Written on the death of Bjossa's baby....

The Province, March 20, 1995: Byline column by Judy Stone

What will it take to put the Vancouver Aquarium out of business? Its moral have been bankrupt from the beginning because its business is the display for money of captive beings, and its goods are the bodies and souls of captive beings.

But like all products, they have a shelf life; in the case of orcas, it's pretty short. The adults seem to be good value for money though. They must be, because if whales didn't sell they'd be gone.

The aquarium spin doctors would have you believe this is science, not show biz. That's a crock!

At a public meeting of the aquarium society, held to market a bigger, better, new and improved aquarium, the key speaker was Dr. John Ford, earning his living and his reputation as a "whale expert".

He had a pretty slick presentation, showing us slides of his work in the Arctic with beluga whales. How he befriended them and lay on the ice and stroked them, how he talked to them. It was great stuff.

And then he captured them. All for their own good of course. He was going to save the whales by studying them. In tubs. The audience, principally aquarium society members, loved it! They cheered him to the rafters.

I left wondering if there was any form of cruelty and betrayal these people wouldn't cheer. They'd have made great Romans.

Most of the research is a lucrative fraud. In our hearts we know the only way to save this perfectly balanced gem of a planet is to leave it be. Leave all the creatures on Earth alone, in their own, clean, unmolested environments. And control ourselves before we destroy everything.

We can stop the aquarium sideshow. Write the aquarium society directors, the people who are ultimately responsible for the baby orca's death. Tell them to stop their corporate social climbing on the backs of physically and mentally sick animals.

Write to the "caring" staff. They admit Bjossa can grieve, so how can they deny her other emotions - that she misses her family; that she is bored and sad; that she wishes she were free to swim as far as she wants without hitting a wall.

Here's what you can do to help these whales: Don't go. Don't give the aquarium money because that is just what they want. Don't amuse yourself at the expense of helpless animals. Don't buy into the fraud of "education". The only lesson children learn is that it okay to keep animals trapped in a life of misery to amuse us.

Write letters. Bjossa and all the other whales need you.

Judy Stone
Animal Advocates Society of BC