean if this is unethical, so is catching any Pokemon. If anything, they have it easier. They can't be damaged by attacks, making it harder to get more of them captured. Wild Pokemon can be damaged by attacks, crippled by status, and be put in Pokeball captivity easier.

Plus they are already put in zones by humans, wild Pokemon are ripped straight by their habitats.

If you really think about it, yes.
Throwing rocks at living beings it's not really a good thing to do and (assuming that was their natural habitat) catching and taking them with you also is unethical to me but, it's still a game so the ethical side is left aside a bit.

This could also be applied on wild Pokèmon though.

I think they removed rocks from Gen IV onwards yes?

Of course its unethical - although at least in the case of Sinnoh's boring, patience-sapping barely-worth-it version you get the feeling nothing was imported. Johto's has to be by far the most un-ethical given that one guy just changes it up as he wishes and the other pokémon go...somewhere. I just watched The Fate of the Furious and the Johto Safari Zone mechanics still seem like a stretch of logic.

I never really explore the Safari Zone but looking back at it and reading its official description, I personally do think Safari Zones would be considered unethical.
Safari Zones are stated to be "special preserves for rare wild Pokémon", making the overall idea of catching Pokémon in the Zone unethical. But the Safari Zone is special because players aren't battling the Pokémon in the preserve, creating the argument that its okay to catch Pokémon there. But with that being said, I personally think that the whole idea is unethical if rocks/stones are being used in place.

If it were just feeding/give bait to the Pokémon and catching them, its more humane-like & can be seen as befriending the Pokémon, making it ethical. (+ if you're not trying to capture all the Pokémon in the reserve)

I never liked the rock throwing part. But I try to imagine that safari zone isn't the same as a real life game park. Catching them with a ball seems less terrible than using snares/traps.

I happened to think about this a few days ago, haha. Definitely yes, it's like catching lions in a reserve specially created for the preservation of the species.

I mean the very basic idea of it is good, a preserve for rare Pokemon with different habitats where they can live in piece. Then you throw in the rest of the stuff, trainers being able to catch the Pokemon and throw rocks at them and it becomes unethical.

Well, if you can paralyse, freeze, burn, or poison Pokemon in the wild under any other circumstances then I don't really think the Safari Zone is unethical. It's really just a means to capturing different Pokémon in a slightly different way.

This makes me think of what an Aether Foundation employee said in Sun/Moon. They're in direct opposition to the Safari Zone.

So I guess in some respects the Safari Zone would be unethical. I mean if the Aether Foundation (which I don't believe is an evil foundation, Lusamine was just rotten) is focused on conservation....and they're opposed to the Safari Zone. Does that mean that the Safari Zone has a negative effect on conservation efforts?

I'm guessing it's like Aether Foundation want to conserve their populations in the wild versus the Safari Zone which keeps them all constrained to a certain area.

Yeah, pretty much. Obviously in a real life reserve you'd never be allowed to throw rocks at the animals. That said, like others have mentioned, I don't consider it a more extreme ethics violation than regular battling. Throwing rocks at Pokémon or blasting them with a Flamethrower, take your pick. I think ethics applied to the Pokémon franchise doesn't really make any sense most of the time, haha.