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SeaWorld suspends dividend payments to investors
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-seaworld-suspends-dividend-20160919-story.html
Posted : September 20, 2016 2:14 am
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Corky's Tragic Story and the Campaign to Take Her Home
Posted : September 20, 2016 6:12 pm
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Photo Shows Orca Abuse At SeaWorld To Be Barbaric And Heartless
Posted : September 22, 2016 12:24 pm
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ONE DOLPHIN’S STORY – CAROLINA SNOWBALL
Born: unknown (wild caught)
Caught: 1962
Died: 1965; complications included cirrhosis of the liver, emphysema, stomach tumor, cysts and parasites
The white dolphin was one of a kind, the single most valuable water creature in the world.” ~ Ric O’Barry, “Behind the Dolphin Smile”
https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/one-dolphins-story-carolina-snowball/
Posted : September 22, 2016 1:10 pm
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How baby beluga whales dive deeper and longer than any others
Posted : September 22, 2016 3:06 pm
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ONE DOLPHIN’S STORY: NORTHERN RESIDENT ORCA KIANU
26 SEPTEMBER, 2016
Quick Facts
Caught: April 26, 1968, Garden Bay, British Columbia
Died: June 1980, at Shirahama Adventure World, Japan
Stories of the first wave of orcas held and showcased in captivity are scant. With the exception of renowned individuals such as Moby Doll, Namu, the original Shamu, Skana, and the still-living Corky II, only the barest of details are known about the other 25 Northern and Southern Resident orcas caught in Pacific Northwest waters between the 1964-1969 period. Without first-hand accounts of marine park staff members, trainers, or veterinarians, it is nearly impossible to get an idea of who these orcas were.
For one orca, had it not been for a marine park diver’s memoir, her story may ended up down the memory hole.
https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/one-dolphins-story-northern-resident-orca-kianu/
Posted : September 26, 2016 12:26 pm
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BREAKING: SEAWORLD’S “NEW” ATTRACTIONS JUST SAME OLD, SAME OLD
27 SEPTEMBER, 2016
SeaWorld Entertainment just unveiled their new attractions for 2017. And herein lies the problem: rather than retiring their dolphins to seaside sanctuaries, where the mammals can live out the rest of their lives in peace and dignity, SeaWorld has chosen to continue to profit off their star “attractions.”
The new Orca Encounter will be based on orca behavior in the wild: what they eat, how they hunt, how they navigate and how they communicate, helping guests gain a deeper appreciation and respect for the orcas and empowering them a sense of determination and purpose to help preserve the future of these majestic animals.” ~ SeaWorld Press Release, “SeaWorld Entertainment Unveils Major New Attractions for 2017”, 9/27/16
Patrons to the park will have to engage their visualization skills, along with a healthy dose of fantasy to believe that orcas can “hunt” “navigate” and “communicate” in a manmade tank. It is impossible to replicate their wild and complex world in a wholly unnatural environment. Worse, SeaWorld would appear to want their visitors to believe they have somehow, encapsulated a “snapshot” of the life of a wild orca, simply by “describing” a “what if” scenario. “If” orcas were to hunt in the wild, this is how they would engage the pod, this is how they would use their echolocation, this is how they would teach their young how to track their prey. None of these things are possible in a tank.
Read more:
https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/breaking-seaworlds-new-attractions-just-same-old-same-old/
Posted : September 27, 2016 2:14 pm
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Report Reveals the Horrific Reality of Life in Captivity for Lolita the Orca – Here’s How to Help
Posted : September 27, 2016 4:17 pm
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Blood in the Water: Corky's Sad Story
Abducted from her mother’s side in the ocean decades ago, Corky still floats listlessly in a tiny tank at SeaWorld. She needs to get home.
Posted : September 30, 2016 7:52 pm
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MANBY-PACELLE PACT: HOT AIR AND HOLLOW WORDS ON DOLPHIN DRIVES
04 OCTOBER, 2016
On September 28, SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby, and The Humane Society’s CEO Wayne Pacelle coauthored a piece for the ‘Tampa Bay Times‘ calling on the US government to pressure the Japanese government to stop the dolphin drives currently underway in Taiji, Japan. Their words might have held more validity had these mammoth money-earning organizations used their combined weight to apply some real pressure.
