Lessons from the visit to Hong Kong of a humpback whale

The visit in early/mid March of a humpback whale in Hong Kong was an amazing and unexpected event, and provoked a lot of interest with the Hong Kong public.

To the credit of the Hong Kong authorities (AFCD) when it became clear that the whale was showing signs of distress from this attention, they quickly implemented measures to ensure that disturbance to the animal was minimised. These steps were successful and the good news is that the whale has not been seen since the 26th March, presumably finding his way back to his normal migratory route.

If only such a proactive approach could be taken with other species that are not protected in Hong Kong, such as the whale shark.

Visit the website from Living Seas Hong Kong to read the full article. (Click HERE )

Dolphinariums and dolphin drives

Recently visited the Taiji Whale Museum in Wakayama prefecture, Japan.

Taiji Whale Museum

This is an "entertainment" facility that show the history of whale hunting, methods of hunting over the ages, various whale skeletons, there are also captive false killer whales, a single killer whale, Risso's dolphins and short finned pilot whales. Also what is on offer is a dolphin petting experience using a female bottle nosed dolphin.

Risso's Dolphin at the Taiji Whale Museum

There is an educational aspect to the "museum" in that tourists are able to see and have a positive experience with these various cetaceans. However at what cost... there is a darker side to Taiji and it's Whale Museum.

Many people will be familiar with or heard about Dolphin drives in Japan and the brutal nature of the slaughter (check out the following website Click HERE) Actually the Taiji Whale Museum has been implicated in these hunts. A certain percentage from the hunts are taken aside by the Taiji Whale museum to provide for the dolphin petting experience or to provide live cetaceans to Oceanariums worldwide.

Ocean Park, Hong Kong has done some studies into Mainland Chinese oceanariums/dolphinariums and where they source their dolphins and I have sent an enquiry to them for some information.

Taiji Whale Museum and any oceanarium that sources from this brutal slaughter are to be avoided at all costs.

Of course this brings the bigger question of whether we should have dolphins and other cetaceans in captivity at all.