CAPTIVITY QUESTION ON HOLD
Board avoids decision on whales
When Aurora, the last beluga whale in captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium, died in late November, nine days after the death of her calf, Qila, the reason for her death stymied aquarium staff as well as the researchers brought in to do the necropsy. Two months later, the causes of both their deaths remain a mystery.
Their passing, and the fact they had lived as mother and daughter in the same pool for two decades was unprecedented. It was all the more tragic for that. It was not only the death of a whale, or two whales, it was the death of a family, and the death of the fierce bonds that we, as humans, understand family to be.
There was conjecture by staff that it may have been a virus, a toxin, food poisoning or, more darkly, the result of a criminal act, which is to say intentional poisoning. Police were called in, and while they found no evidence of criminality, aquarium CEO John Nightingale left it open to conjecture the possibility something more sinister could have happened. He said surveillance footage had been reviewed and security procedures changed. Staff had been harassed by socialmedia trolls lately, he added, and said someone had recently broken into the marine mammal rescue centre, spreading trash and draining water from a pool holding seal pups. Given the circumstances, they were, he said, “a whole bunch of weird coincidences” — a characterization that could accommodate any number of conspiracy theories.
As a layman, I have no idea what caused Qila’s death. But as a father and a husband — as a human — my one and only thought of why her mother Aurora died nine days later had nothing to do with toxins. She died, I immediately thought of hearing the news, of a broken heart. Her child died. She died from despair, just as humans do.
Is this scientifically sound? Again, I have no idea. An animal behaviourist, zoologist or veterinarian might pooh-pooh the idea. But their opinions in a context such as the one Aurora and Qila found themselves in, and in which the Vancouver Aquarium now finds itself in, is of little consequence.
What is of consequence now is the change in how more of us humans comprehend the natural world. The biblical sense of man having dominion over “every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth” is on the wane, to be replaced by the idea that man no longer rules nature, but is part of it. It’s anthropomorphization in reverse, where rather than bestowing human qualities on animals, we believe we share with animals the same basic impulses and emotions.
Which brings me to the Vancouver park board meeting Monday night. Once again, the board derailed a motion to hold a plebiscite so the public might express its opinion on cetacean captivity. Instead, the board voted 4-3 to have staff report back next month with other options. Such as, I presume, hoping people will have forgotten about a plebiscite by then.
The NPA commissioner, Sarah Kirby-Yung, who introduced the plebiscite motion after Aurora’s death, complained it was “a move to delay.” No kidding. The park board threw out a similar motion in 2010. In 2014, the board passed a motion in favour of a breeding ban of captive cetaceans at the aquarium, but power changed hands in that year’s elections and a bylaw was never enacted. In the same year, Vancouver city Coun. Adriane Carr tried to get council to put a plebiscite on the ballot, but council rejected it, too. The given reason? Council didn’t want to interfere with the park board’s jurisdiction. Of course, at the time, the aquarium was planning a $100-million expansion to include larger whale pools. Gee, what a whole bunch of weird coincidences.
Asked of his own opinion on cetacean captivity, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson emailed that he was personally against the practice, but wasn’t in favour of a plebiscite because “the holding of whales and dolphins in captivity is within the park board’s authority.” I believe that’s called having the courage of other people’s jurisdiction.
Back and forth they go, so as to deny the public a voice. It’s not like that public hasn’t had the opportunity before on another issue concerning animals in Stan-
Once again, the board derailed a motion to hold a plebiscite so the public might express its opinion on cetacean captivity.
ley Park: In 1994, Vancouverites voted down a proposed upgrade to the park’s shabby zoo in a referendum. The zoo closed two years later.
Sooner or later, the times will catch up with the sad and pathetic era of cetacean captivity. The excuses of whales being important tourist draws or, more laughably, ambassadors of their species, have run their course. The public is losing the taste for animal captivity. Here’s hoping it loses its appetite, too, for a park board that would look for other options rather than do what’s right.