AR-News: (US FL) Marine life pays price to entertain public at parks, aquariums

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

Naples Daily News
By Associated Press
May 17, 2004 
FORT LAUDERDALE — Four decades ago, hunters off the coast of Washington found 
a perfect young killer whale specimen swimming with its mother. They fired a 
harpoon, hoping to attach a buoy to the bigger animal that would make trailing 
them easier. But the spear went in deep and the mother whale drowned. 
The crew made a deal for the young whale with SeaWorld. The company today 
says it did not know about the capture. But it did calculate correctly that 
crowds would come to its San Diego park for the chance to see a killer whale, 
eventually named Shamu, up close. 
The modern marine park industry began with the death of Shamu's mother. Since 
then, the splashing stars have delighted millions. In the United States 
alone, more than 50 million people visit marine attractions, spending more than $1 
billion a year. That entertainment has come at a continuing price to animals. 
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, in a nine-month investigation, examined the 
history and records of the industry, including more than 30 years' worth of 
federal documents on 7,121 marine animals the government collected but never 
analyzed. The newspaper found: 
— More than 3,850 sea lions, seals, dolphins and whales have died under human 
care, many of them young. Of nearly 3,000 whose ages could be determined, a 
quarter died before they reached 1 and half by age 7. Eighty three percent of 
bottlenose dolphins that died never reached 20, which is the industry's 
projection of their life expectancy for Flipper's species. 

full story:
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/florida/article/0,2071,NPDN_14910_2890964,00.ht
ml 


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    "The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those 
rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of
tyranny. - Jeremy Bentham 1748 - 1832 
The question is not can they REASON, nor can they TALK, but can they SUFFER?" 
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