It’s been nearly 9 years since The Cove brought the story of dolphin massacres in Taiji, Japan, and the issue of captive cetaceans before the eyes of millions of people around the world. The film shows viewers the images of fishers corralling dozens of thrashing and squealing dolphins into nets set up in Japan’s sheltered […]
The orangutan is one of our planet’s most distinctive and intelligent creatures. It has been observed using primitive tools, such as the branch of a tree, to hunt food, and is capable of complex social behaviour. Orangutans also played a special role in humanity’s own intellectual history when, in the 19th century, Charles Darwin and […]
We all know the type—pushy people who elbow their way to the front of the line or cut in on us when we are driving. And then there are those who have less assertive personalities, and happily defer to others. Animals show similar behavioral variety, according to biologist John Shivik. In his new book Mousy […]
The Trump administration’s plan to shrink four land-based national monuments has provoked howls of anguish from environmental groups, Native American tribes and some businesses, such as the outdoors company Patagonia. Accompanying changes to protected monuments in the oceans – vastly larger areas than their land-based counterparts – have received less attention, but could have major […]
Beloved game show host and animal advocate Bob Barker has a brilliant suggestion for the Miami Seaquarum’s New Year’s resolution – let Lolita, the marine park’s lone orca, go home in 2018. Barker partnered up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to make a video calling on the Miami Seaquarium to release […]
Normally when an animal is scared, it either remains very still and slows its heart rate and metabolism in hope that danger will pass—like a possum playing dead, in an extreme case—or the body revs up to power a “fight or flight” response. But when narwhals get caught in fishing nets, surprisingly, they do both. […]
Earlier this year the Georgia Aquarium announced that its beluga Qinu was pregnant with her first calf, and last week she started going into labor. Tragically, just a day later the aquarium followed up with news that the calf had died before even being born. The Georgia Aquarium said in an update, “The position and […]
For many years, advocates have voiced their concerns about the welfare of the captive animals at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In November 2016, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) filed five animal cruelty charges against Marineland in regard to the theme park’s failure to provide prescribed standards of care […]
Even before construction began on the swim-with-the-dolphins tourist attraction Dolphinaris Arizona, animal advocates were concerned that it was a bad idea. More than 172,000 people have signed a Care2 petition urging the Dolphinaris company not to open the marine park in Scottsdale, where triple-digit summer temperatures can climb over 120 degrees. As the nonprofit Animal […]
Animal advocates have been fighting for years to free Lolita, a lone orca at the Miami Seaquarium, and now they’re getting some additional support from city officials. Lolita was once a wild and free member of the southern resident killer whales who live in the Pacific Northwest, but she was taken for public display in […]
The death toll at SeaWorld continues to grow with the loss of another orca who battled chronic health issues. But it isn’t the whale’s death that’s the real tragedy — it’s the life she was forced to live. SeaWorld made the announcement that Kasatka, the park’s matriarch, was euthanized in San Diego this week. According […]
Mexico City has just banned keeping dolphins in captivity, and advocates are hoping the rest of the country will soon follow in putting an end to dolphin confinement and exploitation. The Mexico City Congress, which recognized that dolphins are sentient beings who suffer in captivity, just passed a law that bans the use of dolphins […]
In another tragedy for captive belugas, a newborn calf has died mysteriously at SeaWorld Orlando. Earlier this year, SeaWorld confirmed that Whisper, a 17-year-old beluga who has been in Orlando since 2010, was expecting and due to give birth this summer. Unfortunately, the newborn didn’t survive long after birth. SeaWorld wrote in an update, “Unfortunately […]
