After years of delays, animal advocates are again hopeful that Canadian lawmakers will move to pass legislation banning whale and dolphin captivity. The legislation, Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act (S-203), would effectively phase out captivity by banning captive breeding, imports, exports and live captures of all whales, dolphins and porpoises in Canada, […]
Tag: dolphins

Canada Will Ban Capturing Whales and Dolphins
Animal advocates and conservationists are applauding the government of Canada for introducing a measure that will ban the capture of whales and dolphins for captivity. The measure is included in an overhaul of the Fisheries Act aimed at restoring protections for fish and their habitat. The measure will allow the minister of fisheries to make […]

POLL: Should the dolphinarium project in Arizona be stopped?
A plan to transport a group of dolphins to the Arizona desert so tourists can pay to frolic with them has come under fire from animal welfare activists who claim the attraction will be harmful to people as well as the dolphins. More than 100,000 people have signed a petition against a plan for a […]

POLL: Should captive dolphins be released into the wild?
On a recent March day, researcher Mi Yeon Kim was watching a pod of about 55 dolphins off the South Korean island of Jeju when she noticed a female dolphin with a small calf. This wasn’t just any calf, nor was its mother just any dolphin. The mother’s markings and fins confirmed to Kim and […]

Swim with dolphins, then eat them in a cafe? Give the poor creatures a break
It’s the most barbarous bit of mixed messaging since the Icelandic whaler Kristjam Loftsson declared he was making his whaling operation “eco-friendly” by running his ships on – whale oil. The Japanese town of Taiji, site of the annual slaughter of thousands of cetaceans as featured in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, has declared its […]

A Deaf Whale is a Dead Whale: Keep the Atlantic Free of Seismic Testing
According to government estimates, 138,500 whales and dolphins will soon be injured and possibly killed along the East Coast if exploration companies are allowed to use dangerous blasts of noise to search for offshore oil and gas. These loud blasts are used on a recurring basis, going off every ten seconds, for 24 hours a […]

The Taiji Dolphin Slaughter (with graphic videoclip!)
The dolphin drive hunt in Taiji, Japan has been at the center of animal activism for many years and now it has finally come to the center of science. The dolphin drive in Taiji involves the corralling of dolphins into a cove for slaughter or to be removed and then sold to representatives from marine […]

Grins and Fins: Meet the Sociable False Killer Whale
American photographer Doug Perrine, 60, captured this priceless image of a false killer whale mid-grin off the coast of Kona, Hawaii. Less commonly known than the killer whale (or orca), the false killer whale is the third largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. Growing to 1,500 pounds and up to 20 feet long, the […]