KINA UPDATE:
THREE YEARS HIDDEN BEHIND THE SCENES
HONOLULU, HAWAII, August 6, 2018 - Today marks three years since false killer whale Kina was illegally moved to an amusement park in Hawaii called Sea Life Park. In 2015, the park, which is on State land, failed to file a permit to transfer Kina, effectively denying Hawaii residents their democratic right to testify at a public hearing for or against this transfer.
Our team and partners at Animal Rights Hawai’i have continuously advocated for this situation to be rectified, consulting the Attorney General regarding the lapse in proper permitting and making repeated attempts to obtain proof of a permit from Hawaii’s Department Of Agriculture who have not been able to provide one.
We were also recently made aware that Kina has a deep gash on her melon. Sea Life Park management informed concerned callers that the gash was due to Kina herself, repeatedly banging into the gates of the cage bars sectioning off her tank. A heartbreaking reality of what her quality of life must be like stuck in this same shallow tank for the past three years.
Over the years, the amusement park has been cited by Animal Plant And Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for violations that include food deprivation and handling, violations that have attributed to many injuries, some even resulting in deaths. The park has been cited multiple times for lack of shade, shade which Kina has yet to be adequately provided with. This photo [attached] was taken yesterday by a member of our team and shows Kina’s body slathered in sunscreen, a practice done by the park to avoid putting in the shade structures required by the Animal Welfare Act. Animal Rights Hawai'i has continued to maintain these documents by USDA/APHIS over many decades (now also public on our website) and has recently filed complaints with USDA/APHIS regarding the poor conditions these beings are held in but no action has been taken by the inspection service.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Many are angered that Sea Life Park still obtains an accreditation from the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks And Aquariums (AMMPA), despite the association claiming to strictly condemn facilities holding drive fishery captured cetaceans. The official AMMPA website even plainly states that none of their accredited facilities hold cetaceans from drive fisheries. We believe that if the AMMPA stands by these claims and continues to assert animal care and welfare is their top priority, then they need to pull their accreditation of Sea Life Park. Keiko Conservation and Animal Rights Hawaii are asking that all members of the pubic who share concern for Kina to contact the AMMPA’s Executive Director [contact info below] and politely ask they consider Kina’s welfare and Sea Life Park’s accreditation status.
You can contact her at:
Kathleen Dezio
Executive Director
Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks & Aquariums
www.ammpa.org (http://www.ammpa.org/
(703) 660-6546 o
(703) 660-6547 f
You can also sign and continue to share this petition asking for Hawaii's tourism industry to stop supporting facilities that hold marine mammals captive. (https://www.change.org/p/stop-supporting-dolphin-captivity-in-hawaii