It is disheartening to note that over the past two months, forty-eight dolphins of all ages have been found dead on the beaches of the northern Gulf of Mexico, from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle. Tragically, twenty-nine of these were fetal-size calves, which compares to two of these 'unusual mortality' events during an entire normal year.
State and federal officials and marine scientists have been quick to point out it is too soon to link this tragic occurrence to the BP oil spill. It is appropriate that they should take such an objective approach, and indeed it may be nothing more than a simple coincidence...just like the purported link between cigarettes and cancer, cell phones and brain tumors, crack cocaine and crime, CEO salaries and employee layoffs and a host of other connections that industry mouthpieces continue to deny. That said, sadly there is nothing we can do about it. The oil residue and toxins are out there in those once lovely waters where they will remain for years, and possibly decades, to come.
Meanwhile, BP's profits in the 4th Quarter of 2010 jumped by 30% and the London-based company has announced that it is resuming dividend payouts again for the first time since the oil spill. And while corporate executives and BP shareholders celebrate, baby dolphins will continue to die...
Friday, February 25, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Plus que ça change...
Plus que ça change, plus que c'est la même chose - the more things change the more they stay the same.
Hi there...I'm back. It's been nearly nine months since I last posted on this blog but I have decided to start again. My love of whales and dolphins, and my anger and sadness at the way we treat them, has brought me back to speak out on their behalf.
Sadly,a quick survey of the headlines shows me that very little has changed since I left, to wit:
SeaWorld continues to deny that keeping Orcas trapped in tiny concrete tanks is cruel and unusual punishment, and the root cause of numerous attacks on trainers that have occurred there and elsewhere over the years; and now they are seeking to have a Federal judge seal forever from the public eye the testimony of experts in the investigation of the fatal attack that occurred one year ago this week in Orlando. If they are so sure of their position, what are they afraid of?
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is taking credit for the Japanese cutting short this year's whaling operations in the Southern Ocean, as perhaps they should. However, if anyone thinks that this is the end of whaling by the Japanese they are sadly mistaken. It was never about the whale meat. It is about what they see as an assault on their culture and they will be back. Count on it...
Some blue crab fisherman in Florida butchered the carcass of a Pygmy Sperm Whale that washed ashore. He said he planned to eat it. Perhaps if there is reincarnation, he will come back as a sea lion pup in South Africa's Shark Ally when the Great Whites are feeding...
An aquarium in Hong Kong plans to capture up to a dozen Beluga Whales and doom them to a life of captivity in what the CEO of the park claims is an effort to build public support for the conservation of these magnificent creatures...Wait! What? Run that by me again.You're doing this to save the Beluga...why not start by saving these twelve?
I could go on but that's enough for now. You catch my drift. Whales and dolphins keep struggling to survive in the face of human stupidity, greed, and worst of all, simple apathy. We can't do much about the first two, but along with others who care, this blog will attempt to address the latter.
See you next time....
Hi there...I'm back. It's been nearly nine months since I last posted on this blog but I have decided to start again. My love of whales and dolphins, and my anger and sadness at the way we treat them, has brought me back to speak out on their behalf.
Sadly,a quick survey of the headlines shows me that very little has changed since I left, to wit:
SeaWorld continues to deny that keeping Orcas trapped in tiny concrete tanks is cruel and unusual punishment, and the root cause of numerous attacks on trainers that have occurred there and elsewhere over the years; and now they are seeking to have a Federal judge seal forever from the public eye the testimony of experts in the investigation of the fatal attack that occurred one year ago this week in Orlando. If they are so sure of their position, what are they afraid of?
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is taking credit for the Japanese cutting short this year's whaling operations in the Southern Ocean, as perhaps they should. However, if anyone thinks that this is the end of whaling by the Japanese they are sadly mistaken. It was never about the whale meat. It is about what they see as an assault on their culture and they will be back. Count on it...
Some blue crab fisherman in Florida butchered the carcass of a Pygmy Sperm Whale that washed ashore. He said he planned to eat it. Perhaps if there is reincarnation, he will come back as a sea lion pup in South Africa's Shark Ally when the Great Whites are feeding...
An aquarium in Hong Kong plans to capture up to a dozen Beluga Whales and doom them to a life of captivity in what the CEO of the park claims is an effort to build public support for the conservation of these magnificent creatures...Wait! What? Run that by me again.You're doing this to save the Beluga...why not start by saving these twelve?
I could go on but that's enough for now. You catch my drift. Whales and dolphins keep struggling to survive in the face of human stupidity, greed, and worst of all, simple apathy. We can't do much about the first two, but along with others who care, this blog will attempt to address the latter.
See you next time....
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