Thank you so much to everyone who folded origami and help us break the Guinness World Record for Vijay! In the end we nearly doubled the record with just under 3,000 origami whales displayed.
Our future is bright and we are one step closer to Vijay’s wish - freedom for all of his friends captive at Marineland.
Going to start slow releasing some of the best photos from the 1,000 person demo this past Saturday at Marineland for their opening day. This young advocate was tirelessly trying to make appeals to kids all day at the edge of the demonstration.
Protest makes waves at Marineland | Toronto Star
““Anyone, anywhere can make a difference, big or small,” 14-year-old Carrie Tehrani said in a speech to the crowd. The Grade 8 student from Niagara Falls got interested in animal rights about eight months ago. This spring, she gathered information and made an impassioned presentation to the staff at her school urging them to end annual field trips to Marineland. They did.
“I was ecstatic,” she said in an interview, as five school mates and her mother stood by. “I’m not the only person my age that’s interested in this.””
Opening Day: The Battle Resumes at Marineland
“A seven-month break hasn’t softened the anger of Marineland’s critics.
Picking up right where they left off in October, hundreds of animal activists from across Niagara, Canada and the U.S. greeted Marineland’s opening day visitors with pleas to spend their money elsewhere.”
MARINELAND JUST GOT THUNDERCLAPPED!
If you are here there is a good chance you just thunderclapped Marineland - or saw someone who did. Thank you!
For folks who don’t know about this campaign, it is a pressure campaign that is anti-captivity and that wants to see the closure of the captive animal park Marineland (Niagara Falls, On) and the removal of the animals on site to settings of care.
This campaign is two years old. Today, as you read this, we are countering Marineland’s opening day with a demonstration of around 600-1000 people. We are hoping that this crowd is larger than our last demonstration - closing day - which brought out around 800 people in opposition to Marineland.
Our goals may seem outrageous to you, but captive animal parks close all of the time all over the world. Why are there no dolphinariums in the UK? Why did Switzerland recently ban the import of marine mammals? Why did India just reject attempts to establish marine mammal captive parks? All of this is because people worldwide have seen the truth behind this industry and it’s driving force - profit. These animals live horrific and frustrated lives so that they can make a select amount of people very wealthy. They prey on the curiosity and wonderment of children and, if they are not opposed, they can sell it as “education.”
We want to see all for profit captive animal parks close, those captive released to care and a shift towards keeping wild animals in the wild and protecting the habitats and environments that they live in. They have communities, families, culture, wants and desires of their own, and they demand our respect.
For people who want to join with us we will have several more large demonstrations this summer - the next being July 27th as part of a large coordinated international demonstration date against captive marine mammal park. Aside from that, you can join our mailing list by emailing marinelandanimaldefense@gmail.com asking to be on it, and you can find our social media pages here - Facebook / Twitter. We’d also appreciate it if you signed our petition to close the wild capture loophole in Canada - a move that would mean no more marine mammals ripped from their homes for captive parks in Canada.
For anyone who wants to watch the livestream of the event today, or send a message of support - head to the demonstration event page.
Please also look for and continue to use those #marineland and #endcaptivity hash tags today as well to get them trending.
We hope that we send a message today that cannot be ignored. Together, we can make captive animal parks a thing of the past.
xo,
Marineland Animal Defense
Operation Shut it Down: Opening Day Demonstration at Marineland | rabble.ca
On this week’s episode of Progressive Voices, Ange Guenard of Marineland Animal Defense and Niagara Animal Defense League, speaks to the Opening Day Demonstration at Marineland this Saturday, May 18, 2013.
Ange emphasizes the importance of ending animal captivity as opposed to reform of Marineland’s treatment of animals, explains the creation of the Stephen Watson Memorial Fund for the purposes of transitioning the animals into sanctuaries and rehabilitation facilitaties, and provides updates on Marineland’s response to the campaign to shut down the park.
For more information: http://marinelandanimaldefense.com/
Progressive Voices airs Friday mornings at 9:00 a.m. on 93.3 CFMU Radio
Progressive Voices can also be found on Facebook
5 Reasons You Should Protest Marineland This Saturday
Any Canadian who has picked up a paper or watched the news in the last nine months knows Marineland has been in a lot of hot, over-chlorinated water since 15 ex-employees decided to speak out about animal abuse and neglect at the park this past August. Marineland is set to open again this Saturday. This is why we need you (yes you!) to be at the Marineland Opening Day Demonstration.
