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In front of a stadium of screaming crowds, three Beluga whales dance, wave and high-five.
It seems like innocent entertainment, attracting thousands to Changfeng Ocean World in Shanghai every day.
But today, the company that owns the park and dozens of others worldwide, including Alton Towers, has been accused of animal cruelty and ‘double standards’.
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Criticism: Merlin Entertainments has come under fire after footage has emerged of three Beluga whales, Junjun, Uka 1 and Uka 2, performing at the firm’s Shanghai aquarium, Changfeng Ocean World
Performance: Three Beluga whales performing at Changfeng Ocean World in Shanghai last August
Merlin Entertainments, which owns 44 SeaLife aquaria across the globe, claims to be leading the fight to free Beluga whales and dolphins from captivity, and makes no mention of their performing trio – Junjun, Uka 1 and Uka 2 – on their British websites.
Its websites state: ‘Sea Life believes it is wrong to keep whales and dolphins in captivity. No matter how spacious, no captive facility can ever provide such far-ranging, highly social and highly intelligent animals with the stimulation they need for a good quality of life.’
However, the Captive Animals’ Protection Society (CAPS), an international animal rights organisation, has today accused the firm of hypocrisy, releasing footage of Junjun, Uka 1, and Uka 2 entertaining crowds on March 3, 2014 – two years after Merlin purchased the park in March 2012.
Junjun, Uka 1, and Uka 2 perform to an audience of 2,000 three times a day.
Born in the wild, they were captured and taken to China around five years ago. Uka 1 and Uka 2 were and transferred to the park in eastern China in 2011, where Junjun had already been for at least a year.
Merlin claims the performances at Changfeng have been altered to only involve natural movements as they look for a Beluga whale sanctuary. The firm bought the Shanghai aquarium in 2012
With a high-pitched twitter, and bright white skin, Beluga whales have been hunted for centuries.
Unlike many marine animals, they can swim backwards, but do not jump out of the water like dolphins and killer whales.
They have an acute sense of hearing that makes them more sensitive to human noise pollution than most other whales. Scientists have found their hearing is the same both in and out of the water.
A spokesman for Merlin claims the past two years have been spent finding a natural sanctuary for Junjun and the two Ukas.
In the meantime, the spokesman added, their routine has been altered to reflect their natural behaviour.
Blasting the performances as ‘unnatural’, a spokesman for CAPS has accused Merlin of ‘wasting time’.
Captivity: The highly sensitive animals were born in the wild, captured and taken to China where they now perform in a 2,000-capacity stadium three times a day
Director of CAPS Liz Tyson, who is campaigning to return the Belugas to the wild, said: ‘Sea Life claims to be opposed to the keeping of highly intelligent and sentient animals, like dolphins and whales, in captivity and yet forces Beluga whales to perform demeaning tricks for screaming crowds every day in its overseas operation.
‘Whilst it is clearly within the animals’ abilities to be able to do these things, it is very different to this being a demonstration of natural behaviour. Whales do not dance, wave or sing to crowds of thousands of screaming people.’
The controversy will come as an embarrassment for the global corporation just months after it successfully petitioned to block US rival SeaWorld from importing Russian Beluga whales from the wild to perform.
‘Sea Life claims to
be opposed to the keeping of highly intelligent and sentient animals,
like dolphins and whales, in captivity and yet forces Beluga whales to
perform demeaning tricks for screaming crowds every day in its overseas
operation’
- Captive Animals’ Protection Society director Liz Tyson
Marine biologist Margaux Dodds, of UK charity Marine Connection, said: ‘We fail to see why a large commercial organisation such as SeaLife, owned by Merlin, is taking so long to establish a sanctuary.
‘Whilst we appreciate this must be
carried out with the utmost care for the welfare of any animals
involved, there have been cases of release of captive whales and
dolphins in the past which have been achieved fairly quickly with a very
tight budget.’
A spokesman for Merlin Entertainments defended the set up as a situation they have been working to rectify. The firm is working with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society lobbying Europe to ban dolphinariums.
The spokesman said: ‘Since 2012 we have been exhaustively exploring all possible options for these whales, with their long term welfare the highest priority.
‘We have spared no energy in pursuit of a solution, and we believe that we are very close to finding an excellent new home for them.
‘In the meantime however we have invested in improving their existing environment – something we did the moment we took over – and in changing the nature of shows so that they only reflect the natural behaviours of the animals – no tricks.’
She added that a potential site for a dolphin sanctuary to house their bottle-nose dolphins in Europe has been found: ‘At present we are wholly focused on progressing the sanctuary project and would obviously only undertake the necessary suitability assessment on these three animals once it was established that work on a Sanctuary could commence and a likely “date of readiness” established.
‘We are happy that the arrangements made for them in the interim, are the best we could have made, in respect of their health and general well-being.’
CANARIES OF THE SEA: BELUGA WHALES HUNTED FOR CENTURIES
Delicacy: In the 19th century, demand surged for the skin of Beluga whales to be used for leather
Bright white, with a vast range of vocal tones, Beluga whales have been hunted for centuries for zoos.
Served as a delicacy in many Asian countries, they are also illegally fished for their meat.
In the 19th century, demand surged for their skin to be used for leather.
Known as ‘the canary of the sea’, they have a high-pitched twitter and can produce 11 other types of sound, including cackling and whistling.
They are born dark grey but by the age of five turn bright white.
On average, they will live for 25-30 years and reach 18ft long, 1,600kg. They feed on fish and crustaceans.
The highly sociable animals form small groups of around 10 males and females, led by an alpha male.
They spend the winter months around the arctic cap, and in the summer migrate to river estuaries in countries such as North America, Greenland and Northern China.
Mating starts at between four and nine years old. Female belugas give birth to one calf every three years on average. Gestation last 12 months.
Beautiful: A Beluga whale appears on the surface of the water of the Arctic Sea in the brief summer months
Unlike many cetaceans, they can swim backwards, but they do not jump out of the water like dolphins or killer whales.
The population of just 150,000 worldwide is spread across the arctic regions of the northern hemisphere – northern Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the north coast of Russia, and the upper regions of Japan and China.
Belugas bodies are wrapped in a thick layer of blubber to protect them from the freezing temperatures. And they use their highly-developed sonar system to navigate the shallow waters and avoid icebergs.
They were one of the first whale species to be kept in captivity – the first captured beluga was recorded in 1861 in Barnum’s Museum, New York.
Since 1973, international whale-hunting laws have sought to control the trade of Belugas. Now, only certain Inuit tribes are permitted to hunt the gentle cetaceans.
However, in 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed the species as ‘near threatened’, as the demand for the species in zoos and restaurants continues to surge.
In Alaska, the population is considered ‘critically endangered’.
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