Bjossa's last chance!   Action deadline: January 5, 2001

The US government will accept public comments regarding Sea World's application to import Bjossa to San Diego from the Vancouver Aquarium until January 5, 2001. This is our last chance to help Bjossa - so please take the time and write a letter opposing Sea World's application (send us a copy!).

Focus your letter on one or two arguments that you feel are important. The more diverse and detailed arguments we can come up with, the better chance Bjossa has of staying in Vancouver and hopefully someday going back to the wild. Following below are some arguments you can use, but I encourage you to come up with more. If few or no comments are received, Sea World will be granted the import permit in January and Bjossa could go to the US right after that. Please help Bjossa NOW! You are her last hope.

WHAT NMFS WANTS TO KNOW

1. NMFS must determine whether Sea World has demonstrated that the importation and public display of Bjossa is humane and does not represent any unnecessary risks to the health and welfare of Bjossa. There are many arguments to be made here but here's just a few: - Bjossa's not healthy. The Vancouver Aquarium staff doesn't know what's wrong with her. She may not survive the trip and if she does, she may infect other dolphins kept at Sea World. See below - c) Bjossa is not healthy. - Moving Bjossa from one tank to another is not for the welfare of Bjossa, but for the welfare of Sea World which already holds more than 20 orcas in captivity. Bjossa's welfare would be best served if she was allowed to follow Keiko, the Free-Willy whale, home to Iceland (www.keiko.org) - It is cruel and inhumane to take Bjossa away from her trainers and her only surviving tank mate "Whitewings", a female Pacific White-sided dolphin. These are the only people and the only dolphin still alive that she has known since she came to Vancouver 20 years ago. But then again, there is nothing humane about keeping orcas in captivity.
     
2. NMFS must determine whether Sea World's proposed activity by itself or in combination with other activities, will not likely have a significant adverse impact on the species or stock, or on any other marine mammals. - Sea World routinely combines and breeds captive orcas coming from different pods and areas of the world. This "cocktail mix" of genes and cultures creates tension and aggression between some orcas in captivity who have been injured and died. Bjossa is a temperamental whale who will probably have to be kept separate from the other whales. - If Sea World's "mixed" whales (captive-born or not) were ever to be set free in order to replenish wild stocks (as a true conservation program would try to do), there are less chances that they would be recognized and/or accepted by other whales in the wild. Sea World is tinkering with evolution. - There is evidence that the continuing world trade in live orcas has affected wild orca and other dolphin populations (or "stocks"). Off the Pacific North coast, some orca pods may go extinct because of decades of aquarium live-captures. Since there is an increasing number of dolphinariums popping up around the world, more and more orca and other dolphin populations will be affected by the commercial live-trade.
     
3. NMFS must determine whether Sea World's expertise, facilities and resources are adequate to accomplish successfully the objectives and activities stated in the application. - Sea World has requested to import Bjossa for the purpose of breeding and public display. Breeding Bjossa is something that the Vancouver Aquarium stopped doing 5 years ago because all of her calves have died shortly after birth. Sea World will try breeding her despite the cruelty involved. See below: - a) Bjossa is not a "Breeder". - Chances are that Bjossa can not be trained to perform at Sea World's whale shows, which include trainers riding on orcas' backs and children kissing beached orcas' heads. Bjossa is a temperamental orca who has never swam in a tank with a human and will probably not get along with the other orcas either. Because of this, chances are that Bjossa will be kept in solitary confinement and only be allowed to interact with a chosen male while she is in heat. See below: b) Bjossa is not a "Shamu".

ARGUMENTS TO KEEP BJOSSA IN VANCOUVER

1. BJOSSA IS NOT A "BREEDER" Sea World has requested to import Bjossa for the purpose of breeding. Breeding Bjossa is something that the Vancouver Aquarium stopped doing 5 years ago because all of her calves have died shortly after birth and the public relations nightmare that turned out to be. After the third death in 1995, the aquarium placed her on experimental contraception drugs for a year and a half. In 1997 they took her off the drugs and in order to avoid future pregnancies, they announced that they would exchange Finna (the male orca) for a female from another dolphinarium. Sea World said that they would be happy to take Finna to use him for breeding purposes. This meant that Finna would have been flown from one Sea World facility to the next (4 in total) siring calves with different females. The Vancouver Aquarium staff felt proud that Finna would become Sea World's "jet-setting stud". But all this didn't happen. Finna died in Vancouver on October 6, 1997, before the Aquarium was able to send the stud to Sea World.
   
