A newly printed report by the China Cetacean Alliance (CCA) – a coalition of worldwide and Chinese language animal welfare organizations – has discovered that China has overtaken america because the holder of the very best variety of captive orcas.
The CCA’s report Ocean Theme Parks: China’s Rising Captive Cetacean Trade (2019-2024), has revealed that there at the moment are 22 orcas (also referred to as killer whales) within the nation, most of that are on public show with ‘minimal welfare safeguards’.
Furthermore, Chinese language theme parks now home an estimated 1,307 cetaceans from a complete of 15 totally different species, together with the world’s largest variety of captive bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales, totalling greater than 730 and 145 animals respectively.
Whereas a lot of the world is transitioning away from captive cetacean shows, with many Western tour operators now refusing to market sights that contain them, China is constructing extra.
As of July 2024, CCA stories that 101 captive cetacean amenities have been working in China, with an extra 11 underneath building – greater than double the quantity documented within the CCA’s 2015 report. 5 new institutions have opened within the final 5 years alone.
There are at the moment 18 captive orcas held within the US on the three SeaWorld parks. The shows at the moment are marketed as academic encounters fairly than aquatic circus reveals; no new animals are captured for show functions and the orca breeding programmes resulted in 2016.
In sharp distinction, China has imported 15 orcas from the Russian Sea of Okhotsk, and the opposite seven have been born in captivity. Many of the orcas have been solely placed on show in 2023, at a model new facility referred to as Chimelong Spaceship primarily based in Hengqin Island, Zhuhai, within the province of Guangdong.
In keeping with the report, since Russia banned the seize of orcas and belugas for leisure in 2018, China has more and more centered on captive breeding programmes and importing animals from Japan to satisfy the demand for the brand new theme parks.
‘China is the marketplace for wild-caught cetaceans, which has harmed its worldwide repute, destabilized free-ranging populations, and resulted in an unknown variety of animal deaths,’ mentioned Dr Naomi Rose, senior scientist in marine mammal biology on the Animal Welfare Institute, which is a founding member of CCA.
‘The Chinese language ocean theme park business is incapable of assembly the complicated bodily and behavioural wants of cetaceans,’ mentioned Rose, who visited China in January 2024 to watch orcas residing in amenities there.
‘An growing variety of amenities provide guests swim- or dive-with-cetacean experiences, placing the general public in danger (as evidenced by the rising variety of reported accidents), whereas failing to supply significant conservation data. Furthermore, many animals are affected by publicly documented coach abuse and lack of specialised veterinary care.’
Detailed data on the standing of the captive animals inside China’s ocean theme parks is troublesome to acquire, as there is no such thing as a publicly out there supply of knowledge.
CCA’s report, nevertheless, cites a number of troubling deaths, together with these of two critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoises.
Moreover, the variety of wild-caught cetaceans registered as imported to China within the database of the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) doesn’t match export information from the originating nations, together with Japan.
In keeping with the report, variations within the import and export knowledge complete greater than 380 particular person animals, making it an ‘space of essential concern for the federal government and the business’ because it ‘represents a possible violation of CITES laws.’
CCA has advisable that China’s authorities launch unbiased investigations into CITES import knowledge and captive cetacean welfare, whereas additionally prohibiting shut contact actions between guests and cetaceans and making ready plans to part out their show at ocean theme parks.
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