ANTI-WHALE CAPTIVITY COALITION SAYS BELUGA FUNDRAISER SHOWS ARE CRUEL

Aquarium boss says new 'interactive shows' no different from old shows from whale's perspective" (Dec.30/01) inspired some of you to write letters to the editor.

Our friend Ericka Srepfler's letter "Beluga show disgusts Royal City family" was published on Jan.9th, and Jeri-lyn Ratzlaff's letter "Belugas deserve better from society" was published on Jan.13th. Then on Jan.20th, the newspaper printed a letter from whale-captivity supporter David Brown "Aquarium helps whale research". See Brown's letter below.

Fortunately, long-time Coalition for No Whales in Captivity volunteer Patrick Cotter responded to Brown with a kick-ass letter "Vancouver Aquarium only in it for the money" which was published on Jan.30th. See Patrick's letter way below.

To join the discussion, please write to Vancouver Courier <editor@vancourier.com

Thanks and well done, Patrick!

Annelise Sorg <annelise@direct.ca Coalition For No Whales In Captivity

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FROM DAVID BROWN: 

"Aquarium helps whale research" (JAN.20)

To the Editor, 

I am someone who cares about animals, and I have been a Vancouver Aquarium member and supporter all my life. I consider the belugas to be part of my extended family, and I visit them regularly. The whales at the Aquarium have always stirred up considerable emotion-including enough for the Srepfler family ("Beluga show disgusts Royal City family," Jan. 9) to write in, and enough for me to respond to them.  

You are not familiar with the belugas (Aurora, who may be pregnant, is not "new") but you are learning. Before the Aquarium had whales, starting with the orcas, it was common for people to fear them and kill them, because they were unknown. Now the orcas are a symbol of our province, and we are all concerned about their health. Each year, thousands of British Columbians and their visitors take the opportunity to see whales first hand at the Aquarium, making them no longer unknown. Staff and trainers take excellent care of the whales. Researchers at the Aquarium continue to make discoveries from testing that would be unimaginable out in the field. These whales are not "clowns;" they are ambassadors to their species. They make a connection with those who see them that inspires people to be concerned for them. I can tell that your family is concerned for them now, but prior to your visit, did your children even know what a beluga whale was? I cannot count the number of times that I have heard the delighted shrieks of children as they run to the beluga habitat and ask, "What are they?" Most people cannot just go watch them "at the sea."  

By all means (and it will take considerable effort) pack the family in a plane and go visit the "free happy families" of belugas that must live in the toxic soup we call the St. Lawrence Seaway. Then head north to Lancaster Sound in Nunavut to see the belugas that must contend with pollution and damaging noise from passing ships. Don't be disgusted at the Aquarium; be disgusted at the treatment of whales in the wild. We all have a lot to learn, but I am glad that your family has started.  

David Brown, Vancouver

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FROM PATRICK COTTER: 

"Vancouver Aquarium only in it for the money" (Jan.30)

To the Editor,

I'm writing in response to David Brown's letter ("Aquarium helps whale research," Jan.20). My family was once a strong supporter of the Vancouver Aquarium until we recognized it for what it is, a highly profitable commercial venture that trades in cruelty by exhibiting captive whales and dolphins.

We further recognized that the captive belugas, and previously the orcas, have their own families. Unfortunately, they will never see their families again. I find the condescending tone Mr. Brown took highly insulting to families who see cruelty, not "inter-special communication," in the display of marine mammals.

I wonder how eager Mr. Brown would be to have his own children captured and transported far from home to be "ambassadors" for our species. True, they would freed from our smoggy, crime-ridden, chlorinated water supplied and money-mad urban sprawl. And no doubt they would be displayed in exhibits not dissimilar to what the whales and dolphins enjoy at the Vancouver Aquarium, tiny cages swirling with their own bodily waste.

I must admit that the Vancouver Aquarium has contributed at least one datum to our knowledge of marine mammals. Now we know pretty well how long it takes for them to waste away and die in captivity, as died they have and die they will.

The polar bear, monkey and orca exhibits in Stanley Park are now history. It is time for beluga and dolphin exhibits to join them and put an end to this travesty of the Vancouver Aquarium posing as a research institution when it is really a party to the commercial trade of marine mammals in Vancouver.

Patrick, Angela, Richard and Aylish Cotter Vancouver