Aquarium staff hold facility to the highest standards

I find it astounding that people believe that the Vancouver Aquarium staff—who are so invested and so conscious of global issues such as climate change, wildlife conservation, and the changes ongoing in the ocean as we speak—would not hold the institution they work at to the highest standards of environmental policies [“Freeing Willy easier said than done”, April 17-24]. That the internationally renowned and respected staff would not constantly ensure that the nonprofit, conservation- and education-based organization they work for was meeting the high level of expectations it has advertised to the public. That they would allow the aquarium to violate the agreement established in 1996, promising to never again collect wild cetaceans or marine mammals except in the event of providing a home for those in need of rescue, rehabilitation, and/or deemed nonreleasable.

The aquarium isn’t really in it for the money. Walter, the male sea otter who was rescued and rehabilitated from gunshot wounds, cost $90 per day to ensure he received the highest quality of care to come back to health. All that care was sustained by generous donations from the public.

I am astounded that the public would demand that the Pacific white-sided dolphins and Arctic belugas be released back to the ocean, ignoring the great amount we have and could still learn about their species from caring for them, ignoring the impor-tance of facilitating human contact with these animals so we can develop a knowledge and care for these animals so conservation efforts will only grow with the next generation—and ignoring the fact that we may very well be sentencing them to a wild life without the tools they require to survive out there (hence their rescuing), or even worse, to an environment completely foreign to them (as with Qila, the beluga in our care who was born at the Vancouver Aquarium).

We don’t object to those listed standards of animal care the public is demanding. We already live by them.

> Eric Biskupski / Guest Services Lead, Vancouver Aquarium

Comments

4 Comments

FreeYourself

May 8, 2014 at 5:53am

Then stop advertising and operating it as a tourist attraction and run it on donations and grants as part of a university or research facility and publish the results in scientific journals and in the public records. Letting people gawk at these imprisoned intelligent large mammals will only teach my children the ignorant cruelty some people are capable of.

Marion

May 8, 2014 at 8:17am

Their breeding program?? There should not be ANY animals born in captivity.

"New facilities first give the animals we have much better space," Nightingale said on CBC Radio. "So the example I use is that we'll have two certified beluga pools instead of the one we have now, so that we can mix and match animals—moms and calves, keep dads away from babies—all the things you need to do in managing an animal population."

Bob Henderson

May 8, 2014 at 1:36pm

@FreeYourself you do realize that the money generated through gate revenue directly supports the conservation and research efforts right?

@Marion and the reasoning behind your statement please?

Mick Jones

May 15, 2014 at 7:25pm

This letter is hypocritical at best:

Every patron must "Exit through the gift shop" where there are hundreds or thousands of "souvenirs" made of every kind of chemical and most likely sourced in China.

How much environmental pollution does it take to stock the place?
It's 2014 for crying our loud. Wanna see wildlife? Get off your ass and go see it yourself!