Earth day dolphin presentation draws crowds
(l-r) Dr Naomi Rose, Tanya Streeter and Diane
McCauley all gave presentations at the Earth Day
presentations objecting to dolphins in captivity at the
John A Cumber Primary School last Thursday
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Approximately 80
people turned out for the Earth Day presentation about dolphins in captivity
last Thursday at the John A Cumber School Hall.
Caymanian-born, world record-breaking freediver and dolphin advocate, Tanya
Streeter, gave a presentation, as did Dr Naomi Rose of the Humane Society of the
United States and Diana McCauley, CEO of the Jamaican Environmental Trust.
“People don’t realize what goes on behind the scenes with dolphins,” said Ms
Streeter who shared her knowledge about dolphins in the wild and spoke of her
concerns about the Cayman Islands losing its status as an environmentally
destination. Ms Streeter added, “Having dolphins in captivity in the Cayman
Islands completely contradicts what we have spent basically our entire lifespan
as a tourist destination investing in, it is the most archaic and regressive
thing to do.”
Dr Rose drew on her 20 years of dolphin and scientific experience to explain
why she believed that the message that was being given by those behind the
dolphins in captivity programme for the Cayman Islands was deeply flawed. “The
dolphin issue is not all about opinion,” she said. “There are some very
significant facts that get overlooked time and time again, namely that dolphins
die while being transported and in captivity.”
Ms McCauley gave her experience of what has happened in Jamaica since two
dolphin facilities opened four years ago. “Five dolphins have died from
captivity-related illnesses including, a stress related ulcer, suspected
hepatitis, suspected contaminated food, and mastitis,” she said.
One of the organisers of the event, Billy Adam, said the purpose of the
evening was to educate people so that they could make up their own mind on the
matter.
One attendee, Maureen Powers said, “I want to find out what is going on with
wildlife in Cayman. I’m pretty informed on the issue and was very involved with
the Save the Whales and Dolphins programmes in Vancouver.”
Although not actively involved in any programme, Kathy Parks believes that
dolphins in captivity is unhealthy, “I hope it can be stopped, but I don’t know
if it can. The government kind of does their own thing here.”
Going against the main body of thought, Edroy Hydes believes that having a
dolphin attraction will be a good thing for tourism, “I came along tonight to
learn more, but personally I think it’s a good thing to have another attraction
for tourists. I was in Cuba a couple of years back and visited a dolphin
attraction, and it was so popular. If Cuba opens up to (American) tourism, there
is going to be a lot of competition. We need to think ahead,” he said.
Believing in the strength of people power, Alexandra Bone said, “I am totally
against animals in cages. I hope that it can be stopped. If enough people turn
out, I think there is a chance.
Rod McDowall from the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) also spoke
and said in the past year, the department in charge of marine tourism had voted
twice against the dolphin facility. When restaurant, hotels and transportation
industry representatives voted the results were 50:50, but Mr McDowall said that
many of these voters were undecided and he believed that this was where
campaigning energies should be directed.
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