Featured Image Credit: Vancouver Aquarium
Time is running out and Vancouver Aquarium needs your help!
On Monday, May 15th, a final decision will be made on the amended bylaw that will prohibit the importation and display of live whales, dolphins and porpoises at the Vancouver Aquarium.
This would not only impact the rescued animals that currently call the Vancouver Aquarium home but could also PREVENT the Vancouver Aquarium from saving animals’ lives in the future!
CLICK HERE TO LET THE VANCOUVER PARK BOARD YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THIS CHANGE.
Here are nine reasons why this bylaw would be a very bad thing for rescuing marine mammals, and why your voice needs to be heard:
- The Vancouver Aquarium is home to Canada’s ONLY marine mammal hospital. For over 50 years, the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre has cared for sick, injured, or orphaned marine mammals. Each year, over 100 marine mammals are rescued, rehabilitated and released back into the wild.
- The Vancouver Aquarium provides a new home for animals who are no longer able to survive in the wild. This bylaw puts all of this good work at risk.
- The Aquarium currently cares for three rescued cetaceans who were non-releasable by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans as not able to survive in the wild.
- Helen, a Pacific white-sided dolphin who was rescued from entanglement in a fixed fishing net on the opposite coast of Japan thousands of kilometres from Taiji— she was in very poor condition but was rehabilitated and then deemed non-releasable by government authorities because of her injuries. To read more about Helen’s survival story, click here.
- Daisy, a harbor porpoise who was found as very young animal stranded on a beach in 2008 off the coast of Vancouver Island. At the beginning of her rehabilitation, Daisy needed the support of a flotation device. To read more about Daisy’s story, click here. (insert photo)
- Chester, a false killer whale, who was found stranded on a beach in 2014 as a calf and never developed skills to survive in his natural habitat. To read more about Chester’s remarkable story, click here.
- For Helen, Daisy and Chester, this bylaw will at best allow them to live their lives out in the aquarium, and at worst, be forced to be released back into the wild, where they will absolutely be dead within months or even weeks. Currently, these animals have a good home, the social and mental stimulation they need, and top-notch veterinary care.
- The Vancouver Aquarium is a member of the CAZA, which means it is an accredited aquarium in Canada and held to high standards of care for its animals.
- It will have a DEEP impact on the research the aquarium does to help these animals in the wild and for future generations.
- Did we mention that this rescue centre is the ONLY marine mammal hospital of its kind in Canada?
- If this law passes, it will no longer be able to rescue whales, dolphins, and porpoises that are stranded or sick.
- Instead, cetaceans found to be in distress in the wild will have to be put down immediately.
To read more about the bylaw, click here.