A hodgepodge of shark/marine welfare news & oddities:
1.Check Out Five Designs Inspired by Ocean Predators
2. Australia: Please keep rejecting OCEARCH!
3. Greenpeace Serves “Shark fin Soup” to protest New Zealand’s finning laws
4. Death at Seaworld author David Kirby on CNN Vs. Seaworld
5. Would you like to see a shark throw up? Okay, here you go!
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Shark Dreams 
The CNN documentary named “Blackfish” was both chilling and inspirational on the amounts of energy and finances some will pay to more closely think they are helping the wild animals in our world. Spokespersons like Jane Valez-Mitchell (of CNN/HLN) though, tend to evaporate their energies on their individual subject-topics as she proves to be nothing more than a drunk-in-recovery. Perhaps, to eliminate those types of “advocates” for our creatures-sake may prove more beneficial without “spokesperson” like her because they are truly fascinating animals and I thank and encourage businesses like SeaWorld to have given me an opportunity to see them first-hand and close-up in real life these amazing animals that I would have never ever seen at all. I would support a requirement by Law to have those types of parks mandated in every state of our nation with those types of animals and ban proponents like JVM and subject her to both criminal and civil discourses to protect these animals from drunks like JVM and others; thank you SeaWorld. And to critics of my positions on those like JVM, try, instead, sobriety.
Thank you for writing. I can’t speak about Jane Valez-Mitchell. I am not familiar with her or her work. I only know that killer whales do not belong in concrete swimming pools. I don’t believe intelligent animals should live in captivity so we “get to see them.” Why not go on a whale watch and at least see these animals in the ocean? At least then you could know that you saw them in the place they belong. Watching animals–whether they are dolphins, whales, sea lions, elephants, tigers, etc. do silly, demeaning tricks in chlorinated pools or in circus rings is not truly understanding them as they are. I don’t believe in breaking up families, in ripping whale calves from their mothers, or breaking up pods in the wild.
Seaworld gets rich from the sperm of psychotic unhappy Tilikum who has killed three people. It obviously cares for its employees as much as it cares for the welfare of its animals. SeaWorld may rehab/release sick seals or help beached whales and do other good deeds not mentioned in Blackfish, but I don’t think any amount of this work justifies the imprisonment of these animals.
It’s a slow evolution, but I think people are beginning to see the barbarism and greed behind these “parks.” An hour of human amusement for a lifetime of imprisonment is not a balanced equation in my view. Elephants chained 24 hours a day or Tilikum in his sad concrete pool while we go merrily about our lives is not right. Human beings do not have unlimited rights to exploit and imprison other animals for our fun. It’s disgusting. It’s Ancient Rome.
I know I would never have had gotten the chance to see whales if it had not been for SeaWorld and I can’t wait to return there.