'Affinity' Animal Rights Protest

[Jamberoo Fan]

Wow...:

That was flown over & during the 11:15am Affinity show & around the Gold Coast for approximately 90 minutes after the show. 7 News Gold Coast also did a story on their aerial promotion today.

'Justice For Captives' also tagged SeaWorld instead of Sea World in one of their Facebook posts today so it read 'SeaWorld Gold Coast'.

[omega237]

Everyone's reaction to that.

 

https://youtu.be/r3qWRiFbP_o

[bladex]

go ahead waste $ on plane flyers that won't do jack shit. when are these morons going to go back to nimbin and stay there where they belong.

Edited February 18, 2017 by bladex

[Santa07]

What do they actually want to achieve with this?

It's not doing nothin to convince me, if that's what they're trying.

Just convincing me that they're all lunatics who have their heads screwed on backwards.

[Hypermarket Hero]

It looks like Sky-Ads has a history of Sea World protests

http://www.sky-ads.com.au/?D=58

My personal favorite banner is the Justice for Captives favorite saying "Google the Cove"

Edited February 18, 2017 by Hypermarket Hero
added content

[Tim Dasco]

Isn't it ilegal to fly a plane like that over private property. I mean if its not we may as well fly drones and planes over MW's construction.

[Reanimated35]

6 minutes ago, Tim Dasco said:

Isn't it ilegal to fly a plane like that over private property. I mean if its not we may as well fly drones and planes over MW's construction.

I too would like to believe that a company that's been in operation for almost 40 years would be openly defying CASA regulations and still remain in business. 

[New display name]

9 minutes ago, Tim Dasco said:

Isn't it ilegal to fly a plane like that over private property.

I thought every property a plane flew over would be private property.

Edited February 19, 2017 by YLFATEEKS

[Reanimated35]

1 minute ago, YLFATEEKS said:

I thought every property a plane flew over would be private property.

#boycottairlines #emptytheskies 

[New display name]

From the fake news last night.

The group wants to protest during the Commonwealth games.

During the com games a no fly zone over the Gold Coast will be put into place.

During a large events like the Commonwealth Games they set up an area you can protest at. 

I would think this in a dark corner somewhere.  If you protest anywhere else or are not registered to protest they will not allow you to protest during the games.

 

[Tim Dasco]

I was more talking about flying that low.

[AllegroCrab]

Planes can fly 500 feet above the ground in populated areas, and they cannot fly within 500 feet of any person or structure. I don't think any rules are being broken here.

I don't care anyway, they can waste money paying for planes and banners and whatever, their message has no merit to it so no one will listen.

[New display name]

1 minute ago, AllegroCrab said:

I don't care anyway, they can waste money paying for planes and banners and whatever, their message has no merit to it so no one will listen.

Spot on @AllegroCrab The plane told me to do it.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

By the looks of things, they're actually flying over the ocean too, so minimal risk to the public - rescue choppers, and joy flight choppers do the same thing.

this is my very vague memory of talking to the Wonderland pilot back in the day, but i think they work in an uncontrolled airspace - the pilot broadcasts his location\position and track \ route, and maintains visual of his surrounds.

[liz.wis]

My exhausted brain just misinterpreted the sign as "Just Ice for Captives".  

[Reanimated35]

14 minutes ago, liz.wis said:

My exhausted brain just misinterpreted the sign as "Just Ice for Captives".  

Whoa hold up there. If they want to get on coke or heroin that's their choice. No plane banner can stop them!

I've always had my suspicions those penguins were shifty dealers. 

 

[Slick]

Query me this, beyond the Sea World line of facts, is there any independent or peer reviewed data about the bottlenose dolphins in captivity at either Sea World or abroad in any dolphinarium?

[Reanimated35]

1 hour ago, Slick said:

Query me this, beyond the Sea World line of facts, is there any independent or peer reviewed data about the bottlenose dolphins in captivity at either Sea World or abroad in any dolphinarium?

Ummm.....ok?

......Ben, beyond the Sea World line of facts, is there any independent or peer reviewed data about the bottlenose dolphins in captivity at either Sea World or abroad in any dolphinarium?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I did a little googling this morning.

one thing that pops up frequently is how many dolphins have died in captivity - but what gets me about these stats is they usually quote a figure as 'since the 1960s' or something to that effect. Considering the average lifespan is 20 years, and some have been seen to live to 40 or 50, with the most extreme case being apparently 100 - it stands to reason that if you quote a figure from 57 years ago, you're at the upper limit of most accepted figures - of course they're going to die - they're old! Of course - statistics on how many dolphins died in the wild during that time would likely be higher too #nobrainer

The other figure (for which i'm also guilty of perpetuating immediately above) that commonly seems to be an item of conjecture is the life expectancy. Pro-captivity arguments suggest they live longer in captivity because there is no pollution, predation, hazards etc. Pro-wild arguments suggest that the stress of captivity reduces immune systems making them susceptible to disease they would be resistant to in the wild.

