Please send a letter to the editor!!!!
Thanks!
Annelise Sorg
COALITION FOR NO WHALES IN CAPTIVITY
cfnwic@whaleprotection.org
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Activist ire over aquarium animals is extremely difficult to fathom
Alan Ferguson
The Province
Friday, October 21, 2005
Except that it would be unfair to the humbler creatures, I have often wondered whether the best thing to do with animal-rights "activists" would be to lock them in the pound along with other strays.
An obvious drawback lies in their sheer numbers -- there would be so many volunteers lining up to liberate them that they'd be free again long before the time limit expired for putting them out of their final misery.
It ought to be hard not to admire the devotion to their cause that motivates the earnest efforts of the activists.
Clearly, they are not all nutbars, although their ranks include such people as Rocco DiSpirito, the stupendously boring New York "celebrity" chef who is part of a campaign to end the East Coast seal hunt.
This is the same giggling fool who condones the cruel and unusual torture of geese to produce the inedible foie gras that tickles the palates of the rich and stupid.
One wonders in passing just how many of these avid advocates of live animals sit down at suppertime to fill their faces with dead ones.
Not that being a vegetarian should be a mandatory qualification for defending the beasts of the field, but it might help to give a proper sense of direction to the movement.
Everyone knows that horrible things go on in the production of our food, even though by the time it gets to our plates the blood and gore has been cleaned up.
I once toured a slaughterhouse where semi-stunned pigs squealed in terror as they were hauled on a hook to where a blood-soaked butcher waited to slash their throats. I've not eaten bacon since.
So, I am not saying there isn't fertile ground for animal- lovers to till. All I ask is that they keep things in a proper perspective.
A case in point is the current controversy brewing over the keeping of whales and dolphins at the splendid Vancouver Aquarium.
Loretta Woodcock, a Vancouver parks board commissioner, is agitating for a plebiscite in 2008 to decide whether the aquarium should cease to display these animals.
Other "activists" are more impatient, demanding that the question should be tacked on to the municipal vote this November. Their ire is fuelled by the recent addition of two rescued dolphins to the aquarium's stable.
The activists claim (though by what rare power of divination I am at a loss to comprehend) that the animals are unhappy.
The pair of sea otters I saw recently, lying hand-in-hand on their backs, basking in the sunshine, were a picture of contentment. Would they thank me for returning them to the wild to face a certain, nasty death?
With more than 19,000 members, the popularity of the aquarium is at a peak. Almost eight out of 10 Vancouverites want the whales to stay.
The thousands of children who go there to wonder at these marvels of nature will learn more from them than they ever will from the prattling of preachy busybodies.
aferguson@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2005