Studies on captive whales a drop in research bucket
A new report from a group seeking to end the practice of keeping whales in captivity challenges assertions by the Vancouver Aquarium and others that research on captive whales helps whales in the wild.
The report, from the Vancouver Humane Society, Toronto-based Zoocheck and the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada, asserts that research drawn from captive whales and other cetaceans amount to a small fraction of the wider research done on these animals in the wild. The report identified 13 peerreviewed original scientific papers that used captive cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium over the past 31 years, and six such papers done using animals held at Ontario’s MarineLand since 1987.
“The majority of research projects that are going on in zoos and aquariums in general are designed to deal with captivity-related problems,” Zoocheck’s Julie Woodyer told a Vancouver press conference Wednesday.
“Studies are being done constantly on endangered species that have never been in captivity,” she said. “It is not necessary to put whales in tanks in order to do research that benefits ... species in the wild.”
Their yearlong study was in the works when two belugas died at the Vancouver Aquarium within weeks of each other this fall. There are no whales currently in captivity in Vancouver, but the aquarium has five more belugas which are on loan to U.S. marine parks.
Vancouver’s park board, the aquarium’ s landlord at Stanley Park, is re considering the aquarium’ s plan to expand its whale tanks in Vancouver. As well, Canadian Senator Wilfred Moore in 2015 introduced legislation to ban the keeping of whales and dolphins in captivity, and that legislation is expected to be debated sometime next year.
“It is our position that we should empty these tanks,” Woodyer said, noting that belugas need a vast, deep range to hunt in the wild, which can’t be replicated in captivity.
“We’ve seen recent deaths at this aquarium. There’s now no belugas in the tanks, the practice should end right there.”
Woodyer said their report also found that aquarium-derived cetacean papers weren’t often cited by other researchers, a measure of their scientific value.
Aquarium boss John Nightingale was not available for comment.
An aquarium spokesperson referred Postmedia to a 2014 report on the aquarium’s cetacean program prepared for the park board by wildlife veterinarian Joseph Gaydos of UC Davis Wildlife Health Centre. Gaydos’ report said the aquarium has published 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts on cetaceans in its care. Of those, Gaydos wrote, 15 provided benefit to free-ranging cetacean manage- ment and conservation.
Also speaking at the press conference via Skype from Washington D.C. was marine mammal biologist Naomi Rose of the U.S.-based Animal Welfare Institute, who said she reviews hundreds of research papers each year on whales done in the wild.
“The research that we have about these animals and how they behave in the wild indicate that the impact of confinement in small spaces is fairly intense,” Rose said. “Large, wide-ranging predators do not fare well, do not thrive in captivity.”