(Seventh in a series of posts.)
The creation of the sanctuary in Nova Scotia is an essential step in the larger mission of bring an end to the use of cetaceans as a form of entertainment.
What will it take to build a comprehensive solution – a global movement – that can bring an end to keeping whales and dolphins in captivity?
Coastal sanctuaries for cetaceans are orders of magnitude more complex and expensive to establish than land-based sanctuaries. That’s why the Whale Sanctuary Project is collaborating with other sanctuary efforts: specifically, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, which is working to retire its dolphins, and the Sea Life Trust beluga sanctuary in Iceland.
Global Federation: These three pioneering efforts are paving the way for many more sanctuaries to come. And building on our joint experience in these and earlier projects (see Whale Aid section below), this collaboration has already produced guidelines and best practices that have been adopted and published by the Global Federation of Sanctuaries for all future cetacean sanctuaries.
Cooperation with other sanctuary efforts
We will demonstrate what this global movement can become by sharing our operational plans and forming partnerships with other organizations. Beyond our collaboration with the National Aquarium and Sea Life Trust, we have established an extensive network of collaborations with NGOs in Canada, the United States and globally.
Collaborative efforts will be key to building a global sanctuary movement.
Rehoming whales and dolphins to sanctuary also necessitates working with the entertainment parks and aquariums that are the legal owners of the whales and dolphins, and with the caregivers, trainers, veterinarians and other staff who have close, positive relationships with the animals.
Collaborative efforts like these will be key to building a global sanctuary movement. And close working relationships with other NGOs are also essential to creating solutions for the hundreds of captive whales and dolphins.
Whale Aid programs
Members of our team have over the past several decades pioneered successful rescue and rehabilitation efforts, and we plan to continue expanding this effort globally. Past efforts include:
- In 2019, our Whale Aid Russia team worked successfully with local NGOs and with the Russian government to return to the ocean 98 orcas and belugas who had been captured illegally for sale to theme parks in China;
- In 2018, under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Whale Sanctuary team members Jeff Foster and Katy Laveck Foster joined an emergency effort in the Pacific Northwest to try to save the life of the young orca J-50, known as Scarlett.
Other Experience
- Whale Sanctuary CEO Charles Vinick and Animal Transfer & Rehab Coordinator Jeff Foster served respectively as Director of the highly publicized Keiko Project and as Director of Field Operations and Research for Keiko.
- In 2022, Charles Vinick and Pritam Singh co-founded Friends of Toki with the mission to return Tokitae, the orca also known as Lolita, from the failing Miami Seaquarium to an ocean habitat in her home waters in the Pacific Northwest. (Toki died in 2023 from lung infections and a longstanding kidney condition after 51 years of captivity.)
- Jeff Foster also oversaw the successful capture, rehabilitation and reintroduction of Springer, an orphaned killer whale found in Puget Sound. Jeff also led the rehabilitation and release of Tom and Misha, two formerly captive bottlenose dolphins, back into the wild in the Aegean Sea, in what is considered the first successful reintroduction of its kind. And he led the humane capture and rescue of sea otters during the Exxon Valdez oil spill and was recognized for his rescue work following the 2005 tsunami in Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina. Throughout his career, Jeff has led and coordinated transports of many cetaceans.
