Captive walruses deserve to be in the spotlight, too
JESSICA SCOTT-REID
For animal lovers and advocates across Canada, the passing of Bill S-203, dubbed the Free Willy Bill, last year, was a moment of great joy and relief. No longer is it legal to breed or hold captive whales and dolphins (aside from the 50-plus still in captivity) in this country.
But for one whistleblower involved in what became the longest legislative battle in Canadian history, the major win was not enough. Phil Demers was a trainer at Ontario’s Marineland, before leaving in 2012 and blowing the whistle on abuses at the marine park. He is now the subject of a documentary that aired last week on CBC, entitled “The Walrus and the Whistleblower.”
For Demers, victory will only come when other captive marine mammals, namely walruses and other pinnipeds, are also given the spotlight, and freedom.
While the documentary, directed by Nathalie Bibeau, focuses mainly on Demers and his fight to free one particular walrus named Smooshie, from Marineland (though with no mention of where Smooshie would go upon rescue), the greater issue of animals suffering in marine parks also play prominently.
Footage from Marineland, of walruses languishing in small caged pools, and of one walrus named Zeus who would later die, appearing gaunt and lethargic while out on display, paint a picture of these big sociable animals as broken, exploited, and doomed.
Rob Laidlaw, with animal protection agency Zoocheck, describes walruses as intelligent and highly gregarious, with social lives and great attachment to their young. But when looking at many pinnipeds kept in captivity, he says, “they are stuck in spaces that are orders of magnitude smaller than the smallest home ranges they would ever experience in the wild,” spaces that are often totally artificial, and designed more with audiences in mind than the animals.
“You’ve got lack of space, lack of natural conditions, and a product of that is restriction or elimination of the animals’ ability to engage in meaningful natural movements and behaviour,” he says. As a result, captive animals often suffer from psychological issues, “like boredom and frustration and anxiety.”
Since the release of the widely popular 2013 documentary “Blackfish,” exposing Seaworld and the plight of captive orcas, the fight to free captive marine mammals has focused mainly on whales and dolphins. As a result, Seaworld has seen a fairly steady decline in both attendance and stock value, and at least two seaside sanctuaries are being developed — one off the coast of Canada, another off Iceland — to house and properly care for captive whales. A dolphin sanctuary is also in the works, led by the National Aquarium in the U.S.
As the number of big-ticket animals, such as whales and dolphins, continue to decrease in marine parks and aquariums, Laidlaw fears that pinnipeds, like walruses, will become the next big stars.
Thus, now is the time to broaden the concern and fight for captive marine animals, to also include pinnipeds. Walruses, seals and sea lions are not meant to be held in concrete pools, to balance balls on their noses, or to be bred in captivity. Smooshie deserves sanctuary, and so do all the rest. Jessica Scott-Reid