JOINT ORGANIZATIONS LETTER RE: VANCOUVER AQUARIUM Chairman and Commissioners Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation 2099 Beach Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6G 1Z4 Dear Mr. Chairman, On behalf of the organizations and their members listed below, we would like to thank you and the commissioners of the Park Board for your decision on March 9,2017, to end cetacean captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium. We salute all Commissioners for their votes that demonstrate their awareness and recognition of the inappropriateness of keeping cetaceans in captivity. In so doing, your historic decision will make Vancouver the place to be to experience wildlife living freely, in keeping with your public trust responsibilities. We want to encourage the Board to keep the final bylaw simple and not add any exemptions such as rescue, research or captive-born cetaceans in the future. Cetaceans simply do not do well in captivity in concrete tanks, and the practice should be stopped as soon as possible. The Vancouver Aquarium will still have three cetaceans in captivity - a dolphin, a porpoise, and a false killer whale. We would strongly urge alternative housing for them - preferably retirement to a seaside sanctuary, but at least some other facility that includes others of their own species to interact with. However, we take solace that this is part of the phase out of live cetacean exhibits and no more cetaceans will suffer from captivity in Vancouver's small tanks. There are many alternatives available to the Vancouver Aquarium to replace their cetacean exhibits. The Monterey Bay Aquarium features life-sized models of cetaceans instead of keeping any live cetaceans. New exhibits featuring mechanical cetaceans or virtual reality are possible and cutting edge for the Aquarium. The Vancouver Aquarium may also look to the Science World's (Vancouver) and the BC Museum's (Victoria) changing shows, from dinosaurs to whales, examples of truly educational exhibits that could be adapted for ocean life by the Vancouver Aquarium. We look forward to helping the Vancouver Parks Board and the Vancouver Aquarium in this transition. Thank you again for your enlightened move to end cetaceans in captivity. Sincerely, Annelise Sorg, President No Whales in Captivity Vancouver, Canada David Phillips, Director International Marine Mammal Project Earth Island Institute Sign-on groups: Animal Welfare Institute Australians for Animals Inc. Australia for Dolphins The Born Free Foundation, UK California Gray Whale Coalition Cetacean Society International, USA Dolphin Connection, USA Elsa Nature Conservancy, Japan Finns for the Whales, Finland Free Morgan Foundation Green Vegans / The New Human Ecology, USA Grupo de los Cien, Mexico Humane Society International In Defense of Animals, USA Marine Animal Rescue, USA Marine Connection, UK M.E.E.R.e.V., Germany Nantucket Marine Mammal Conservation Program, USA NY4Whales Ocean Mammal Institute, USA OceanCare, Switzerland Orca Research Trust, New Zealand Pro Wildlife, Germany reEarth, the Bahamas Whale & Dolphin Conservation Whale Rescue, New Zealand The Whaleman Foundation, USA World Animal Protection, UK, Australia & Canada REPLY TO: No Whales In Captivity Box 461 - 1755 Robson Street Vancouver, BC V6G 3B7 CANADA E-mail: info@nowhalesincaptivity.org Phone: 604-736-9514