Archive for the ‘Marine Campaign News’ Category
Both Tom and Misha are doing well as we enter the new year – and hopefully the year when they will both again be free.
Following the set back last year with their illness, they have now been brought back to health and are doing well; very bright and responsive and their food intake has slowly been increased. The next crucial stage will be the introduction of live fish into their diet. While work continues to build up their strength and weight; their ability to catch and eat live fish will be the main determining factor as we plan for their release. And as it is anticipated that this could take them a while to get used to, the team want to build up more weight so that Tom and Misha have a sufficient fat reserve should they take a while to adapt.
The traps for the fish and a suitable pen have been constructed in readiness to build up a sufficient supply so that once introduced, the team can maintain this element of their diet. We have also installed underwater cameras so that we can try and capture this behaviour on film and therefore ensure both dolphins are capable of this vital survival tool. Meanwhile, more construction work has been underway, building remote feeding devises and a ‘sling shot’ that will be used to deliver their current diet of dead fish from a distance instead of directly from the carers.
The beautiful bay they are in is providing them with a sheltered location and helping protect their sea pen from the worst of the weather, and the water quality is regularly monitored. In a few weeks time, a small team from Born Free Foundation, including our senior veterinary consultant John Knight, will visit the project to review progress and discuss the remaining challenges of their rehabilitation process.
Special thanks to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute for providing the cameras.
On 18th November, Born Free partners ProFauna Indonesia attended a government meeting in Jakarta on a range of marine issues including the illegal but all-too-common trade in marine turtle eggs.
The meeting was called by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to coordinate with other government departments on activities including a clampdown on the turtle trade. ProFauna was the only NGO in attendance.
The invitation was another positive development in ProFauna’s campaign against the turtle egg trade, which is founded on a report conducted from May to August 2010 with funding from Born Free and Humane Society International Australia (HSI). The findings were published in a report in November 2010, following which ProFauna were invited to a meeting with the Ministry of Marine Affairs this February.
With an estimated 100,000 turtle eggs being traded every month in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) concerted action by the authorities is critical if the situation is to be brought under control. We are very pleased to see our support for ProFauna’s well planned campaign having a direct impact on government policy and bringing about the necessary changes to protect Indonesia’s turtle population.
60,588 EU citizens say No! to the import of dolphins and the construction of new dolphinaria within the EU. The signatures, collected by a consortium of international NGOs*, will be handed over to the EU ambassador Michael Reiterer on November 17th 2011 in Bern, Switzerland.
In some parts of the world, dolphins are still captured from the wild for the international dolphinarium industry, including in the brutal drive hunts in Japan – as exposed in the Oscar-winning documentary film “The Cove”. These captures threaten the very survival of wild dolphin populations. Breeding dolphins in captivity is difficult and so trade in wild caught dolphins has become a lucrative business. The groups are afraid that this situation will lead to further imports of wild caught dolphins into the EU.
Furthermore, it is impossible to keep dolphins under conditions which meet their biological needs, as required by EU legislation. As migratory, social animals capable of travelling a hundred miles a day, their behavioural and psychological needs cannot be met in a small, concrete tank.
Compared to their natural habitat, a dolphinarium pool is too small, too shallow, too bare and lacking in environmental stimulation. This can create a very stressful situation for dolphins held in captivity, who live shorter lives than their free-living, wild counterparts.
"Only an immediate EU ban on the construction of new dolphinaria and a prohibition on trade in dolphins will end the suffering of these magnificent animals and bring this cruel practice to an end." says Rob Lott from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.