This Week September 12, 1990. Page M3 [= TOP STORY KILLER WHALES IN CAPTIVITY Continued from Page 1 But the issue surrounding the captivity of orcas is, in a sense, political: choices are available, choices which affect the situations of others - in this case, the Igees of a population of whales. However, these op- tions are not simply as black-and-white as the mark- ings on a killer whale. The two distinct and opposing points of view - namely, keeping whales in aquariums such as Sealand is acceptable, and secondly, keeping 4 Whales in captivity is cruel and equivalent to im- _prisoning a human for life - are becoming tainted by evolving attitudes, new scientific discoveries about the animals, both in the wild and in captivity, and aggressive public relations campaigns. The end result of these forces is neatly summed up S by long-time orca expert Graeme Ellis, who says simply: “It’s a moral issue, not a biological one. It’s really up to each individual to decide for himself what he thinks.” Ellis has been on both sides of the Sealand fence. He grew up in Campbell River, where orca sightings were common. Erich Hoyt, an acquaintance of Ellis and author of The Whale Called Killer, says in his book: “At 22, Graeme Ellis had more experience with killer whales than almost everyone. As a kid... he saw orcas pass by the shore and threw rocks at them. 7m that’s what you did, said Graeme. ‘And when you got older you shot at them with BB guns, then twenty- twos’.” Fortunately, when Ellis left high school in Campbell River, he also left behind his boyhood ways, channel- ing his energies into studying the behavior of orcas. In 1968 he landed a job as whale trainer at the Vancouver Public Aquarium, when it was at Pender ‘Harbour. There, he was one of the first people ever to try swimming with a captive killer whale, a huge bull named Irving. In 1969, when Sealand of the Pacific was preparing for its opening the following year, Ellis was hired to train the aquarium’s first killer whales, the original Haida and the albino orca Chimo. At the same time he began studying marine biology at the University of Victoria. Ellis left Sealand in the summer of 1970 and went offshore sailing for a couple of years. He then spent a summer on his own, observing killer whales off the > coast of Vancouver Island, where he was “discovered” by marine mammologist Michael Bigg. Ever since then, Ellis and Bigg have been working together at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans marine mammals station in Nanaimo. In the mid-1970s the pair teamed up to conduct a killer whale census that Bigg had started in 1971, largely in response to rising concerns over the capture of orcas in 1970, when an estimated 90 were caught off southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound. Of those, 16 were either sent to aquariums or died in the nets used to capture them, according to Hoyt’s book. Even though Ellis has an extensive whale back- ground, he admits it’s tough to decide whether or not to endorse the captivity of killer whales. One thing is clear: he has tremendous admiration and respect for the animals he has studied for most of his life. @ “Orcasare incredibly wonderful in the wild andthey are incredibly wonderful in captivity,” he says. “The animal is also extremely adaptable to a variety of surroundings.” The studies Ellis and other animal researchers have been doing in recent years on the west coast has yielded information which shows that orcas are, in- deed, wonderful animals. For one thing, evidence shows they are remarkably similar to humans in some respects. For instance, orcas reach sexual maturity at roughly 13 to 15 years of age, and if they » survive beyond infancy, it is believed males can reach at least 50 to 60 years of age and females, 75 to 80 years. Ellis explains there are roughly 350 killer whales in B.C.’s coastal waterways - and he claims to know all 350 by sight. This number is further broken down into a northern community (from Campbell River north to Bella Bella), a southern community (Campbell River south to Puget Sound) and transients, which roam p. the waterways from south-east Alaska to Washington. Ellis says his observations show that the southern population has stabilized, while the northern com- munity is increasing at about two per cent per year, which is about its maximum, as mature females calf about once every three years. It’s quite common for offspring to stay with their mothers for life — a very unusual behavior for mammals, says Ellis. “You'll sometimes see the grandparents swimming aS Sie ONE OF THE THREE orcas at Sealand returns to the water after touching the suspended ball, delighting an afternoon audience. Photo by KEN FARIS with their children and grandchildren,” he says. “They live a very tradition-based life; the grandmothers and mothers will teach the younger ones how to do things. They're very conservative animals too, which is probably why they’re so success- ful in the wild.” The traditions that bind killer whales together in the wild is part of what animal rights advocates point to in their condemnation of capturing whales for public display. Taking whales out of the wild, one