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Bite-Back March 2002
Keeping Killer Whales (Orcas) in captivity is cruel and unnecessary, yet there are currently 49 held in marine parks. Of 134 Orcas captured from the wild, 109 are dead, with an average survival time of less than 6 years. Yet the Six Flags Adventure Park in Ohio has plans to import two Orcas and the Port of Nagoya Aquarium in Japan, which already has Beluga Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins in pools, has been trying to capture Orcas from the wild. Let them know what you think about it at:
Six Flags Park, 1060 N. Aurora Rd, Aurora, OH44202, USA
Email: postmaster@sixflags.com & sixflagstkg@fuse.net
Dr.I.Uchida, Nagoya Port aquarium 1-3 Minatomachi, Minato-ku, Nagoya 460-0033 Japan fax: 0081 526547001
Email: info@port-of-nagoya.jp
Support the WDCS campaign to free captive cetaceans at
www.wdcs.org
The US navy has reluctantly admitted that their use of mid-range sonar was the probable cause of a mass stranding of whales in the Bahamas. The Australian navy has implicitly conceded the same, cancelling a sonar exercise due to the presence of Blue Whales. Physical evidence, in the form of haemorrhaged ears, has been found on whales stranded after sonar tests. It is disturbing, therefore, to find that the British navy is now fitting long-range sonar (far more powerful than mid-range) to its ships. Other European navies are due to follow suit.
Ask the Secretary of State for Defence Geoffrey Hoon, on public@ministers.mod.uk and the Armed Forces Minister of State Adam Ingram on adam_ingram@compuserve.com, to hold a public review of long-range sonar's impact on marine mammals, so that defence requirements can be balanced with environmental protection.
John Nightingale
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