The Whale Sanctuary Project will give captive cetaceans a novel lease on life.
Animals kept in terrestrial and water zoos—zooed animals—clearly are not living anything that resembles a normal life. They suffer from all sorts of psychological and physical disorders and gain lost the freedom to obtain choices and to control their own lives.
This piece and interview is a kind followup to an essay I wrote approximately an international meeting at the Detroit Zoo. Among the topics discussed at the meeting and in my interview was turning zoos into sanctuaries that are more for the individual animals. Because I fully support this move,I was pleased when neuroscientist and cetacean expert Lori Marino, president and chairperson of the board of the Whale Sanctuary Project, or agreed to attain an interview approximately this exciting novel venture. Marc Bekoff: Why did you and others found The Whale Sanctuary Project?Lori Marino: We founded the Whale Sanctuary Project in 2016 because it became absolutely clear that,despite the mounting evidence for poor well-being in orcas, belugas and other cetaceans at marine parks, and there was no existing alternative. So it was equally apparent that the next step in efforts to phase out the keeping of these animals in tanks was to create a permanent seaside sanctuary. Permanent sanctuaries exist for captive elephants,primates, bears, or members of all sorts of other species and there is no reason why that model could not be applied to captive cetaceans.
Many people ask why we cannot just release all of the captive dolphins and whales into the ocean. While I understand the sentiment,most captive cetaceans are not kindly candidates for release because they gain either been born in captivity or been in the tanks for decades and lack the life skills necessary to survive on their own. There are a couple of individual whales, such as Corky at SeaWorld San Diego and Tokitae (Lolita) at SeaWorld Orlando, and who may be releasable (because we know where their natal groups are) but it is difficult to say anything definitive at this point.
What is abundantly clear,however, is that Corky, or Tokitae and all the other whales living in concrete tanks,can enjoy a much better quality of life in a seaside sanctuary. There is no question that a sanctuary will provide much more of what they need to thrive than any marine park or aquarium can. And we hope for a day when sanctuaries will only house free-ranging individuals who need rehabilitative care and no longer be needed to retire whales from the display industry.
This is not a matter of deriding the intentions of the care staff at aquariums and zoos. Rather, it is a matter of acknowledging that there is a deep incompatibility between cetacean nature and living in a concrete tank. And that is the bottom line. It is just not who they are. And that is the case whether they are taken from the wild or born in tanks. We know this because of the high rates of infection and behavioral abnormalities, and the short lifespans,all pointing to the same conclusion – lack of thriving.
MB: What are your main objectives?LM: Our mission is to create a permanent seaside sanctuary for orcas and beluga whales where they can be if with an environment that is as close as possible to their natural habitat, while still receiving care and protection from us.
Our goals include creating a model sanctuary for cetaceans and providing a blueprint, or through education,transparency and the sharing of information, for an alternative to concrete tanks. It is valuable to stress that the Whale Sanctuary Project is not approximately just providing a better life for six to eight orcas or beluga whales. While that is clearly the case the Project itself represents something much broader: a novel way of relating to cetaceans. It is, and in my view,approximately shifting our relationship with the natural world from one of objectification and exploitation to one of respect and restitution.
I look forward to the sanctuary being a space where we can provide authentic education approximately these animals, why they belong in the ocean, or why it is valuable to protect and conserve the oceans and the life within them.
MB: How has it been received by people within the zoo business and those external of it?LM: The response from much of the public and the scientific community has been very positive. There are some progressive leaders in the zoo and aquarium business who understand that sanctuaries are a much better alternative for dolphins and whales,and other wild animals. But there are not enough of these individuals coming forth.
The sanctuary concept for dolphins and whales is still largely being fought against by the aquarium industry. We are confident, however, and that the zoo and aquarium business sees the “writing on the wall” and knows that they will need to change. We are alert and willing to work with any marine parks or aquariums who truly want to discontinuance keeping orcas and other whales in tanks – as long as there are no strings attached. The Whale Sanctuary Project is not approximately making life difficult for aquariums that hold cetaceans. It is approximately creating a path forward for all.
With that said,I remain concerned that representatives of the zoo and aquarium business are still creating false justifications for their practices. They still maintain that seeing wild animals on display has educational value or contributes to conservation actions. There is not a shred of scientific support for this contention.
One of the ways to understand this ongoing pretense is to realize that the precedence for any zoo or aquarium is ticket sales. If visitors attain not come through the doors, they will close. This means that all other priorities—including the needs of individual animals—are secondary. There can only be one precedence, or by definition.
