Coalition For No Whales in Captivity 1

1
Coalition For No Whales in Captivity

• Complaint to the Vancouver Park Board of a
  violation of the Parks Control Bylaw regarding
  Cetaceans
•  
• Presentation to the Planning Committee of
• the Vancouver Park Board
• by Denis Howarth
• on behalf of the Coalition For No Whales in
  Captivity
• June 6, 2006

2
Parks Control Bylaw section 9(e)

• In 1996 the Vancouver Park Board, responding to
  the ethical principles of the community, enacted
  a bylaw intended to phase out the further
  introduction and imprisonment of cetacean mammals
  in Vancouver parks.
• The Vancouver Aquarium is now in breach of that
  bylaw, and it is the duty of the Park Board to
  prosecute.

3
Parks Control Bylaw section 9(e)

• 9. (e) No person shall bring into any park or
  keep or otherwise maintain in any park any
  aquatic mammal of the Cetacean order including,
  but not limited to, baleen whales, narwhals,
  dolphins, porpoises, killer whales and beluga
  whales, which has been captured or otherwise
  taken from its natural wild habitat, except that
  this prohibition shall not apply to
• captive cetaceans caught from the wild prior to
  September 16, 1996 and cetaceans born into
  captivity at any time,
• cetaceans which are already being kept or
  maintained in a park as of September 16, 1996,
• a member of an endangered cetacean species,
  provided that approval for bringing it into a
  park has first been obtained from the Park Board,
  and
• an animal that has been captured or otherwise
  taken from its natural wild habitat for the
  purpose of rehabilitating it from injury or
  preventing its death due to stranding provided
  that its capture or taking and subsequent release
  to natural habitat is done under the jurisdiction
  and with the approval of the federal agency
  responsible and provided that the Park Board has
  been informed in as timely a manner as possible.

4
Parks Control Bylaw section 9(e)

• Summer 1996 public meetings held
• July 31, 1996 resolution to draft a bylaw
• September 30, 1996 resolution to permit
  exceptions when approved by the Park Board
• October 1996 exceptions are drafted by the
  Vancouver Aquarium itself without providing for
  such approval by the Park Board
• November 4, 1996 bylaw section 9(e) is enacted
  in the form drafted by the Aquarium

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Proposal to amend the bylaw

• July 21, 2003 report Vancouvers Dolphin
  Bylaw, presented by Coalition For No Whales in
  Captivity, proposes amendment of the bylaw
• Park Board Chair asks the Vancouver City legal
  department to present an opinion in fall 2003
• No legal opinion is presented publicly and no
  response is made to the Coalition proposal
• February 4, 2004 Coalition writes a reminder
  letter requesting such a legal opinion
• Park Board makes no response to that letter

6
Vancouver Aquarium imports dolphins

• Aquarium consistently says that it aims to
  display 6 to 7 captive dolphins
• Summer 2001 Spinnaker is imported from Osaka
  Kaiyukan Aquarium
• Summer 2005 Laverne is imported from San
  Antonio SeaWorld Aquarium
• October 12-14, 2005 Aquarium tells the Park
  Board about new imports, and the Park Board warns
  the Aquarium the import would be illegal
• October 16, 2005 Helen and Hana are imported
  from Enoshima Aquarium

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Aquarium asserts these facts

• These facts are based entirely on public
  statements by the Aquariums Director
• Helen (female, 17 years old) captured before
  October 1996, flippers injured in the fishing
  net and amputated at Enoshima
• Hana (female, 11 years old) captured in 2003,
  in the same kind of fishing net, and not released
  because of an emaciated condition
• Aquarium chose to ignore the Park Board warning
  that this dolphin was not permitted

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Section 9(e) exceptions

• (i) captive cetaceans caught from the wild
  prior to September 16, 1996
• (iv) an animal that has been captured or
  otherwise taken from its natural wild habitat for
  the purpose of rehabilitating it from injury or
  preventing its death due to stranding provided
  that its capture or taking and subsequent release
  to natural habitat is done under the jurisdiction
  and with the approval of the federal agency
  responsible and provided that the Park Board has
  been informed in as timely a manner as possible
• federal agency means Government of
  Canada

9
The admitted facts establish guilt
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Duty of the Park Board

• Governments must enforce the law
• Governments cannot dispense with applying the law
  (Bill of Rights, 1689) but must apply it equally
  to all persons
• The Park Board made an official factual finding
  on October 14, 2005 that the dolphin Hana is not
  permitted in a park under the bylaw
• The Park Board now has no alternative except to
  prosecute, since official inaction on a known
  breach of law would be an abuse of discretion
• If the Park Board does not act, citizens can