Well, well well.... Another former Vancouver Aquarium employee who worked with captive beluga whales before the cetacean captivity ban was imposed in Canada, has finally come out of the closet now that she doesn't have a job anymore.
People like her, who are willing to be part of the problem because they don't want to lose their jobs, especially when they are fully aware of the cruelty of keeping whales in captivity, are hard to forgive since their support for the industry did so much damage.
If all zoo and aquarium employees did the right thing and walked out of those animal prisons, we wouldn't have to fight to close them. Ethical people simply refuse to step foot in those facilities in the first place.
NEWS: Vancouver Aquarium scientist reveals her truth after testifying in favour of marine mammal captivity
When a beluga calf was about to be born at the Vancouver Aquarium, marine mammal scientist, Valeria Vergara, saw an amazing opportunity. She wanted to study how the intelligent whales developed their incredible repertoire of vocalizations — something that had not been studied before. Whales and dolphins have always been the big attraction there, but animal activists had been protesting for an end to marine mammal captivity.
When a bill came before the Canadian Senate, which proposed the end of cetacean captivity, Vergara was asked to argue the benefits of keeping whales and dolphins in captivity by the aquarium’s management — something she didn’t fully believe in.
“That was the worst thing I ever had to do in my life and I’m ashamed of it.” But Valeria could either support the aquarium or step away from her job.
Now, new management at Vancouver Aquarium has brought with it a new attitude towards captivity and Vergara wants to set the record straight. “I want to speak my truth,” she says, “If these beings have consciousness we have the responsibility of giving them the benefit of the doubt in terms of their ability to ponder their own predicament, to have empathy, to suffer…”
Watch the video above for the full story.