Instead, this SeaWorld-HSUS partnership is delivering scripted sound bytes that say much but deliver little. In this instance it’s nothing at all, for they place the responsibility for ending the drives on everybody else:
https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/manby-pacelle-pact-hot-air-and-hollow-words-on-dolphin-drives/
Posted : October 4, 2016 1:02 pm
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Feds May Change Their Opinion on Whether Lolita's Tank Is Compliant
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2016 AT 8:52 A.M. BY JONATHAN KENDALL
Posted : October 4, 2016 4:15 pm
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So heartbreaking!
TRAUMATIZED TAIJI DOLPHIN KILLS HER OWN BABY
Oct 04, 2016 | LAURA BRIDGEMAN
http://savedolphins.eii.org/news/entry/traumatized-taiji-dolphin-kills-her-own-baby
If there remained any doubt that captivity kills, the recent death of a calf in a Japanese aquarium should remove it all.
The female bottlenose calf was born at the Nagoya aquarium on September 24. Her mother was Lulu, a dolphin who was captured in the brutal drive hunts of Taiji, according to CetaBase. After days of harassment by Lulu, the tiny dolphin expired - only four days old. In the photos, you can see what look like rake marks, and some that appear to be bleeding.
It is exceedingly rare for mother dolphins in the wild to practice infanticide, or the killing of one’s own child. However, it is a major concern for captive cetaceans, as any aquarium employee can tell you. Accounts are numerous of mothers who refuse to nurse their infant, who ignore them, try to drown them or - as appears to be the case with Lulu – biting and harassing them to death.
Aquarium officials like to explain this as the result of first-time mothers who simply don’t know how to be good parents. But that logic is highly questionable. A more likely reason for this type of violence lies within the traumatic scars of being separated from one’s family, watching and listening to them die one by one, and being removed permanently from one’s home. Or it could be that Lulu did not want her child to endure the endless pain and suffering of captivity.
We will never know her reasons. But what we do know is that humanity’s use and abuse of dolphins causes incredible suffering: suffering that we continue to pay for, as the demand for captive cetacean entertainment continues to grow.
Posted : October 4, 2016 6:02 pm
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Dolphin Project Cites Our Petition! Signatures Soar!
OCT 4, 2016 — Awesome news! This article is so well written and packed with information. I believe that pressure is mounting on Joel Manby and Wayne Pacelle to actually have to step up and condemn IMATA, NOW! No more lip service! This issue is NOT going away for them until this happens, and will certainly "tank" SeaWorld's attendance and stock performance even deeper with each passing day. Please, I still need your help! Let's all start actively reaching out to any and all media to expose this petition, and also, to try and get reporters to cover the IMATA protest in San Diego. Also, let's make major holders of SeaWorld stock aware of what's going on in Taiji, and SeaWorld's refusal to denounce IMATA. List of stock holders here: http://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SEAS/holders?p=SEAS
I'm trying my best to go to the protest and sincerely hope you'll all consider going too if you can. An army of LOUD VOICES, PACKING BULL HORNS! Activism works!
Another entire pod of Rissos's Dolphins were slaughtered yesterday, as you may know. Utterly heartbreaking and inexcusable. Let's keep this going strong, keep calling HSUS and SeaWorld, email Manby himself, joel.manby@seaworld.com and keep posting this petition on all social media. Whatever it takes. You are all incredibly compassionate people. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR UNWAVERING DEDICATION TO THIS ISSUE AND PETITION!
Related:
MANBY-PACELLE PACT: HOT AIR AND HOLLOW WORDS ON DOLPHIN DRIVES
https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/manby-pacelle-pact-hot-air-and-hollow-words-on-dolphin-drives/
Posted : October 4, 2016 8:53 pm
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Thursday's letters: SeaWorld implicated in dolphin hunt
Wednesday, October 5, 2016 3:33pm
End savage dolphin hunt | Sept. 29, commentary
SeaWorld linked to dolphin hunt
Last week the CEO of SeaWorld, Joel Manby, co-authored a column condemning the brutal annual dolphin hunts that take place in Taiji, Japan. What Manby failed to acknowledge is that SeaWorld is intrinsically linked to the Taiji hunts through its close connection with IMATA: the International Marine Animal Trainers' Association.
