Tag Archives: oscar-winning

They've entertained millions at marine parks and aquariums — whales, dolphins and other sea mammals spinning and splashing to the delight of audiences for decades. But the recent death of a SeaWorld trainer by a killer whale in Orlando and the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove,” about dolphin captures in Japan, have cast unprecedented attention on the industry that brought us Shamu and Flipper. A Congressional committee has scheduled an oversight hearing April 27 to hear testimony on marine mammals in captivity. The Sun Sentinel confirmed the hearing by the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife through federal officials who have been asked to testify. Animal welfare advocates are hoping for tighter regulation of a multibillion-dollar business that they say has profited at the expense of sea animals. “There's a whole other side to the industry that I think the public is beginning to understand,'' said Courtney Vail, a spokeswoman for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, which opposes keeping marine mammals in captivity. “It's not all sunshine and happiness.'' The Sun Sentinel explored the world behind marine parks in a 2004 investigative series. It found that over the previous three decades, about 1,500 sea lions, seals, dolphins and whales in marine parks had died at a young age, some from human hazards such as capture shock and ingestion of coins and foreign objects. Naomi Rose, senior scientist at the Humane Society International, said more oversight is long overdue. “If [parks] are in fact misleading people and spinning the message to improve their bottom line, that should be a real concern,'' she said. added by: jefftego