Help Spare Beluga Whales a Lifetime of Confinement
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BACKGROUND
The Georgia Aquarium has applied for a permit to import 18 wild-caught beluga whales from Russia as part of an initiative to breed them for exhibition at aquariums and marine parks across the country. Beluga whales are sensitive marine mammals with complex physical and psychological needs. Shipping them like cargo across the world only to confine them to an aquarium for the rest of their lives is cruel and unjustifiable. Because importing these animals is such a controversial move, there is a public comment period for the next 60 days, and we need your voice to make sure that the whales stay put!
People are captivated by beluga whales, but when confined to aquariums, these fascinating marine mammals continue to live in misery long after visitors return home with their pictures and memories. Most captive whales die prematurely and live to only half the age of their wild brothers and sisters. In the wild, whales swim together with their families for miles a day. They navigate by bouncing sonar waves off objects to determine location and distance. In captivity, their ocean worlds are reduced to claustrophobic swimming pools, and they suffer in frustration as they are forced to swim in endless circles, their natural instincts thwarted by the small tanks.
Breeding programs for beluga whales have been unsuccessful despite more than 50 years of trying. We need to stop this, not subject more animals to lives of misery in captivity and a premature death. Transporting 18 wild-caught beluga whales from Russia to the United States would be a painful and noisy experience for the animals, and it would put their health and well-being at risk.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please contact the National Marine Fisheries Service HERE and let officials know why they should deny the Georgia Aquarium a permit to import more than a dozen beluga whales. Suggested text is below. These intelligent animals deserve more than to be torn away from their home and families and treated as moneymaking breeding machines.
You are only required to input your first and last name. No other completion of fields is required.
SUGGESTED SUBJECT
Please Do Not Approve Georgia Aquarium’s Permit
SAMPLE LETTER
I am writing to ask that you deny the Georgia Aquarium a permit to import 18 wild-caught beluga whales from Russia for captive breeding and exhibition at marine parks and aquariums. Beluga breeding programs in the United States have been largely unsuccessful, and there is no compelling evidence that these programs create interest in, educate visitors on, or change people’s attitudes about conservation. Beluga whales have distinct personalities and form strong familial bonds, and when confined to aquarium tanks, their natural instincts are thwarted. Instead of swimming for miles a day with their families, these complex and intelligent animals are reduced to swimming in endless circles in barren tanks and performing silly stunts for aquarium patrons.
Aquariums are a stifling environment for beluga whales compared to the vast open ocean. Captive whales live half as long as their counterparts in the wild. Please give these animals a chance at a normal, fulfilling life by refusing to allow the Georgia Aquarium to import them for breeding purposes—which have proved to be unsuccessful in a stressful captive atmosphere. These unique animals deserve much more than to be treated as moneymaking commodities.
Thank you for your consideration.
belugaland
we swim the seas
our belugaland.
we raise our families
we make our stand,
our icy world,
is paradise.
people leave us
alone.
that would
be nice.
we just want to
hunt and play,
to live our lives
the belugaway
we are not cute
objects.
we are living whales,
so when you are in
the arctic,
just say hello
then set sail
Karen Lyons Kalmenson
Our Compass 
Hi! Stacy,
This is from Peta.org
Cats Tormented and Killed in University Lab
http://www.peta.org/features/uw-madison-cruelty.aspx?utm_campaign=0912%20UW%20Cat%20Vivisection%20Feature&utm_source=PETA%20E-Mail&utm_medium=E-News&c=ptwit
I d send it to Judy L to give to you but she a way till Saturday I guess,
I thought maybe you could make a blog.
Isa ox
”I slept and dreamed that life was all joy. I woke and saw that life was but service. I served and understood that service was joy.” ~Tagore
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
“When the last tree has withered, when the last fish has been caught, and when the last river has been poisoned, Mankind will know that he can not eat money.” Old Cree Prophecy
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Thank you so much, sweetie, I will most definitely post that!
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belugaland
we swim the seas
our belugaland.
we raise our families
we make our stand,
our icy world,
is paradise.
people leave us
alone.
that would
be nice.
we just want to
hunt and play,
to live our lives
the belugaway
we are not cute
objects.
we are living whales,
so when you are in
the arctic,
just say hello
then set s
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POEM CORRECTION:
]belugaland
we swim the seas
our belugaland.
we raise our families
we make our stand,
our icy world,
is paradise.
people leave us
alone.
that would
be nice.
we just want to
hunt and play,
to live our lives
the belugaway
we are not cute
objects.
we are living whales,
so when you are in
the arctic,
just say hello
then set sail
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Reblogged this on STOP ANIMAL ABUSE and commented:
These intelligent animals deserve more than to be torn away from their home and families and treated as moneymaking breeding machines. Please contact National Marine Fisheries Service & say NO to captivity!!!
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Thank you so much, hon!
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DONE AND PLACES THANKS sTACEY
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Thank you so much, sweetie!
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WHAT MAKE ME SICK IS THAT MAN THINKS THEY CAN TAKE ANY ANIMAL ON THE EARTH-IN THE SEA-AND IN THE SKY AND DO WITH THEM ANYTHING THEY WANT TO. THEY HAVE YET TO LEARN THAT ANIMALS BELONG TO THE CREATOR OF LIFE AND THAT EVERY ACTION THATS COMMITTED TO ANIMALS WILL GET A REACTION.! AT SOME POINT THEY WILL REALIZE BUT WHEN I DO NOT KNOW !! WHAT FOOLS THEY ARE AND THEY ARE BLIND TO IT !!
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Thank you as always, Linda.
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Reblogged this on delia1979.
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Thank you, sweetie.
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🙂
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Belgua whales in human care educate the public and in return helps fund research programs that benefit the species overall.
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Reblogged this on Going Vegan in a Non-Vegan World and commented:
Please take a moment to speak up for these amazing animals. What if your life was reduced from all you love and know to living in a storage unit?
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Rebloggged on going-vegan.net.
While I understand Beluga Whale Lover’s comment I don’t believe that forcing these animals to live like this is justification or the only way to raise money to benefit other species. I’m sure that if I agreed to have some research lab confine and experiement on me while forcing me to entertain others might have some benefit to humans I’m not willing to give up my life to do it. And I’m not willing to support another living creature being forced to do it either.
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I submitted my comment as I do not agree with whales in captivity.
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