of the arguments goes, is akin to imposing a jail sen- tence for life. One of the first people to speak out against the captivity of whales at Sealand was Art DeGraaf, a resident of theCowichan Valley near Duncan. Each weekend for two summers, 1982 and 1983, DeGraaf drove from Duncan to Victoria. Beside the entrance to Sealand’s parking lot he would set up a lawnchair, hold a placard saying “Sealand Kills Whales,” and distribute protest leaflets to passersby. It was a lonely vigil, and a frustrating — at times scary — commit- ment. Several times, he claims, he returned to his car in the afternoon for the drive home - only to find his tires had been slashed. “I always carried three spare tires with me,”he says. “I expected to have my tires slashed. It didn’t matter where I parked, they always found my car.” He says he was once accosted by “three burly workers” outside the aquarium, and another time doused with water by a woman hosing down a walkway. He says he eventually gave up his protests “because of a bad case of nerves,” and has stayed away from Sealand ever since. But, he says, “with a real good crew I'd do it again.” His position on the captive orcas at Sealand is clear: “I think it’s degrading to see an animal perform tricks to get its food,” he says. “I believe public sympathy will close it [Sealand] down. [ll see it in my lifetime. Children’s attitudes are changing. When they grow up I think they'll be against it. That's what I'm hoping for.” One of DeGraaf’s supporters during those troubled summer days of the early 1980s was Judy Smith. She now presides over the recently formed Citizens for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (CETA), which grew out of the University of Victoria Animal Rights Society. CETA members staged a protest rally outside Sealand at the end of July this year. The protest drew limited support - about 20 people took part - and did little to stem the Sunday afternoon tide of tourists and locals who came out to see the whales that day. Even so, Smith remains optimistic that animal rights is a concern that hasn't yet come of age. “Animal rights is a relatively new concept; it’s dif- ficult for society to embrace,” she says. “I don’t know ifit’s been fully accepted yet as a cause, especially by the media. I see the media as going along with the status quo and we see that as an obstacle.” Fellow CETA member Jean Randall says the organization’s basic philosophy is that animals are not here for people’s convenience and use. “At the root of the issue is our relationship with nature and the planet. The imprisonment of orcas at Sealand clearly shows our attitude to the planet, which is one of ownership and domination. If we keep going as we are, with this attitude, we're going to wipe ourselves out. Unfortunately, we’re going to take a lot of crea- tures with us.” The debate over whether animals have “rights” or “uses” is often decided in favor of the group that has the most compelling PR campaign. Sealand’s glossy booklet opens with these words: “It is our desire that your relaxing ocean exploration will be both enter- taining and educational, and that you will leave us enjoying a new appreciation for the wide variety of marine life in the Pacific Northwest.” Countering this soothing message is an acerbic charge contained in a recent CETA press release: “Sealand mis-educates the public by offering an ar- tificial and grossly distorted picture of killer whales and by perpetuating the notion that it is acceptable to incarcerate and dominate these wonderful crea- tures, to their detriment, for our own pleasure and profit.” No doubt about it, there is a public relations battle going on. But PR aside, which group is right? Neither, if you believe Al Bolz at Sealand, who says: “It doesn’t matter who's right or wrong. These people are en- titled to express their opinions. Our opinion is that we do what we do; we don’t try to put down any other groups for their beliefs. “Listen, we have these animals in our care. There’s no way we'd have them and work with them if we didn’t take care of them and respect them.” Despite any protests that have occurred outside its gates, Sealand remains wildly successful, drawing “hundreds of thousands’ of visitors a year, according to Bolz. Just how successful the aquarium is remains shrouded in secrecy. The Oak Bay Marine Group, which owns Sealand and is headed by the ambitious Bob Wright, is tight-lipped when questioned about how many visitors pass through Sealand each year or what the annual gate receipts are. As a private com- pany, the Oak Bay Marine Group is not obliged by law to publish an annual report, which would give some insight into the financial health of Sealand. But it’s clear that the major drawing cards at Sealand of the Pacific are Haida, Nootka and Tilikum. In fact, it could probably be said that Sealand owes its existence to one of the most majestic - if little understood - animals to inhabit the ocean. Perhaps someday we will be able to decipher what the whales are saying with their high-pitched voices, when maybe they will be able to tell us in their own words how they feel about being the main attraction at Sealand of the Pacific.