GreenWatch

B. McPherson Killer whales herd and kill white-sided dolphins Monday a pod of transient Killer Whales demonstrated to the public how they got their name. Ferry passengers leaving Departure Bay in Nanaimo witnessed a large pod of the orcas herding a large group of dolphins into shallow water. They then proceeded to slaughter them. Amateur video footage showed the killer whales leaping into the air and diving. The dolphins were fleeing as best they could. As the scene was being filmed ferry passengers were heard laughing and expressing awe at the movements of the orcas. They probably had no idea what was really happening. Most people on the coast know only our resident population of orcas. These whales depend on salmon for their diet. They are not usually interested in eating seals or dolphins. There is another population of killer whales that pass through Georgia Strait periodically. They hunt marine mammals. As efforts to return the Strait to health have begun to p...

B. McPherson This kind of entertainment belongs with bear baiting and bull fighting In a bold move, the Minister of Environment and Forests has issued an edict to ban the captivity of dolphins for public entertainment. It labels the keeping of cetaceans for entertainment as “morally unacceptable” and that they should be considered as non-human persons. In a policy statement released Friday, the ministry advised state governments to reject any proposal to establish a dolphinarium “by any person / persons, organizations, government agencies, private or public enterprises that involves import, capture of cetacean species to establish for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition and interaction purposes whatsoever.” Environmental News Service Many of the dolphins trapped in Japan at the infamous Cove are not killed, but captured live to sell to dolphinaria. The life of these intelligent, social creatures is often short and beset with constant stress. For...