A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
Going back to my years writing stories and columns on environmental topics for the then-independently owned St. Catharines Standard, I have decried the practice of capturing whales and dolphins from their ocean homes for our entertainment at aquarium and amusement parks like Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
This is where Orcas – alias ‘Killer Whales’ belong – in the ocean with their pods.
There are those who argue that by giving people an opportunity to get up close to these great creatures, such parks provide a valuable educational experience. This argument never impressed me as it repeatedly came from self-serving amusement park representatives wanting you to spend serious money at their gates to view these animals in very unnatural cement ponds in the middle of an amusement park with roller coasters and other cheap thrills like that.
If people are truly interested in learning more about these wonderful animals that we share our short journey on this earth with, there are fabulous nature documentaries available on television, online and through library collections. And as I have stressed for years, there are also opportunities to go out on responsible whale-watching adventures and view them in their natural habitat.
I remember making that point a number of years ago to John Holer, the owner and founder of Marineland in Niagara Falls, and he argued back that not everyone can affort to drive to the coast for a whale watch. And to that I say, excuse me Mr. Holer. Many of the families that visit your site drive from hundreds if not thousands of miles, and it doesn’t cost any more than an 11-hour drive to Cape Cod, Massachusetts for a five-hour ride out on a marine sanctuary with the Dolphin Fleet. It really doesn’t, so please don’t give me that.
As for those teachers in Niagara who still think that a student trip to Marineland is educational, shame on them for being so shallow that they can’t see this as a lesson in what the public interest group ZooCheck Canada once called “distorted nature.’ If this is your idea of an educational experience for young people, then maybe you shouldn’t be up there, at the head of a class.
What follows below is a note from the Niagara-based activist group Marineland Animal Defense, asking you to sign a petition urging our Ontario government and the federal government, in return, to ban the import of whales and other marine mammals captures live in other jurisdiction for entertainment purposes here.
A whale watch with the Dolphin Fleet off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Thanks to a series of investigative stories in The Toronto Star last year on the condition of marine mammals at Niagara Falls’ Marineland, the province’s Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Madeleine Meilleur promised last year that she would table some new regulations this spring for protecting animals at parks like Marineland.
The concern, of course, is that Meilleur might only go so far as to ask for regulations that require these parks to keep the water cleaner for marine mammals and perhaps have veterinarians on site that might actually have an academic background in marine biology.
The obvious solution to this whole thing – forbidding these parks from importing whales and other marine mammals caught in the wild – may be totally ignored unless we the people push for it. After all, why should we have Federal Fishery and Ocean Laws, as we do in Canada, forbidding the live capture of beluga whales in Canadian waters, yet allow them to be imported from waters in other countries like Russia?
If beluga whales are important to preserve in the waters of Canada, they should be just as important to preserve in the waters of other countries on this planet. The fact that that our federal government here in Canada says no to capturing these magnificent animals in Canadian waters, but says it is okay if they are captured in waters outside our boundaries and shipped here to live out their lives in cement ponds for commercial gain shows a duplicity and hypocrisy that we should all stand up and say is totally unacceptable if we truly care about the welfare of these animals.
So please consider signing the petition Niagara At Large received in the email below from the Niagara-based citizens advocacy group Marineland Animal Defense. It urges the provincial government and, through the province, the federal government to ban any import of whales and other marine mammals to Canada for circus/zoo/aquarium exploitation.
The only thing in the email from Marineland Animal Defense I take issue with is a suggestion that this group is the only one opposing the wild capture of these animals. In all due respect Zoocheck Canada has opposed this practice for many years and Niagara Action for Animals has spoken out against it on many occasions over the last couple of decades too.
All that said, pushing for a ban on captured marine mammals from Canada or any other country being exploited for commercial purposes at parks like Marineland is something all of us who care about the welfare of other species on this planet should sign a petition for and, more important than that, phone or email provincial MPPs, including Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor and others across Ontario, and let them know that you expect them to support such a ban for face consequences in the next election.
Now here is Marineland Animal Defense’s email and the link to the petition –
This is a quick email to let everyone know that we are currently pushing hard for an immediate moratorium on the wild capture of marine mammals. We are expecting Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur to announce her legislative changes soon and we are the only advocacy group who is making wild capture a focus privately and publicly!
Your voices need to be heard and we need to continue to build pressure. The petition is below and already has over 750 signers. Please sign and share.
Without this change John Holer is able to continue to pay people in Russia and Japan to rip wild animals from their homes so he can profit from their misery.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/URGENT_Immediate_Wild_Capture_Moratorium_for_Marine_Mammals_Canada/
“There’s about as much educational benefit studying dolphins in captivity as there would be studying mankind by only observing prisoners held in solitary.” – Jacques Cousteau
Donations – we accept donations to our paypal: marinelandanimaldefense@gmail.com and can also arrange for cash/cheque pick up’s and drop off’s
To learn more about Marineland Animal Defense and its activities visit the advocacy group’s website at http://marinelandanimaldefense.com/
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