What I found was mostly 'anti-captivity' - but almost none of them were respected. The two I did find that held even a shred of respect about them were an article by the Australian RSPCA, and one by an organisation formerly known as WSPA. Both advocated an end to wild capture. Both advocated for enriching environments for those in captivity rather than a concrete pool, and both seemed to acknowledge that you can't 'empty the tanks' and return these predominantly captive born animals to the wild.

Many seemed to lambast the 'research, conservation and education' angles as artificial (because observing the animal in captivity doesn't necessarily translate in the wild) but at the same time, one article I read (opinion, not research) quoted an increase to the survival rate of injured or beached wild dolphins from 10% to 30% on the basis of what we have learned from those that are captive.

I haven't linked or quoted anything here mainly because CBF, but mostly because many of the sites aren't much more than the uneducated spew we've seen from the mob at SWGC recently. The RSPCA and WSPA articles should be easy to find using keywords.

For mine - I have to admit the abundance of reading i've done today has shifted my view slightly. I never supported wild capture, but acknowledge that we as a species have done so in the past and many of us now realise that isn't cool - unfortunately what is done is now done - we can't change that - so where to from here?

We can't just empty the tanks. To do so would be to sentence each one of these animals to death. I believe SWGC's dolphin cove is an amazing (if artificial) habitat, and probably the best we could hope to provide for captive animals.

The unfortunate side of this is that - if the activists get parks around the world to end their 'shows' - there will be no money to improve the habitat for the animals that remain.

Captive breeding programs are another hot topic - reportedly - most captive births are by artificial insemination - and this is probably not a great idea.

The end result of these campaigns is that dolphins in captivity are likely to come to an end - and parks will likely need to end breeding programs too. The 'pod' in each park will slowly die until there are few left, at which time mortality will accelerate due to an absence of social interaction with others of their species - and they will all be gone. The few remaining may even need to be euthanised to end their suffering.

Realistically - i believe this is what will happen.

I mourn for that day - as I believe what we see at SWGC (and in many other parks) does have an impact on our children and their attitudes towards the ocean and marine life. I still remember my first trip to sea world - trying to drink a coke through a paper straw that would die after 30 seconds - and even that small memory from many years ago still sticks with me - that the park used paper straws to avoid issues with straws getting into the habitats. I want my son to see these amazing animals, and learn to appreciate them, and their natural habitat - and I fear that an end to captive dolphins will make instilling that in him a lot harder - if not impossible.

[T-bone]

All this is Bullshit really. Sadly it only takes a few people with loud voices and everyone listens, regardless of credentials or actual experience.

The most important thing to take away from the photo posted by Sky Ads is not about the dolphin tanks, but rather why is there a monorail in Camouflage sitting behind the pools?

[Reanimated35]

1 hour ago, T-bone said:

All this is Bullshit really. Sadly it only takes a few people with loud voices and everyone listens, regardless of credentials or actual experience.

The most important thing to take away from the photo posted by Sky Ads is not about the dolphin tanks, but rather why is there a monorail in Camouflage sitting behind the pools?

Interesting way and place to store it but I assume it's there to be loaded onto a truck? Although it's a pretty narrow road to try to load them. 

[T-bone]

@pin142 found its been on google maps for a few years now in that same spot. If its retired, I have contacts at a newly formed Historical museum who would be very interested in clearing that road for them...

[Theme Park Girl]

The thing I don't get is that this database website claims that our Sea World has previously had 8 Psuedorca (false killer whales, for those playing along at home) in their possession throughout the 80's-90's, all of which apparently died whilst in their care...

However whilst my numerous visits to the park growing up, I only remember one ever being there, and that was Squirt the whale? 

So what's the story with all these other false killer whales that they allegedly had, including a couple of them which, according to the info above, were there the same time as he was? Does anyone else recall ever seeing more than one at the park? Or were they maybe kept out of the public's view the entire time (which I find hard to believe, given their obvious size)?

 None of it makes sense to me ?

 

[Brad2912]

I didn't even know SW ever had Orcas. Must have been well before my visiting days

[themagician]

I'm certain that they never had orcas. They never built tank of had the room for whales of that size. The largest sea creature I've seen that isn't there anymore is the dugong they used to have 

Edited February 22, 2017 by themagician