UPDATE: Whale Sanctuary Project Community Information Meeting Details:
- Dartmouth – Thursday, Jan 31st, 7.00 pm. (Doors open at 6.30.) Alderney Landing (The Rotunda), 2 Ochterloney Street;
- Liverpool – Friday, Feb 1st, 6.30 pm. Astor Theatre, (Gorham Room) 219 Main Street;
- Port Hawkesbury – Monday, Feb 4th, 6.30 pm. Civic Centre, 606 Reeves Street;
- Sherbrooke – Wednesday, Feb 6th, 6.30 pm. Fire Hall, 91 Old Road Hill;
- Sheet Harbour – Thursday, Feb 7th, 6.30 pm. Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 58, 23566 Nova Scotia Highway Trunk 7.
- Shelburne Area – Saturday Feb 9th, 1 pm. Parish of Christ Church Hall, 128 Hammond Street, Shelburne.
Jan 29, 2019: At a news conference, this morning, in Halifax, the Whale Sanctuary Project announced a series of public information meetings over the next 10 days to identify communities in Nova Scotia that may be interested in becoming home to a seaside sanctuary for beluga whales being retired from entertainment parks.
Charles Vinick and Lori Marino answer a question at the news conference in Nova Scotia, Jan 29, 2019. Photo by Kevin&Melani.
“We think that somewhere along this Atlantic coast of more than 8,000 kilometers, there may be an ideal site for a whale sanctuary,” our Executive Director, Charles Vinick, told reporters. “Most importantly, we believe there is the perfect community that shares our vision. And, once we find this community, we will find that site. That’s what we’re setting out to do over the next few weeks while we host public information meetings.”
“We believe there is the perfect community that shares our vision. And, once we find this community, we will find that site.”
Charles explained that the sanctuary will be a benefit not only to the whales who will be living there, but also to the community that hosts the sanctuary. For example, economic benefits to the community will include the creation of education center, employment for local residents, and the fact that the sanctuary will be purchasing food for the whales.
Dr. Lori Marino, President of the Whale Sanctuary Project, talked about her 30 years studying whales and dolphins.
“I’ve learned that belugas and other whales are highly intelligent and social mammals with a highly complex sense of self,” she said. “And because of these characteristics they suffer greatly spending their lives in concrete tanks in entertainment parks.”
Lori described their lives in those facilities as stressful, unhealthy, and short.
“The only way to end their suffering is to relocate them to a permanent seaside sanctuary, where they can receive expert care in a natural environment that serves their needs.”
Charles said that the site we’re looking for would be a 40-hectare area (roughly 100 acres) along the Atlantic shore of Nova Scotia. It would be a home for five to eight whales who are retired from entertainment facilities or who are injured and need rehabilitation within a netted-off area. On the shoreline there will be facilities for animal care and for sanctuary staff.
Together, Lori and Charles emphasized the importance of finding a coastal community that sees itself as the ideal home for what is certainly a novel project.
“We’re looking for communities that are as excited about this project as we are,” Charles said, “and who want to roll up their sleeves on the details so that together we can create this world-class endeavor.”
6 Comments
Whale Sanctuary Project If built I would think, someplace like Liverpool Harbor
Why Less Ships You cannot Be Built a place, where Big Ships are into the Traffic Lanes Noise
And Other Problems like Killing them They must be protected, And Shelburne Its A deep Harbor
. The Bay Of Fundy would cause Man Problems The Tides, Fast and Very Low.
I said My Peace, Yarmouth Way back into the Eighties a Ferry They thin Hit one, What A Stink
That was I surveyed That Harbor, I ran a Public works Boat.
When will you be in Liverpool.
Looking forward to learning more.
The Liverpool details are: Liverpool – Friday, Feb 1st, 6.30 pm. Astor Theatre, (Gorham Room) 219 Main Street.. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.
Ethically and biologically it would be better send them to into the wild within their natural range and let them return into the food chain either as predator or prey. The wild is cruel but not as cruel as further captivity.
Thank you for your comment. And ideally, indeed, we would want to be able to be place them in the wild. But that’s simply not workable for a beluga or other whale who was born in a concrete tank and has never even caught a fish in her life.
In the ocean, these highly social animals grow up as part of family, are taught survival skills by their mothers and other family members, and live their whole lives in a close family unit. But there are very few whales at entertainment parks who were born in the ocean, were captured at a young age, and have families whom we know about. In those cases, it’s just possible that they could be reunited. And if such were possible, we’d make every effort to do that. But for those who were born in a concrete tank, it’s not an option. To release them into the ocean would simply be a death sentence.
It’s similar to the situation for elephants, chimpanzees and other land animals who are retired from circuses. They can’t be just dropped off somewhere in Africa. They don’t have the survival skills. But they do amazingly well at authentic sanctuaries. And since belugas and other whales are, like chimpanzees and elephants, highly intelligent and social mammals with a complex sense of self, they suffer greatly spending their lives in concrete tanks in entertainment parks. The only way to end that suffering is to relocate them to a permanent seaside sanctuary, where they can receive the care they will always need while experiencing the ocean, interacting with a real environment, and being able to swim across a 40-hectare area that’s incomparably larger than anything they’ve known before.
Certainly, we can’t undo all the harm we’ve inflicted on cetaceans by keeping them in captivity, but by providing them with seaside sanctuaries, we can greatly improve their quality of life. That’s our goal, and it’s the least we can do for them.
Well actual wildlife biologist here is some actual wildlife biology for you. It is not that simple, some of these belugas have never even seen the wild. They never learned how to survive from their parents. Learning is vital for cetaceans they do not just instinctively know these things any more than humans do. Any failure will be used as an excuse for aquariums not to give up their animals. Maybe some of the wild born ones can be released at a later date, who knows.