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Senior marine mammal
trainer Nigel Waller
feeds Tag, a 500-kg sea lion.
Photo by Dan Toulgoet. |
VANCOUVER COURIER AUGUST 13, 2003
By Sandra Thomas-Staff writer
Sea lions none of board's business-aquarium boss
Unless it involves a dolphin or a whale, the Vancouver Aquarium
and Marine Science Centre is not obliged to inform the parks board
of any new acquisitions of live animals and has no plans to do so,
says aquarium president John Nightingale.
Nightingale was responding to criticism from the parks board and
animal activists this week regarding the capture of six, 10-week-old
steller sea lion pups about a month ago off the north coast of Vancouver
Island. Yesterday one of the pups, Zayas, died of suspected pneumonia.
The parks board only learned of the acquisition through the media,
said vice-chairwoman Anita Romaniuk. "We have an agreement
to let them handle the day-to-day operations of the aquarium,"
she said. "But I'm not so sure 'day-to-day' includes capturing
research animals."
The female sea lion pups are the fourth group collected by the
aquarium in the past decade, bringing the total currently on site
to 14. Last March, despite protests from local environmentalists,
the former parks board gave the aquarium permission to expand the
sea lion research pool, located on the north end of the aquarium,
to include new in-ground pools and larger decks.
That expansion was approved in principle in 1993 as part of a long-term
lease with the aquarium. That same year, the aquarium began working
with a consortium of universities, including UBC, to study steller
sea lion diet and growth patterns in an effort to find out why sea
lion numbers are dwindling to the point that they're now endangered.
Romaniuk said the parks board hopes to discuss the issue of notification
with Nightingale this fall, likely at the same time they meet to
talk about the importation of dolphins. Last month, board chair
Heather Deal asked the aquarium for a temporary moratorium on the
acquisition of new dolphins until the city's legal department can
re-examine the bylaw governing cetacean acquisition. "They
didn't tell us when they got Spinnaker [a male dolphin] last year,
but eventually the media found out," Romaniuk said. "These
issues are going to create a media circus anyway; it's a lot easier
on us if we at least we know what's going on before hand."
But Nightingale said the parks board wasn't informed about the
new sea lions pups because it's not required by the lease conditions
and commissioners didn't ask.
"Anita had a briefing here at the aquarium along with the
rest of the park board members and they were all shown the sea lion
research centre," he said. "They didn't ask then when
they had the opportunity to, so we didn't feel it was necessary
to inform them now. I'd like to know where this is going. Are we
going to have to inform them when we change our toilet paper?"
Annelise Sorg, director of the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity,
said the aquarium has a responsibility to inform the parks board
and public of any new live collections because it's a public, non-profit
institution.
"It's a public aquarium, run with public funds on public land,"
she said. "However, the Vancouver Aquarium hates the public
to have anything to do with it. The aquarium should have been built
somewhere else where they could run it like a private business and
not have any public accountability."
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Board of Trade is throwing its weight
behind the aquarium. Last week, the board sent letters to its 4,300
members asking them to contact the parks board in support of the
aquarium. Chief economist Dave Park said the Board of Trade considers
the facility a "great asset" to tourism and education.
"It's also a great economic resource for our city and the parks
board is trying to pull the rug out from under them."
MORE BAD NEWS:
One of the 6 sea lion pups has died at the Vancouver Aquarium.
Please help end the cruelty and write a letter to the editor, cc
the park board commissioner and send us a copy, too!
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