From: jester@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jonathan Esterhazy)
Subject: Re: PETA Action Line 1
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Distribution: global
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 19:41:26 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.203830.2191@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, chrstie@ccu.umanitoba.ca (William John M. Christie) writes:
> 
> In <9208251455.AA20016@super.super.org> wheeler@SUPER.ORG (Ferrell S. Wheeler) writes:
> 
> 
> >From ar-news-request@Think.COM Fri Aug 21 23:29:39 1992
> >Received: from mail.think.com by super.super.org (4.1/SMI-4.1)
> >	id AA03924; Fri, 21 Aug 92 23:29:37 EDT
> >Return-Path: <ar-news-request@Think.COM>
> >Received: by mail.think.com; Fri, 21 Aug 92 23:17:13 -0400
> >Date: 21 Aug 92 23:11:47 EDT
> >From: Debbie Leahy <76357.1070@CompuServe.COM>
> >To: <ar-news@Think.COM>
> >Subject: PETA Action Line
> >Message-Id: <920822031146_76357.1070_EHA22-1@CompuServe.COM>
> >Sender: ar-news-request@Think.COM
> >Status: R
> 
> >>From the PETA Action Line - (301)770-8980:
> > 
> >+ A barbaric drama unfolded this past weekend in Manitoba, Canada as
> >activists battled a team of whale catchers hired by the Shedd Aquarium in
> >Chicago.  Caught in the act of berthing, a pod of Beluga whales were
> >surrounded, as members of a capture team tore individual whales away from
> >their close knit families in an attempt to imprison them for the
> >entertainment of Shedd Aquarium patrons. Many of the whales had to be
> >released after capture due to the extreme stress of the event. Activists
> >were set upon by those involved in the capture as the media watched. The
> >Shedd aquarium has no mercy and continues to steal animals from the wild, no
> >matter how barbaric, cruel, or embarrassing the procedure may be. Please
> >call and write to the aquarium and let them know how strongly you oppose
> >capture and confinement.  Call (312) 939-2438 and write to:
> 
> For the record:
> Six belugas were captured in all.  Two were released due to virus' that were
> considered detrimental to the other four that were going to be used in the
> aquariam.  No whales were reported stressed by the event according to the
> Winnipeg Free Press.  Activists up there were apparently harrased only by
> locals after having harrassing the locals in the first place.  Information
> is from the local newspaper and available to the public.
> -- 
> ==========================================================================
>   Any opinions expressed above are usually made with some thought which   
>   is my own and is not intended to represent the University in any way.
> ==========================================================================
> 
> 
Actually, a much larger, unknown number of belugas were captured. The
Winnipeg Free Press lies. The number six refers to the number of whales
which were actually removed from the water and placed in a temporary
holding tank. For each whale that makes it to the holding tank, any
number of whales may have been roped, mauled, and determined unsuitable
in the water. On the last day of the hunt for instance, the capture
team roped and sexed four whales, males all, before finally capturing
the female they were after.

As for stress, I haven't a clue what the Shedd Aquarium or the Winnipeg
Free Press means when they say that "no whales" were stressed. Being
held with four or five other whales in a rusty 15 foot square tank
for almost a week sounds pretty stressful to me, so I feel safe in
assuming that the six whales which actually spent time in the tanks
were "stressed."

I'd also feel pretty safe saying that the perhaps 30 whales who were
jumped on, tied up, and given a cursory examination in the water before
being rejected must have been stressed. How about the whale who was
"ridden" by Chicago JUDGE DEAN TREFALET. (He called it "one of the most
exhilarating experiences" of his life, and compared it to hunting
leopards. What a card.)

How also about the rest of the whales in each captured beluga's pods?
Belugas have very sophisticated social relationships. Loosing a pod
member is surely stressful.

How about every other beluga whale in the Churchill river estuary? Why
do the beluga tour operators in Churchill describe the whales as
"skittish" or "shy" for a few weeks after a capture?

Honestly. Don't believe everything you read in the papers. The Free
Press was simply quoting Betsy Raymond and Lisa Elkuss, the Shedd
Aquarium's public realtions staffers. No kidding they'll tell you that
the whales weren't stressed. I saw those whales in the tank, and 
saw how they behaved in the bay after the captures. I also heard the
way they "vocalised" (read: "screamed") when they were being dragged
around in slings. I know stressed when I see/hear it.

--------------------------------------------
jester@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Jonathan Esterhazy)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.animals