Vancouver aquarium free to capture dolphins and whales, group says

Animal activists in B.C. are outraged with a bylaw amendment that could allow the Vancouver Aquarium to keep more dolphins and whales in captivity.

Under the amendment passed by the Vancouver Park Board, the aquarium can import whales and dolphins it considers to be "in distress," whether or not it plans to release them back into the wild.

Korina Houghton, vice-chair of the board, said the amendment was just a clarification of the existing bylaw.

"All we were doing was making it very clear to the public what cetaceans are allowed in the aquarium and what are not, from the park board's point of view," she said.

Robert Light, a spokesman for animal rights group No Whales in Captivity in Vancouver, said the move will allow the aquarium to stock its new pools when it expands.

"Now they can go off to any country they like, define [the animals] as in distress," Light said. "They can go to another country like Japan, where they kill dolphins, and select the beautiful ones that they want for entertainment."

The $90-million expansion of the aquarium in Stanley Park was approved in November last year.

John Nightingale, president of the aquarium, admitted they are looking for more dolphins and whales, but said they will only bring in badly injured ones, and they will only keep them if they can't be rehabilitated.

"If it's humanly possible to reintroduce an animal, I don't care if it's a harbour seal or a cetacean… we'll do it," Nightingale said.

Nightingale said the aquarium had never rehabilitated a dolphin or whale and set it free. But he pointed to the aquarium'spart in reunitingSpringer the Orca with her pod in 2002, after theyoung whale became separated from her family group.