Hey Guys,

The fight begins....
I hope you are ready...

"How when the student is ready, the teacher appears..."

The teacher in this instance is "Circumstance" and we "Pathway Activist" are the students.
I received notice on Sentosa's IR planning to hold marine wildlife as tourist attractions. This is a violation of animal rights happening in our own backyard.

The scenario, is best captured by the notice written by Dr John Potter, a very good friend of mine.

This will be the topic of discussion we will have on our Sunday meeting.
Please read below....

Resort World Sentosa needs to feel the heat!

1) RWS is planning to buy 18 wild dolphins so they can put them in a tank and show them off doing cheap tricks for tourists. I have mixed feelings about keeping intelligent social animals in captivity and this crosses my line by quite a bit. At the very least they should be imported from captive-born stock from North America rather than wild captured. Wild-caught dolphins are unacceptable as captive animals, since the trauma of separating a wild dolphin from its social context and habituated environment is now known to be very high. In my ethical framework, even captive-bred dolphins should only be kept in the best of possible environments while maximising the value of their potential for education and conservation as ambassadors for their species.

2) RWS is also planning to keep whalesharks. Recent discoveries about whalesharks leads me to believe that we cannot at present offer them good husbandry in captivity and until we know more I don't think RWS should be jumping in on a project that they have no experience with. Whalesharks are on the CITES list as a vulnerable species, probably endangered. We now know that they migrate thousands of km in addition to diving to over 1500m (much deeper than originally suspected). They are also now known to congregate in groups of 100 or more, indicating a significant social and migratory pattern structure. The new (and very large) facility in Atlanta has recently had a couple of unexplained whaleshark fatalities which further casts a shadow on whether we know enough about whalesharks to be able to provide good care for them in captivity. It is thought that they might have a natural lifespan of about 100 years, and perhaps not reach sexual maturity until around 30. The longest that any whaleshark has been kept in captivity is 13 years, in Japan.

So, RWS is flying in the face of everything environmentally responsible and respectful, the emerging world view of how we need to relate to nature if we are to survive, and even the (normally strictly business) Singapore Government sensitivities.

If you care at all, make sure RWS knows what you think by doing/saying something! Start by talking this over with ppl you care about, and see if they care!

Dr. John Potter


Guys another excerpt on another blog about captive dolphins in training.
Link here


DOLPHIN IN A CONCRETE TANK

• Captive whales and dolphins are sometimes starved to force them to perform.

• Trainers have been reported to abuse dolphins and whales at certain facilities.

• Captive whales and dolphins have seriously injured and even killed trainers
and members of the public.

• Japanese Drive fisheries, a method of harvesting whales and dolphins for
dolphinaria, have resulted in the deaths of thousands of animals.

• Captive whales and dolphins have been known to injure and even kill themselves.

The power lies in our hands.... Now what?