The Province - Letters to the Editor
Sunday, July 20, 2003

Letters to the Editor
Is it a dolphin death tank? Or loving space for two?

I'm writing in response to the Vancouver Aquarium's desire to obtain a friend for Spinnaker. Captivity does not work for cetaceans.

Since successful breeding of cetaceans is quite low, the conservation argument is null and void. As for the argument of education, holding a self-aware, highly social, aquatic mammal captive in a barren concrete tank, is an education that is incomplete at best.

These sentient beings are placed into a white concrete tank that sustains no living thing and reverberates their sonar in a grotesque echo. The dolphins will eventually stop their natural echolocation (which serves to identify and make sense of their world as well as communicate with one another) to end the reverberations much like a human would close their eyes in response to abnormal, constant visual stimulation. Other maladaptive behaviours include head banging into the side of the tank and suicide.

Unfortunately for Spinnaker, the captivity industry is not upfront with all the facts surrounding captivity. Make no mistake, the cetacean captivity industry is a billion-dollar per year industry and not some philanthropic quest to educate the public and or conserve the species.

I would urge the Canadian public to encourage the aquarium not to bring in another dolphin and to look at rehabilitation, with the possibility of freedom in the ocean. Bringing another dolphin into that death tank will only serve to cut another dolphin's life expectancy in half.

Nora Sinkankas, Captive Dolphin Awareness Foundation, Oklahoma City, Okla.

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It's bad enough that Spinnaker is locked up in such a small pool, why make another dolphin suffer the same fate? The same thing is going to happen that happened with the whales. They will die quicker than if they were living free. Animals are not happy in captivity.

The Vancouver Aquarium should concentrate on teaching the dolphins to live in the wild again and return them to where they belong.

Clarke Oor, Port Coquitlam

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If the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity really does stand for better treatment of cetaceans, then they should recognize the cruelty lies not in keeping them in captivity but isolating them. You cannot release dolphins and whales back into the wild that have been in captivity for the majority of their lives. It would be no different than abandoning a family pet at the humane society.

When rehabilitating animals with the intention of releasing them back into the wild, the animal must not become attached or socialized with humans. Since we are obviously past that point with Spinnaker, let him have a friend.

Dave Thomas, Vancouver, B.C.

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I saw Spinnaker last Sunday at the aquarium and I learned a lot about dolphins. I am eight-years-old and travelled in from Abbotsford to see him. Even though Spinnaker looked like he was having fun, I think he needs a pal who got injured, like him, and can't be returned to the wild. People who think Spinnaker doesn't need a pal are very cruel.

Renee Hansen, Abbotsford

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Yes, absolutely yes, Spinnaker should have a friend.

I have an aquarium. Granted it's only a 15-gallon tank, but still, I've noticed that my fish are sociable. The odd time when I'm down to one fish, I notice it behaves differently, always hiding, never coming out to swim freely. Yet, as soon as I get more fish it's fine. After all, fish hang out in schools, don't they?

Same with my birds. I always have at least two so they have company and playmates. I know what it is to be alone and long for playmates.

I don't see the people in the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity going it alone. They have formed a group!

The Vancouver Aquarium is just like my aquarium. It may be on a much grander scale, but still, it's full of pets that are loved and looked after.

And anyone who has ever had a pet knows it fulfills something people never can -- it connects us to nature. In essence, they take us out of our own self-made captivity. Get a playmate for Spinnaker.

Helen Alksnys, Richmond

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