SeaWorld's relationship with IMATA would be better described as "best buddies" than casual acquaintances. For example, IMATA was originally headquartered at SeaWorld, and SeaWorld trainers continue to hold numerous high-power positions within the organization. And that's significant, considering IMATA's policy allows trainers to enter the Taiji killing cove and stand side by side with hunters, violently dragging dolphins out of the wild.
These trainers handpick the "prettiest" dolphins and help sell them to marine parks for hundreds of thousands of dollars. They leave the dolphins with ugly injuries or babies too young to learn circus tricks behind — casting them aside to the slaughter heap.
For years, SeaWorld and IMATA have publicly condemned these violent hunts, while at the same time supporting a policy that expressly allows their trainers to participate in them.
It's all very well for Manby to publicly say he is against the Taiji dolphin hunts. But the truth is, there is something simple he could do right now to help end them. SeaWorld could easily cut all ties with IMATA until this organization stops its trainers violently tearing dolphins out of the cove. Instead, SeaWorld continues to conveniently look the other way as IMATA lets trainers drag dolphins away from their families.
In the words of Ric O'Barry, a veteran dolphin advocate and star of The Cove, until SeaWorld takes action against IMATA, any rhetoric condemning the hunts is just "hot air and hollow words." As it stands, SeaWorld continues to throw its full support behind IMATA — even agreeing to host its annual conference in November.
Manby was right about one thing: As a massive corporation with global influence and buying power, SeaWorld could easily use its position of power to save Taiji dolphins from unthinkable pain and suffering. The question is: Will it?
Sarah Lucas, CEO, Australia for Dolphins, Melbourne, Australia
Posted : October 6, 2016 7:31 pm
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Photos: Resident orca pods return to Puget Sound
HANSVILLE, Wash. - The Southern Resident Killer Whales in the J and K pods have returned to Puget Sound.
According to the Orca Network, both pods crossed Admiralty Inlet last week, and continued south towards Point No Point, near Hansville.
Whale watchers said this move typically happens around this time of year.
That means people can usually spot the orcas off Whidbey Island, and from points around the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas.
This group includes one whale known as Granny, she's a great-great grandmother estimated to be more than 100 years old. She is also considered to be the matriarch of the Southern Resident orca community.
See link:
http://komonews.com/news/local/photos-resident-orcas-return-to-puget-sound
Posted : October 12, 2016 2:41 pm
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Judge allows SeaWorld shareholder lawsuit to proceed
Investors claim company misled them about "Blackfish effect"
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/judge-allows-seaworld-shareholder-lawsuit-to-proceed
Posted : October 12, 2016 2:45 pm
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As marine parks scale back, dolphin exhibit opens in Arizona
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 19:34 GMT, 14 October 2016
Posted : October 15, 2016 4:28 pm
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Whale Sanctuary Project eyes Nova Scotia to house freed dolphins and whales
By Ravi Mandalia - October 15, 2016
Posted : October 16, 2016 12:42 pm
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Dolphin Forced To Live In Tank So Dirty It's Black
By Elizabeth Claire AlbertsOct. 14, 2016
See video on link:
https://www.thedodo.com/dolphin-albino-taiji-japan-dirty-tank-2046782234.html
Two years, eight months and 26 days. That's how long Angel, a rare albino bottlenose dolphin, has been kept in captivity. When you see how dirty her tank is, it's amazing that she's still alive.
Angel lives in deplorable conditions at the Taiji Whale Museum in Taiji, Japan. Her tiny, oval-shaped tank is just 20 feet deep, and 30 by 40 feet wide. And it's absolutely filthy.
"Yes, it is as bad as it looks," Captain Jessie Treverton of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has been monitoring Angel's condition, told The Dodo. "The photos and video show the black sides, and the bottom of the tank and the water are filthy."
