5 ms·
There's been a lot of public outcry because coastal sanctuaries seem like the only place you can give these animals close to what they need "artificially". What
by marricks 9y ago
There's been a lot of public outcry because coastal sanctuaries seem like the only place you can give these animals close to what they need "artificially". What it really boils down to is if you love someone, let them free, especially if you can't take proper care of them. You omitted also that recently the park killed two cetaceans:
> Michael Wiebe, chair of the Vancouver Park Board, said that after two belugas died within days of one another at the aquarium last fall, the board decided they needed to look into whether it was right to keep bringing in more.
The truth is people can't really build a tank large enough to take care of these creatures, or offer them the proper conditions. Killer whales can travel up to 100 miles a day, and dolphins sure do a lot of traveling as well. How do you offer that or allow for the group social dynamics in a cage?
I'm not even sure how good the education value of seeing a dolphin locked up in a tank is. Anecdotally, I went to the zoo a lot as a kid but all I remember doing is gawking. Watching documentaries as a kid I actually heard about their social interactions and natural behaviors. Many of those behaviors don't come up surrounded by people in enclosures.
If we want to "understand and appreciate" a creature it should be on their terms. For dolphins documentaries or visiting them in their habitat seems like the best way, not some aquarium where the parking lot for visitors is larger than their tanks.
- jlos 9y agoNote the belugas died from poisoning [1] [1] http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-aquarium-poisoning-fish-1986-1.3874756 http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouve...
- eutectic 9y agoThat article absolutely does not substantiate this claim.
- throwaway2348 9y ago[http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-aquarium-phasing-out-its-captive-beluga-program](Follow-up http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-aquarium-p... article on the Aquarium's formal report) --- The aquarium now suspects that a toxin is responsible, although no lingering contaminants have been found in the tissues of the dead whales. While intentional poisoning hasn’t been ruled out, it’s also possible that a naturally occurring toxin is responsible. “The epidemiology of the scenario, the chain of events, lead us to be highly suspect of a toxin that came and went — and one that we may not identify,” Haulena said. --- Investigation continues, but it's a small town and the unproven truth is that one of the people behind this ban poisoned the two whales to 'save them'
- gribbly 9y agoWait what ? 'The aquarium suspects' with no evidence whatsoever to back them up. And you then claim: 'the unproven truth is that...' Is this a joke ?
- placeybordeaux 9y agounproven truth sounds like a phrase that has potential given 2017's "alternative facts"
- fmihaila 9y ago> the unproven truth How does that work?
- hinfaits 9y agoThat article does not, but for the curious, an investigation into the deaths (involving parties from field experts to local police) has been "essentially closed" and it was determined an unknown toxin led to the death of the two belugas. How the toxin was introduced to the tank was also not determined. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-aquarium-whales-1.4078011 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-aqu...