I don't have many grievances with Ontario but Marineland is a huge exception. For some reason the ads run all summer out here on the coast. They highlight two things that obviously go together, orca and roller coasters. Whenever the ad runs my blood boils a little bit as I ask what kind of asshole thinks southern Ontario a fit place to house captive orca and other marine life.
I saw captive orca a couple of times back when they used to keep one or two at the Vancouver Aquariam. That was early on in the killer whale craze and, to their credit, they came to their senses many years ago and stopped keeping orca in captivity. And remember, those whales were kept to very high standards.
Orca are intelligent, communal creatures that belong in only one place - in the wild with their pods. We have no business keeping them for public amusement and profit in what are, in reality, display toilets. Christ, can't you teach Rob Ford to broach on cue?
Now it turns out, as I long suspected, that the marine life at Marineland are mistreated, neglected and, in some cases, consigned to miserable death. Read this and see what's going on in your own back yard. Is it really too much for Ontario to do the right thing and stop this monstrosity?
1 comment:
There was an excellent article on this topic two years ago on counterpunch.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/02/25/the-struggle-of-nootka-and-tilikum/
The author's work was very impressive.
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