Canada Frees Dolphins And Whales
The Canadian legislature has prohibited the keeping of cetaceans in captivity because it is innesary and cruel.
It is a historic step. The Canadian government has prohibited the raising or capturing of whales, dolphins and porpoises to keep them confined. It has also ended the cetacean trade, they can no longer be exported or imported. In Canada, legislators have granted freedom to marine mammals.
“Today [June 10, 2019] is a great day for animals in Canada,” said Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who pushed for the law in parliament 4 years ago.
In the long process of Bill S-203, known as “Free Willy”, in reference to Simon Wincer’s film, the parliamentarians heard how scientists explained that it was critical to end the captivity of cetaceans, whose case it is not comparable to that of animals domesticated by livestock, according to May.
They are intelligent animals that need the open sea
Cetaceans are intelligent and social animals that need the sea, need space and communicate through sounds that travel long distances. These are some of the reasons why their unnecessary captivity is especially cruel.
“Our country no longer accepts that intelligent and sensitive animals are kept in small tanks for the entertainment of people,” said Camille Labchuk, director of Animal Justice, one of the animal organizations that has advised Canadian parliamentarians to take a animal friendly decision.
Canada currently has only two facilities with cetaceans and they will be able to continue to maintain them until their death. The Vancouver Aquarium has not resisted the Act, yet Marineland has exerted all the pressure it could to prevent passage of the Act.
The law allows as exceptions the confinement of specimens that are sick or in recovery or are object of investigation for their benefit.
The situation in Spain
According to the count of the SOSDelfines organization, carried out in 2015, in Spain there were 11 dolphinariums, located in the Canary Islands (3), Catalonia (3), the Valencian Community (2), Madrid (1), Andalusia (1) and the Balearic Islands (1 ). These facilities kept about 100 cetaceans in captivity, including dolphins, belugas and orcas.
Yesterday SOSDelfines denounced that the Oceanographic of the city of Valencia wants to import two new belugas.
