Marineland Beluga Whales: What Happens Next and Why This Decision Matters for Animal Welfare

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Marineland belugas are set
to leave Marineland finally.

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But where are they going to go?

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The government of Canada has allowed
some export permits to be permitted if

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they go to this one particular country.

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We're gonna talk about that
on today's episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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Let's start the show.

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Hey everybody.

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Welcome back to another exciting episode
of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, Marine
biologist and science communicator

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here to tell you what's happening with
the Ocean, how you can speak up for

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the ocean, and what you can do to live
for a better ocean by taking action.

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On today's episode, we have a huge update
in the Marineland beluga whale saga.

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Just to give you an update, there
are 30 beluga whales that are left

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at Marineland Park in Niagara Falls.

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It's a Marine theme park that's
been open since I can remember.

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The jingle that was played when I was
a kid was, everyone loves Marineland.

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Sorry for that voice, but
that's what the jingle was.

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And it's etched in my brain, but
I'm gonna tell you something.

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Not everybody loved Marineland, including
myself, especially when I became an adult.

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I got educated in it.

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I went to a show one time and I took
my girlfriend who's now my wife,

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wanted to show her like what whales
were like, not that she's never

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been to Marineland, but it was like
a common thing that we would do.

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And I remember witnessing how
badly the dolphins were treated.

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And there was a dolphin that came out
of the gate, got clipped by the gate and

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started bleeding outta the blow hole.

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They continued with the show and
allowing that dolphin to continue with

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the show instead of taking in the back.

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They said that the dolphin
wanted to continue.

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Probably not.

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It was probably injured, but probably
wanted the food that was given

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to them when they do each trick.

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Anyway, we know the saga of what's
happened with marine mammal captivity.

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Blackfish came out, and even
before that, there were advocates

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and activists that were staunchly
against captivity of these whales.

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Not only beluga whales, but orcas.

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Marine mammals of all sorts.

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It's pretty much an experiment that
we realize has not really gone well.

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You know, obviously people
want to connect with animals.

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They can connect with these whales,
see how smart they are by doing

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tricks and all that kind of stuff

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But the trade of orcas and marine
mammals in captivity got outta hand

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and it got to a point where some
trainers, some orca and dolphin

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trainers were killed over that time.

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You saw that in Blackfish.

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You saw that document in a lot of
different places, and it's unfortunate

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that people had to pass away for us to
realize that maybe this isn't a good idea.

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Blackfish came out, everything changed.

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Breeding stopped, show stopped.

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And because of that, even in Canada, they
made laws where you can't do captivity.

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You can't have it.

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The Canadian government had a law
that was called the Ending of the

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Captivity of Whale and Dolphins
Act that was enacted in 2019.

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It banned the keeping of citations
in captivity for entertainment.

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And then, so basically Marineland,
which was an entertainment facility for

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animals was essentially kind of halted.

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They were grandfathered the
whales that they had, but they

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couldn't keep any new whales.

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Now, if you know anything about
the Marine theme parks, they make

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big money on trading or selling
animals as well as breeding.

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So selling their sperms.

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They would have, you know,
breeding money from it.

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They would get revenue from
the breeding, And so the

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breeding programs were canceled.

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The captivity programs were canceled.

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And so then they weren't
allowed to do any kind of show.

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So Marineland in essence just shut
down because that was their big thing.

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Everybody loves Marineland and on
that jingle on the video on the TV

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would show an orca just jumping up
in the air and everybody being in

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awe how big and how far it could jump
out of the water and into the air.

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That was done.

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And so, so was Marineland
in and of itself.

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And so Marineland shut
down a few years ago.

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It hasn't reopened, but unfortunately
during this time, not just during the

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time where this act came in, the Ending
of Captivity of Whale and Dolphins Act.

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It essentially there was a while
for a long time, like I would say

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more than 20 years, there were
allegations and proof that the animals

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weren't being treated properly.

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There was a huge advocate that came out
that used to train a walrus at Marineland.

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He came out and said, Hey,
the facilities are crap.

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The people who are doing the
things are doing their best.

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They're trying to take care
of these animals, but you

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know, the water quality's bad.

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The animals are not treated well.

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They're not fed properly.

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Not enough money is being put into
their pools and their containers

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and their water quality and their
food and everything like that.

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So allegations kept coming
and coming and coming.

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Of course, advocates were ensuring
that the Humane Society of Canada, the

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Ontario government, a lot of other, IO,
which is I forget what it stands for.

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But essentially, you know, a lot of
animal welfare groups came out and said,

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Hey, we need to make sure that these
animals are being treated properly.

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There were a lot of fines that
had to be paid over the years.

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And then when this act came in, it
pretty much just shut down Marineland.

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It sucks to see a business
like that go outta business.

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But when it's at the behest and
at the consequence of treating

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animals poorly, then you kind of be
like, it's no wonder that happens.

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Now since its shutdown, the
property of Marineland is in

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big demand for development.