Sea Shepherd has volunteers on the ground in Taiji for the 14th year to document the atrocities of the city's annual dolphin hunt. Graham Henry, a campaign coordinator for Sea Shepherd, was in Taiji last year, and said he can't believe how bad Angel's tank has become over the past 12 months.
"The tank, according to the footage I've seen this year, is definitely filthier than what I witnessed in person last year," Henry told The Dodo. "Angel and the dolphins in the same tank are in some of the worst conditions I've ever seen for captive dolphins."
As if that wasn't bad enough, the top of the tank is covered by a roof, which means that the dolphins have no access to sunlight. The dolphins also have to put up with the loud music and voiceovers constantly being piped through the loudspeakers in the so-called museum.
"This must be torturous for the dolphins' highly tuned senses," Treverton said.
Angel's tank is also filled with chlorinated water, which is known to cause eye infections and other medical issues for cetaceans. "Angel keeps her eyes shut most of the time," Treverton said. "Maybe because the water stings them."
There are currently six more dolphins in the tank with Angel — one other bottlenose dolphin, two striped dolphins and three pantropical dolphins. In a video, the dolphins swim in frantic circles, surfacing every few minutes — or even seconds — for gulps of air.
Angel was only a calf when Japanese fishermen hunted her and her family from the Pacific Ocean, driving them into the notorious killing cove in Taiji, Japan. The fishermen capture the dolphins by hitting hammers against metal poles on their boats, creating a deafening wall of sound that interrupts the dolphins' sonar and traps them.
Once the dolphins were rounded up, the prettiest ones were sold to aquariums and swim-with-dolphin programs around the world. Angel — being a rare albino dolphin — was ripped away from her mother and put on display in the Taiji Whale Museum, a "museum" that displays both dead and living cetaceans, as well as whaling paraphernalia.
The dolphins not sold into captivity were brutally murdered, right in front of their families, and sold as meat to individuals, hospitals and schools.
This isn't something that happened once — this cruel cycle of murder and captivity happens every year in Taiji, Japan, where the waters literally run red with blood during the annual hunt, which is ongoing right now.
"It's utterly heartbreaking that these dolphins are kept in these tiny tanks," Treverton said. "Never ever visit a dolphinarium or swim with dolphins.
If people stop attending, this industry will end."
Posted : October 17, 2016 11:05 am
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Dolphin exhibit near Scottsdale opens to small crowds, protests
Posted : October 17, 2016 11:16 am
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Help Retire Lonely Orca Lolita and Others Like Her to a Seaside Sanctuary
Lolita is kept in the smallest, oldest orca tank in North America and has not had contact with another orca since 1980.
Posted : October 19, 2016 2:16 pm
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Japan to face criticism at international summit for flouting whaling ruling
Japanese fleets have killed more than 300 minke whales in the Southern Ocean despite a court ruling and three-decade-old ban
Posted : October 20, 2016 11:06 am
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BROOME MUST END ITS SISTER RELATIONSHIP WITH TAIJI
26 SEPTEMBER, 2016 BLOGDOLPHIN HUNTINGJAPAN
In 2009, Ric O’Barry visited Broome in Australia to lobby the council to suspend its sister relationship with Taiji, Japan over the dolphin drives hunts. Following a special screening of the film, ‘The Cove’, the Broome Shire Council agreed. Just two months later, the council reversed its decision. Choosing to capitulate to its large, local, Japanese community, Broome retracted its pledge and issued a full apology to Taiji town.
Once again, the Dolphin Project is urging Broome to stop condoning the slaughter and to take a stance against this cruel and unnecessary assault on wildlife.
In 13 years (2000-2013), a total of 19,092 small cetaceans were victims of the dolphin drives in Taiji, Japan. This included 17,686 slaughtered dolphins and 1,406 live-captures. Last season alone, 902 dolphins were driven into the cove. More than two-thirds were slaughtered and 117 were earmarked for the captive display industry — [Source: Ceta-Base.org].
More....
https://dolphinproject.net/blog/post/broome-must-end-its-sister-relationship-with-taiji/
Posted : October 20, 2016 7:27 pm
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In Defense of Animals
Posted : October 21, 2016 9:44 pm
