Marine Mammals Face Grave Danger

USS Massachusetts
The U.S. Navy conducts underwater military training exercises that have been known to harm marine mammals.

The U.S. Navy conducts underwater military training exercises that have been known to harm marine mamals, including whales, seals, and dolphins. The number of such exercises is set to increase to a massive scale along the Hawaiian, California, and Atlantic coasts over the next five years.

By allowing the increase in sonar blasts used during training sessions, marine mammals in these areas will be subjected to incredible pain and suffering. The loud underwater explosions have been known to cause whales to beach themselves. These blasts also have caused bleeding around the animals’ ears and brains.

The National Marine Fisheries Service should protect marine mammals rather than force them to withstand increased numbers of injuries. As long as military training exercises need to take place, they should be conducted in waters where little damage can be done to sea mammals and their habitat.

Send a note to the National Marine Fisheries Service requesting a change in location for these training exercises to protect marine mammals.

Samuel D. Rauch III
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries
National Marine Fisheries Service
NOAA Fisheries Service
1315 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tele. No.: 301-427-8000

Secretary of the Interior Needs to Hear from You

Cetaceans such as this humpback whale are endangered by intense sound waves.

Two issues are before the Department of the Interior that require our attention. The first issue has to do with the use of high-intensity airguns in the exploration of offshore oil and gas along the Atlantic Coast from Florida to the New Jersey border. The constant dynamite-like blasts will occur around the clock for weeks and possibly months. All sea creatures within this area will be subjected to the noise. Dolphins and whales, in particular, will suffer as they rely on sound for feeding, communication, and navigation.

A second issue facing the Department of the Interior is whether to uphold the 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act. When the act was passed, an existing commercial oyster operation within Drakes Estero was given a 40-year lease to operate within the park. The lease expires this year at which time Drakes Estero would revert to a wilderness area. The secretary of the Interior needs to uphold this agreement. The Drakes Estero is the West Coast’s only marine wilderness area and is the home to harbor seals, white pelicans, leopard sharks, and bat rays.

The Honorable Ken Salazar
Secretary
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240

Acoustical Assault

Paws Down!

To Connyland theme park, Switzerland, and Miami Seaquarium, Florida, for holding raves in proximity to the sea creatures.

In a line we all use at times, “What were they thinking,” two organizations decided to hold raves in proximity to aquariums that house captive dolphins, orcas, and other marine mammals.

Isn’t it enough that we capture and contain these magnificent creatures in oversized bath tubs, do we now have to have pyrotechnics, ear shattering music, and hundreds, if not thousands, of partygoers in close proximity to their unnatural homes?

According to one news report, noise levels at the Connyland theme park reached the level of pneumatic drills set on top volume. In addition, it was reported that attendees tossed all manner of debris into the animals’ pools, including drugs.

It was reported that two dolphins at the Connyland theme park died most likely as a result of the 2-day rave. While no deaths have been reported of animals at Miami’s Seaquarium, one has to doubt the dolphins, orcas, and other sea creatures were in a partying mood while the event was going on.

What were the owners of these parks thinking?

Take Action: Write the owners of Seaquarium and Connyland urging them to discontinue holding events that place the animals in unsafe conditions that may lead to their deaths. Of course, the strongest action any of us can take is to stay away from these theme parks where captive wild animals are made to live in oversized bath tubs all year around.

Roby Gasser, Management
Connyland
Post Strasse 38
8557 Lipperswil
Switzerland
Tele. No.: +41 52 762 72 72
Fax: +41 52 762 72 73
E-mail: info@connyland.ch

Arthur Herman Hertz, CEO
Andrew Hertz, General Manager
Wometco Enterprises Inc.
Owner, Miami Seaquarium
3195 Ponce DeLeon Blvd.
Coral Gables, FL 33134
Tele. No.: 305-529-1400
Fax: 305-529-1466

Sources:
Simorgh.DE
The Daily Mail

Wild Orcas Belong in the Wild

Photo by mrmritter/Flickr

Let the Blackstone Group, which owns SeaWorld, know you want to see the company create a solid, workable plan to release captive performing orcas at SeaWorld parks to sanctuaries that can provide them with appropriate and more natural environments than those found at SeaWorld.

For marine life, the ocean is their habitat—and the ocean is huge. Capturing them and putting them into an oversized swimming pool for our entertainment is putting their physical and psychological lives at risk. For instance, when confined to a tank, these sea mammals develop stereotypies. With little space and no stimulation, they can be seen swimming in static patterns around their fish bowl for hours at a time. They also develop skin problems from living in heavily chlorinated water and suffer from ulcers and pneumonia as well as self-inflicted injuries.

