Vancouver Courier Letters Aug 24, 2003

AQUARIUM DIRECTOR'S BEHAVIOUR SHAMEFUL

Re: "Sea lions none of boards business-aquarium boss", August 13

To the Editor

As a past employee of the aquarium and a Vancouver resident, I am ashamed of this kind of behaviour. Once again, the aquarium ridicules the public's intelligence by claiming that the capture of 6 Steller sea lion pups is out of concern for their declining population.

The University of British Columbia and aquarium's efforts to provide "research" is another example of ideologies way beyond reasoning.

It is exactly this type of action that helps decrease the population. One sea lion pup has already died from pneumonia.

Studies can be done in the wild without the trauma of kidnapping wildlife ad removing them from their families and habitat. If research means bloodtests, these can be done along with other portable lab tests in the area.

If there are diseases or multiple deaths, then there would be dead bodies to probe and prod. I would suggest they look at habitat loss, food supply, shipping routes (military and cruise lines), hunting and use non-invasive tactics for statistics gathering. The catch-and-release efforts of previous attempts have not been exemplary or apparently effective.

This kind of mind-less science must stop! The aquarium should stick to helping the sick and concentrate on the rehabilitation programs for orphaned seals, etc.

Keith Edwards, Vancouver