U.S. Government Sued By Animal Rights Group After Aquarium Given Permit To Import Beluga Whales
Lawyers argue that the whales will be torn away from friends and family, and subjected to a traumatic journey from Canada, if the controversial move to a Connecticut aquarium goes ahead.
An animal rights group is suing the US government’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), after an aquarium in Connecticut was granted a controversial permit to import five beluga whales from Canada for scientific research.
Friends of Animals argues that the high-risk, long-haul voyage from Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, to Mystic Aquarium, Connecticut, will inflict emotional and psychological scars on the belugas.
In addition, the captive-born animals will be torn away from “deep familial and social relationships that they have formed with the dozens of other belugas at Marineland”, says the group.
Stephen Hernick, a lawyer for Friends of Animals, adds: "Not only is it unprecedented for the government to issue a permit to import members of a depleted species of belugas for purported research, it is illegal”.
The decision to grant the permit is particularly surprising, since the NMFS is already conducting its own research on belugas. Crucially, this is taking place in the wild, in Alaskan waters, where the population is critically endangered.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), it is illegal to export or import beluga whales, unless it is in the animals’ best interests, or for scientific research.
Friends of Animals claims that the permit violates the MMPA, as “no one can credibly claim that a sudden, risky, unnecessary removal and stressful transport to another aquarium is in their best interest”. Instead, they feel it would be much more ethical for researchers to study the belugas in Alaska, or to simply travel to Marineland.
For over a year, this case has attracted fierce debate from both sides, with over 6,500 public comments submitted, culminating in a public hearing last November. More recently, allegations of improper conduct were made by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
After obtaining hundreds of documents under the Freedom of Information Act, the AWI alleged that “multiple lobbying communications ask high level officials to disregard the MMPA and its implementing regulations in order to pave the way for this permit”.
As a result, Ross was urged by the AWI to recuse himself from the decision-making.
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