Orcas are highly social and form complex societies headed by females. The average lifespan for a female orca is 50 years and a male 30 in the wild. In captivity, they rarely live beyond 20 years. In addition, in the wild, they can travel up to 100 miles daily.

Hamilton E. James, President & CEO
The Blackstone Group
345 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10154
Tele. No.: 212-583-5000
Fax: 212-583-5749

MasterCard Needs to Change Its Promotion

Paws Down !

To MasterCard for a promotion that allows cardholders to purchase discounted tickets to Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa, which includes a dolphin exhibit.

MasterCard is offering a special promotion that allows cardholders to purchase discounted tickets to Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. Encouraging the public to visit venues where animals are on exhibit for human entertainment and economic gain does nothing to teach us about the lives of these majestic creatures and everything to turn them into objects for our amusement.

Photo by DocklandsTony/Flickr

In the wild, dolphins live in tightly knit social units called pods. Some of these pods stay together for life. Yet, when they are captured, they are torn from their family units. They are either chased to the point of exhaustion or herded into a cove where they are trapped. Only the young and healthy are taken for exhibition, yet many of them do not survive the transition from ocean to tank. During these violent chases, the ecosystem from which they are taken is also disrupted.
Some species of dolphins can live more than 40 years—in the ocean. Life in a fish bowl is rarely that long.

In addition, dolphins travel 40 to 100 miles in a normal day. When confined to a tank, these sea mammals develop stereotypies. With little space and no stimulation, they can be seen swimming in static patterns around their fish bowl for hours at a time. They also develop skin problems from living in heavily chlorinated water and suffer from ulcers and pneumonia as well as self-inflicted injuries.

Ric O’Barry, the original dolphin trainer for the television show Flipper, spent 10 years training dolphins to perform; for the next 35 years, he has worked to tear down the very industry he created. O’Barry believes that no dolphin can thrive in captivity whether born in captivity or wild caught. “You’re talking about a creature that’s primary sense is sonar. You have a sonic creature in a concrete box. There are generations of dolphins born in a concrete tank who have never seen the ocean, have never seen a live fish, and have never experienced the tides or the current. They have lived in a concrete box. They were born there. These are freaks that we have inbred for our amusement.”

Take Action: MasterCard cardholders, contact the company and let them know you are displeased with their tacit support of animal abuse.

Ajay Banga, President and CEO
MasterCard Global Headquarters
2000 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577
Tele. No.: 914-249-2000

Source: MasterCard Promotion

Dolphins Deserve Better

Paws Down!
To Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for reopening the Batumi Dolphinarium.

According to a news article, “Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili opened an upgraded dolphinarium and watched the show together with his family members in Batumi.”

According to the article, seven of the 15 dolphins were gifts from Japan to Georgia. Knowing how the Japanese hunt dolphins, as witnessed in the documentary “The Cove,” the concern for these and other dolphins in Japanese waters is great.

Photo by Ross Hawkes

Take Action: Write a polite letter to President Saakashivili letting him know of your displeasure at reopening the dolphinarium at Batumi and urging him to not bring in any more dolphins to the facility.

In addition, do not support any marine mammal displays or shows. Do not attend performances of acrobatic dolphins. Do not support organizations with your time, talent, and money that exploit dolphins for economic gain. Support only those organizations interested in the rehabilitation of captured dolphins and in the protection of dolphins in the wild.

President Mikheil Saakashvili
c/o Embassy of Georgia
2209 Massachusetts Avenue, W
Washington, DC 20008-2813

Source:
en.trend.az/

The Desert is No Place for Dolphins

Photo by Joakim Syversen

Dolphins should live in the sea, not in a concrete pool. Yet The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas thinks otherwise. Since 1990, they have featured dolphins in an exhibit. Over that time, 14 dolphins have died, most well before their natural time.

NHES opposes using wild and exotic animals as a means of human entertainment and economic gain. Forcing an animal, such as a dolphin, to live in a concrete pool his or her entire, and most often abbreviated, life is inhumane. These animals are often captured in an extremely violent and cruel manner. Many are either killed or injured during the capture process and others die before reaching their destination. Those animals who do survive are subjected to a lifetime of confinement, unable to express normal behaviors or interact socially, and are subject to diseases and illnesses brought on by their unnatural surroundings.

Ask The Mirage to close down their dolphin exhibit and instead be true to the Las Vegas theme of extravagant entertainment by using the human animal—the best species to excite and amaze the visiting public.

Felix Rappaport, President
The Mirage Hotel and Casino
3400 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109