Canadian House of Commons votes to ban keeping or breeding whales and dolphins in captivity.

[The Romulan Republic]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politic ... captivity/

Whales and dolphins can no longer be bred or kept in captivity under new legislation that was passed in the House of Commons Monday.

The legislation, dubbed the “Free Willy” bill by its proponents, marks a new era in animal-rights law. For the first time, Canadians can be found guilty for possession of marine mammals – not just for poor treatment.

Barbara Cartwright, the CEO of Humane Canada, an animal-welfare group, said the bill is a watershed moment for Canadians, who she said are visiting institutions that host captive whales and dolphins far less than in the past.

“This legislation heralds a change in how Canadians are thinking,” Ms. Cartwright said.

The bill began its journey through the legislative process in 2015, when then-Liberal senator Wilfred Moore, the original sponsor, presented it as a private member’s bill in the Senate.

Mr. Moore said the bill was a result of encouragement from his son after the two watched Blackfish, a documentary about captive killer whales.

“[My son] said, ‘Dad, can you do something about that?’ And I thought ‘Well, I can try,’ ” Mr. Moore said.

The bill includes a grandfather clause that will allow marine institutions to keep mammals that were born or conceived before the legislation was passed. Currently, Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ont., and the Vancouver Aquarium are the only institutions in Canada that host cetaceans, the scientific term for whales, dolphins and porpoises.

The bill also prohibits the import and export of marine mammals in Canada, except for scientific research or for the “best interest” of the mammal.

Marineland said in a statement Monday that the bill affirms that having cetaceans living at Marineland doesn’t amount to cruelty.

Marineland also said the legislation amends the Criminal Code to include exemptions, which clarifies its role as a caretaker for the cetaceans currently residing at the facility.

The Vancouver Aquarium last year announced its commitment to divesting itself of its marine mammals.

At a press conference after the bill’s passing, Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, an advocacy organization for animal protection, said there needs to be a discussion about what “best interest” means. Ms. Labchuk also said that Marineland and the Vancouver Aquarium must seek additional permits for any mammals that haven’t been shipped already, despite pre-existing permits.

Ms. Cartwright said she hopes any cetaceans that remain in captivity under the grandfather clause are eventually sent to sanctuaries.

The bill has already passed the Senate and is awaiting royal assent before it becomes law.

Three other pieces of legislation currently before Parliament deal with the treatment of animals; they deal with banning shark fin imports; sexual assault and all forms of animal fighting; and cosmetic testing on animals.

“It’s certainly an exciting time and these bills have important measures that are going to put Canada into a leadership position when it comes to animal-welfare legislation,” Ms. Cartwright said.

My aunt's a big whale rights activist, so she'll probably be thrilled by this. Considering the intelligence that whales and dolphins are known to possess, I can't disagree- it can easily be argued that holding them in captivity is essentially slavery.

Its just a shame that their survival in the wild is still so much in question.

[Solauren]

The question is, how would this apply to breeding programs designed to shore up their numbers?

I

[Jub]

Given that Canada only has two facilities that house whales and dolphins and that they're across the nation from one another I'd say the impact on conservation-minded breeding will be negligible. The fact is, given the space needed to house them and the fact that not all species can even be brought into manmade pools breeding whales to save them is unlikely to be successful anyway. Even elephants, rhinos, and pandas are easier to house and breed than whales and dolphins.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I haven't read about the legislation in detail, but from what I've gathered through casual online searching is that it does contain specific exemptions for rehabilitation and conservation, not to mention grandfathering in animals that are currently in captivity. I think there are questions over the precise way these will be regulated and approved, but it seems as if they are primarily interested in eliminating recreational or otherwise unnecessary captivity.

[Broomstick]

The question is, how would this apply to breeding programs designed to shore up their numbers?

Two major problems with holding cetaceans in captivity for breeding purposes:

1) Cetaceans require a learning period to gain the knowledge of where to hunt and how to hunt. Cetacean, especially the dolphins and orcas, employ a variety of strategies to hunt their food, including some that require group cooperation. This knowledge is passed from adults to growing offspring in the wild.

2) There is no way the varied ocean environments and situations can be reproduced on land, so there is no way to teach captives what they need to know to live free in the ocean.

Breeding captive cetaceans to repopulate the oceans is, at best, a sad joke and a delusion.

Captive cetaceans become adept at surviving in captivity, including learning how to obtain food from bipedal land animals in the vicinity. They do not learn how to hunt in the wild. So far as I know, there has never been a successful return to the wild of a once-captive cetacean, the exceptions being injured/sick animals that are briefly held and returned to the sea, and even there survival is chancy because they need to be reunited with a group of their own species. And such groups often do not accept outsiders.

Even if captivity is cruel to cetaceans, simply dumping them into the oceans would be even more cruel, and we simply don't know how to give captives the knowledge to survive in the wild. The animals currently held need to be kepy as comfortable as possible for the remainder of their lives. But I don't think we can justify adding new ones to captivity going forward.

[The Romulan Republic]

The question is, how would this apply to breeding programs designed to shore up their numbers?

Two major problems with holding cetaceans in captivity for breeding purposes:

1) Cetaceans require a learning period to gain the knowledge of where to hunt and how to hunt. Cetacean, especially the dolphins and orcas, employ a variety of strategies to hunt their food, including some that require group cooperation. This knowledge is passed from adults to growing offspring in the wild.

2) There is no way the varied ocean environments and situations can be reproduced on land, so there is no way to teach captives what they need to know to live free in the ocean.

Breeding captive cetaceans to repopulate the oceans is, at best, a sad joke and a delusion.

Captive cetaceans become adept at surviving in captivity, including learning how to obtain food from bipedal land animals in the vicinity. They do not learn how to hunt in the wild. So far as I know, there has never been a successful return to the wild of a once-captive cetacean, the exceptions being injured/sick animals that are briefly held and returned to the sea, and even there survival is chancy because they need to be reunited with a group of their own species. And such groups often do not accept outsiders.

Even if captivity is cruel to cetaceans, simply dumping them into the oceans would be even more cruel, and we simply don't know how to give captives the knowledge to survive in the wild. The animals currently held need to be kepy as comfortable as possible for the remainder of their lives. But I don't think we can justify adding new ones to captivity going forward.

One idea that's been bandied about here on the west coast is having a large bay that's walled off as a semi-natural habitat for freed orcas.

[Zaune]

Considering the intelligence that whales and dolphins are known to possess, I can't disagree- it can easily be argued that holding them in captivity is essentially slavery.

Does that mean there's a loophole by which sea-life parks can keep their performing dolphins as long as they're getting pay and benefits?

[Solauren]

In order to pay the Dolphins, they'd have to have social security numbers. They have no way to apply for them, and I doubt you could say the facility as power of proxy.