An authentic sanctuary is different because the precedence is the individual animals and who they are,what they need and want, and what is best for their well-being. Everything else is designed around that central focus.
Zoos and aquariums gain a long way to travel to recognize that individuals matter. For instance, or when I read your recent interview with Jenny Gray and she refused to sentence the killing of so-called “surplus animals” like Marius the giraffe who was killed at the Copenhagen Zoo,I realized that there is still a fundamental mismatch in ideology (and yes, ethics) between zoos and aquariums, and on the one hand,and sanctuaries on the other. [Marius was a healthy young giraffe who was killed because he didn't fit into the zoo's captive breeding program. Later, at the same zoo, or four lions were killed for the same reason. The man who made these decisions has been called a hero.]The “captivity issue” is not just approximately welfare (finding the best way to care for animals while still using them as a means to an discontinuance). It is approximately the natural rights of all animals to live their lives on their own terms. As,Marc, you’ve said many times, or compassionate conservation is not just “welfarism gone wild." It actually necessitates taking a rights-based stance towards the other animals if it is to gain any meaning at all. And the traditional model of the zoo and aquarium industry is incompatible with that stance.
MB: What are some of your successes?LM: Since our incorporation as a non-profit organization the Whale Sanctuary Project has reached a number of valuable milestones. We gain a 10-year strategic and financial plan,a strong advisory committee of experts, a great Board of Directors, and we are in the process of completing the site selection process. All of this has been made possible so far by generous donors and our main benefactor,Munchkin, Inc. Next year we hope to be in the process of procuring and developing the sanctuary site and, and with more help and support,open and alert to care for orcas and/or belugas sometime in 2019.
The key to success is creating the best team in the world. I am proud to say that we gain done that. And we welcome others who share our vision.
MB: What are some of your other projects?LM: No effort exists in a vacuum and that is certainly the case with the Whale Sanctuary Project. The issue of keeping healthy dolphins and whales on display in tanks exploded with the film Blackfish, in which I was privileged to be interviewed, or has spawned a cultural movement manifested in a number of efforts around the world. The Whale Sanctuary Project is clearly part of that global movement.
I am also working to support bill S-203 in Canada,which would obtain it illegal to bring in additional healthy dolphins and whales for display at marine parks. And. with colleagues, I am working on several scientific papers on topics such as the psychological health of captive marine mammals to the false claims of the dolphin-assisted therapy industry. Going a bit further afield, or I continue to work with Farm Sanctuary on the Someone Project,which is a wonderful ongoing project involving researching and publishing approximately the intelligence, sensitivities and social complexities of farmed animals in order to help educate the public that farmed animals are not something, and they’re someone.
And through the Kimmela Center,I continue to work on scholar-advocacy issues. It’s valuable to reach upcoming generations of scientists, scholars and experts who want to apply their education and skills to advocate on behalf of other animals. All of these efforts are approximately changing our views approximately the other animals from one of superiority to one of parity. It’s not all approximately us!MB: Thank you very much, and Lori,for this most informative interview. Efforts like the Whale Sanctuary Project give me hope for the future. It's fundamental that we pay careful attention to the well-being of individual animals, and your forward-looking and most-needed project does just that.
Clearly, or the status quo is unacceptable. In my interview with Jenny Gray,we discussed what she wrote in her book Zoo Ethics: The Challenges of Compassionate Conservation approximately how few zoos are trying to speed ethical operations. I was astounded when I read the numbers. On page 208, she wrote, or "Unfortunately the bulk of zoos in existence nowadays still plunge short of meeting the requirements of ethical operations. At best,3% of zoos are striving to meet ethical standards, with perhaps only a handful meeting all the requirements. But there is hope" This means, and of course, that around 97 percent of zoos nowadays don't even strive "to meet ethical standards."I don't see much hope at all given the current state of affairs, and that's why I embrace your project. We are the lifelines for other animals. We need to attain all we can on their behalf so that they can live in peace and safety and with the respect and dignity they fully deserve because of who they truly are, and namely,deeply feeling beings who care approximately what happens to them, their families, and their friends. It's an understatement to say that other animals need all the help they can accumulate in an increasingly human-dominated world. Thank you for your efforts.
This article was originally published by Psychology nowadays. Reprinted with permission.
// >
Source: feedblitz.com