Captive Cetaceans: A Handbook for Campaigners - Whale and ...

Larry McInerney, who constructed the underwater material and removed the body,
finally laid the rumour to rest. McInerney said that Miracle died after pulling a piece
of rope tied between two chain-link nets and a cargo net, until some of the chain link
began to unravel. "She went through the hole and got caught in the cargo net and
drowned. It was a fault that nobody at Sealand foresaw. Miracle was known to put
small holes in the net" (cited in Dadyno, 1992).
When the Shedd Aquarium moved three Pacific white-sided dolphins from San Diego
to Chicago, the early morning transfer was accompanied by more than nine police
escorts, including helicopters and canine units. To divert attention from the highlypublicised
and critised capture, Debra Fassnact, a spokeswoman for the aquarium,
claimed that a bomb threat was received by the make-shift temporary holding facility
in San Diego, although allegations were never confirmed (cited in Flynn, 1993;
Goodwin, 1993).
The future...
In mid-1995, IMATA announced the Alliance's "new" proposal for media
representation, "developing a comprehensive and pro-active public relations plan for
1996, in an attempt to communicate and reinforce a positive image to the public at
large" (Messinger, 1995). The primary focal points include:
1. "Trainers, and the facilities in which they work, care deeply about their marine
mammals and provide excellent care for them."
Response: This point remains moot since those opposing cetacean confinement have
never suggested otherwise.
2. "Public display is essential to public awareness and, therefore, the conservation of
marine mammals on a global scale."
Response: This major point can and must be questioned openly as the basis granting
the very existence of marine parks. Serious concerns must be aired in the public
arena, in a manner which does not threaten to close every zoo and marine park.
Instead, we should focus upon halting future captures, imports and exports of
cetaceans, and force facilities to be fully accountable for those animals currently
maintained.
3. "Those working in the public display community are the experts, not those who
criticise us."
Response: The repetitive rhetoric of self-proclaimed experts must not go
unchallenged! Few marine park administrators have scientific backgrounds, although
research associates may be employed. Numerous credible scientists, experienced in
various fields of marine mammology and marine mammal research must be
encouraged to speak out against the billion-dollar marine park industry.
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