   Sea World has a history of abusing "breeders". Our beloved Corky, a female North Pacific orca captured 32 years ago and still held at Sea World in San Diego, has given birth to seven calves and they have all died. Who knows how many miscarriages and abortions she might have had that we don't know about. It is obvious that Sea World will continue to breed females such as Corky and Bjossa, regardless of the staff's inability to keep their calves alive. If Bjossa stays in Vancouver, she won't have to survive another dead baby because she'll never get pregnant again. If Sea World gets her, who knows how many more times she will become pregnant and have survive her own calves. This is criminal.
     
     
2. BJOSSA IS NOT ANOTHER "SHAMU"  All orcas at Sea World are called "Shamu" (so that "Shamu" never dies) and they are trained to perform tricks that are not familiar to orcas kept at the Vancouver Aquarium. Bjossa is not a good performer at best of times in Vancouver. At 23 years old, her trainers will tell you that Bjossa is a cranky old captive whale, a dominant female with a short temper. Although familiar with her trainers in Vancouver, none of these people would ever dream of jumping into the pool with her, or try to "surf" on her back like they do to the orcas at Sea World. If she is not able to learn to perform like the new trainers would demand, she will be kept in a tank in the back
   
   After 3 years of looking for another female orca to bring to Vancouver, the Aquarium has not found one that they thought could get along with Bjossa. If Bjossa is shipped to Sea World and she is aggressive to the other orcas there, she will certainly have to be kept ALONE in a tank in the back. We all know that this is inhumane but it is regular practice at Sea World.
     
     
3. BJOSSA IS NOT HEALTHY Question Bjossa's health. Demand to know what is wrong with her health, why she looks so thin and her dorsal fin so wobbly. The truth is that no one knows what's wrong with Bjossa. According to the Aquarium staff, they have brought in every expert they could find and they still don't know if she has an infection caused by a virus, a bacteria or a fungus. How can you cure someone if you don't know what's wrong with her? Why risk her health by transferring her to the warm climate of San Diego, when she comes from the icy waters off Iceland and has lived in the colder weather of Canada for the past 20 years? Why risk the health of other captive orcas kept at Sea World by having to share the chlorinated water with a sick orca?
   
   Bjossa has not been well ever since Finna died in 1997. First the aquarium staff panicked because they thought that she was pregnant again - and a ton of tests (including ultrasounds) were conducted for months before the staff announced that although they still didn't know what was wrong with her, she definitely was not pregnant. Of course we'll never know (they'll never tell us) if she had a miscarriage or if she really was not pregnant. Three years later, the aquarium still can't determine what is really wrong with Bjossa's health.

She also shows disturbing neurotic behaviour. You can often see her desperately chewing at the side of her concrete tank to the point where most of her teeth have been worn down and her gums and rostrum sometimes bleed. Sometimes she also swims in endless identical circles, breathing and turning in the exact same spot in the tank. This is called "stereotypical behaviour" and it shows the boredom and stress that these huge animals kept in small sterile tanks must endure. Similar behaviour is found in land mammals such as captive bears chewing the bars of their cages or captive wolves pacing up and down and up and down in their boredom and desperation to find a way out of the cage.

WEBSITES: 

I encourage you to go into websites for more information on the cruelty of keeping orcas in captivity and the tragic life history of Bjossa and the orcas kept at Sea World. 

1. www.wdcs.org 
2. www.caps-uk.dircon.co.uk/aquarium/index.htm 
3. www.whaleprotection.org/cfnwic

Please, write a letter for Bjossa! If you really want to help her, this is your last chance.

Thanks,

Annelise Sorg 
Coalition For No Whales In Captivity 
Box 461- 1755 Robson Street 
Vancouver, BC V6G 3B7 
Canada 

Tel: (604) 736-9514 
Fax: (604) 264-0653 
E-mail: annelise@direct.ca