SEA WORLD RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF
THE facts don’t lie. Here are a few numbers that those protesting out the front of the Gold Coast and Australia’s most-loved visitor attraction – Sea World – should ponder while waving their placards and disrupting family days out.
In the past five years, Sea World staff have assisted in more than 600 rescues of marine animals. That is 120 a year, or one every three days.
Its on-call veterinary team and scientists have – between them – more than 500 years of marine animal care experience.
They are ready to roll if need be – and it is often – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year should a whale, dolphin or otherwise need rescuing off a Gold Coast beach.
The not-for-profit Sea World Research & Rescue Foundation has supported more than 200 research projects relating to aspects of biology of marine vertebrates.
The program also helps Australian scientists with research into marine life. That includes support for an annual dugong and dolphin survey at Moreton Bay.
More than 10,000 students take part in education programs at the Sea World theme park site at Main Beach every year.
The Village Roadshow Theme Park-operated site could not do more for marine animals – whether it be rescues, education, raising awareness or inspiring future generations to care and learn for these amazing creatures.
At a time when the Gold Coast tourism industry is on its knees and trying to recover – and none have felt that pain more than the thousands of Village Roadshow employees – it is understandable how frustrated the company’s chief operating officer, Bikash Randhawa, is feeling at the prospect of ill-informed protesters outside the front gates.
His frustration is shared by city tourism bosses and politicians.
A protest leader, the Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst, says the protest – which police are aware of and plan to attend – could have been avoided if Sea World had agreed to a dialogue about animal protection.
Forget about talking the talk. In their defence, Sea World and Village Roadshow have been walking the walk on animal welfare and protection for decades and to the tune of millions of dollars.
Wherever your sentiment lies on this one, what no one wants to see is any escalation as has happened previously where protesters ended up clashing with fed-up patrons.
Sea World, it should be noted, has continued its welfare programs and rescues during the toughest economic challenge it has faced in the pandemic.
THE virus is pure heaven for our politicians.
All they have to do is frighten the hell out of most of the voters by saying they are saving your life and will continue to save your life if you vote us in again.
Simple. It works! So how do they accomplish this?
We tell them that anyone who gets the virus is in dire danger of dying.
Be very careful to omit the fact that almost 90 per cent who contract the virus suffer only mild symptoms and that there is no critical patients in hospital at present.
Do not tell us that four times more people have perished from influenza.
Politicians are aware that more than 80 per cent of people believe what they are told without checking the actual facts.
They are past masters of telling half truths knowing full well most people will accept what they are told and to hell with the economy and our freedoms, we are saving your life!
And why not award ourselves and public servants with pay increases for saving your life.
No matter how many businesses go under – not one of us will loose our jobs or suffer a pay cut.
NICK BELLOFF, SOUTHPORT
WE the community of the Gold Coast have certainly had enough of the politics from the state government led by the Deputy Premier Steven Miles who has spent our time carrying on like a child to cover for our Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who has remained very silent and unable to shut down the member of the Labor Left Faction of the ALP.
Ms Palaszczuk should be aware we the community – not just on the Gold Coast – but every other community are over her inability to control the Lefties in her party.
We have heard that the reason we don’t have coverage of the COVID immunisation is because they are holding on to what they have, we don’t care if they have
only two weeks, why is that not in the arms of the people who need it? That is what we care about.
Are those jabs in the arms of our doctors and nurses, paramedics and wards men and women? No.
We need every last jab in the arms of essential workers on the front line in two days now, we need the jabs that are due in the arms of people within two days whenever they arrive.
The workers in hospitals who are in admin who have accessed jabs now need to be put at the end of the line because they are not essential workers and they need to be investigated and jailed for jumping a line that may others need to save their lives.
RON NIGHTINGALE,
GOLD COAST
WE have recently (yet again) had regular contributors such as Cunneen, Taylor, Science Believer and others, ramming the “95 per cent of scientists believe ...” message down our throats.
They ask for people to respond
and prove otherwise, and they want contributors to name people, journals, publications etc that refute their own alarmist climate change claims.
So we have had Messrs Browne, George and others write in with scientists and climate experts names, scientific journals, publications, proven scientific studies etc and yet they still dismiss it!
It is a fact that the
“95 per cent of scientists” argument is just theoretical and it has been proven to be false, and was based on one report trying to push their own agenda.
Funny how these same contributors don’t talk about Al Gore and his wild claims that proved to be totally false, or how climate change is all based on computer modelling and prediction.
But I guess a small thing like the actual truth won’t stop the aforementioned regular contributors from publishing the same old argument over and over.