WHY ANIMALS DO THE THING

eagletarian:

allthecanadianpolitics:

The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) predicts that the Vancouver Park Board’s ban on cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium could have potentially tragic consequences.

The department says a complete cetacean ban will take away the option to rescue and rehabilitate injured animals, like Chester, the false killer whale who was saved after being stranded on a Tofino beach.

Fisheries and Oceans decided that Chester, and fellow cetacean, the harbour porpoise named Daisy, could be not be released back into the wild, but the aquarium had the capacity to give them a home.

“We are the only place in Canada that has the capability of responding to a live stranded cetacean, bring them into a facility, and successful rehabilitate those animals,” said Dr. Martin Haulena, a veterinarian at the aquarium.

But the Vancouver Park Board changed all that when it unanimously voted to end cetacean captivity at the aquarium earlier this month.

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Submitted by caesuria.

@why-animals-do-the-thing

relevant to yesterday’s post

Ending cetacean captivity means that unreleasable rescues must be euthanized. There is no other option. 

If you truly believe that captivity is worse than premature euthanization, and you’re willing to publicly stand behind that statement no matter how cute the next stranded dolphin is, I will respect you while I heartily disagree with you. 

But if you’re advocating to end cetacean captivity without realizing that you are also advocating for the fact that every potentially young, healthy animal we could have saved and given a long life would have to be put down, you really need to reexamine your worldview. 

You can’t responsibly advocate for extreme positions without being aware of and comfortable with the consequences. I don’t think a lot of people realized this would be one of the outcomes of this choice. 

Edit: It’s also worth noting that the park board who made this decision for the facility has literally nothing to do with anything involving the animals. They administer the land that the Vancouver Aquarium rents, so they can set policy indirectly by making rules for their tenants to adhere to like many landlords do. And these people with literally no involvement in the actual facility and no background in animal management or care or welfare decided they knew enough from the “public discourse” to make a call that will get future potential unreleaseable rescues killed.