‘Life is short, steal a walrus’
Activist says Marineland called police over his tweet
Marineland and animal rights activist Phil Demers have been talking at each other, through their lawyers, for the past six years.
But it took just six words to bring the police to his door this week, Demers says: “Life is short, steal a walrus.”
He put out the six-word Twitter post Tuesday evening and by noon the next day Niagara Regional Police officers were at his home in Chippawa.
He says the officers told him they were responding to a complaint from Marineland.
“It’s not the first time it’s happened,” says Demers, who has been tangled in civil lawsuits with the park since 2013.
“It should be noted Marineland has sent the cops to my home, I don’t know, a half dozen times now in the last six years.”
Marineland’s lawyer did not respond to several requests for comment, and there was no one available at the park Friday to respond to Demers’s allegation.
Demers, a former animal trainer at Marineland, has been a vocal critic of the park for years.
He alleges the park mistreats its animals by providing poor care and keeps them in sub-standard conditions. Marineland has denied that, and maintains the animals receive proper, regular veterinary care.
In 2013 Marineland launched a civil suit against Demers for $1.5 million, claiming he had trespassed and threatened employees.
A year later Demers launched a countersuit, accusing the park of defamation and abuse of process. Both cases are still before the courts. Demers said the tweet came to him while he was at home this week.
“You know, on occasion you have a feeling like you want to tweet something. This popped into my head – life is short, steal a walrus,” he said Friday. “I thought it was absolutely hilarious.” His post was widely viewed on Twitter, including by Marineland. Afterwards he said he also got an email from his own lawyer, who said Marineland wanted him to sign what he called a “speech-limiting injunction” to avoid further action.
“I said go for it. I’m not deleting the tweet and I’m not signing your injunction, so do your worst,” he said.
He calls the park’s reaction “all bluster” and another attempt to intimidate him into silence.
He left the tweet up, and later posted another that read, “Life is short, steal an orca.”
He also posted video he said he shot while he was talking to police officers at his home.
“The cops have always been great … they know it’s absurd,” he said. “They’re just fulfilling their duties.”
Stephanie Sabourin, a spokeswoman for the NRP, would not confirm officers attended Demers’ home.
But in a statement emailed to the Standard, she said “we can share that with the prevalence of social media, when possible our officers inform and educate the public on what could be potentially deemed criminal in nature.
“As could be expected, an increasing volume of calls involve an element relating to social media … our officers will make every effort to speak to all involved parties to get an understanding of the situation.”
Demers said he might sell T-shirts with the ‘steal a walrus’ phrase on them to help pay his legal expenses, which he estimated could reach $250,000 over six years.
He noted several others who protested Marineland were sued on similar grounds, but only his case remains active. The others, he said, either settled or their cases were dismissed in court.
“I’m going the distance,” he said.