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Southern Ontario where Marineland
is in Niagara Falls, it's prime

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land for housing development, golf
courses, all that kind of stuff.

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So the Marineland company wants
to sell the land so that they

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can get outta the business.

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The parents die that
originally owned Marineland.

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The kids are like, we want out.

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We want nothing to do with this place.

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So Kiska was the orca.

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That orca passed away about a year
and a half ago, a couple years ago.

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Now they have 30 beluga whales.

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They used to have over 50 beluga whales.

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And every time those beluga
whales got transferred a number

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of years ago, the beluga whales,
there were about 50 some odd.

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About four beluga whales were
transferred over to the Mystic

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Aquarium in Connecticut.

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Now, normally Mystic
Aquarium is very good.

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They were getting these belugas.

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But the problem was, there
was concern over the health

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of the belugas in Marineland.

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And the way it was done.

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I remember doing an interview with Dr.

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Naomi Rose.

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She was saying that the way the transfer
is done is very sketchy in that the

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veterinarians of Marineland and the
veterinarians of Mystic Aquarium

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would look over the animals together
and they would make a prognosis of

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yes, they're ready to be transferred.

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First of all, when they
were about to transfer those

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animals, they switched them.

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It was supposed to be four original ones.

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They switched them to a
different ones because those

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animals were not in good health.

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And so the ones that were transferred,
one died as soon as it got there.

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And then two of them
I think died later on.

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Maybe all three of them died later on.

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These animals are not well.

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They're not taken care of properly.

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The water quality's down.

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It's very expensive to look after a whale,
and these whales were not treated well.

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And so we continue to see Marineland
trying to get rid of these whales.

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Now there's 30 of these beluga whales.

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A lot of 'em have died off.

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Marineland's, like we want them out.

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Like we can't take care of them anymore.

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And if we don't get them out,
we are going to euthanize them.

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Which is crazy to think about
euthanizing these animals 'cause you

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can't pay enough to take care of them.

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And of course you're not getting
any money 'cause it's closed down.

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You can't just euthanize animals.

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You have an ethical duty to
take care of these animals.

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They under your care, you brought
them in, you wanted money off of them.

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And now that you can't show them
off or, you know, have people pet

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them or anything like that and
you're not treating them well.

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You're just gonna say, we're just gonna
euthanize 'em if we can't sell 'em off.

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About a year ago, they said, Hey, if we
can't ship 'em off, we want a permit.

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'cause they need a permit.

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Now because of this new act.

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We want a permit to ship 'em off
to a Marine theme park in China.

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Which China will have shows, they will
breed them, they will make money off

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them, and they'll continue to do that.

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And we don't know what the standard
is for the animal welfare in

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these Marine theme parks in China.

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We just don't know how
they're being treated.

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It's not well known.

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There've been some visits,
but really we just don't know.

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It's probably not good.

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If we couldn't do it well here in Canada,

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China's not known for their
best animal rights from what I

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have heard and what I have seen.

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But you just never know.

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And we just don't know.

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And so we don't wanna take the chance.

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The government of Canada said no to
those exports because they're like,

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why are we going to ban them here?

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So you can't use 'em for entertainment.

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You can't use 'em for breeding.

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And then ship 'em off to a place where
you can use 'em for entertainment

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and you can use 'em for breeding.

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That kind of goes, it's really
hypocritical of what we're trying to do.

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We're trying to protect these whales.

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There were two options.

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One of the options is to export them to
another Marine theme park, somewhere

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else around the world that doesn't
include Russia or China, where they use

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them for entertainment and breeding.

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France doesn't allow it.

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The US sometimes they allow it
to transfer, but no new captures.

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So maybe the US or they
can go to a sanctuary.

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We'll get to the sanctuary part in
just a sec. I'm gonna make an entire

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video on the Whale Seaside sanctuary
in Nova Scotia because there's a lot

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to know in there, and I'm still trying
to get the full story around that.

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But then there's this other side
of like, Hey, where else can it go?

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Can it go to the states?

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Can it go to somewhere else in Europe?

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We just don't know.

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We were on a bit of a hiatus in
terms of exports and permits 'cause

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there were no permits issued.

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Marineland has come out over
and over and over again.

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Hey, we are going to have to euthanize
these animals if we can't get rid of them.

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They want to euthanize 'em 'cause
they can't take care of them anymore.

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But they also wanna sell their land.

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So at this point there's
a conflict of interest.

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They can make a lot of money
by getting rid of them.

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Maybe get a little money in the aquariums
that take 'em, or the theme parks that

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take 'em, that they'll pay for them.

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And/Or they can make a ton
of money, a boatload of money

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selling the land for development.

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So there's a bit of a rush on this, and
they're willing, it seems to kill these

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animals so that they can get that bag
of money when they sell it to develop.

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At this point, the Canadian government
said the Minister of Fisheries and

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Oceans met with Marineland officials and
agreed in principle to an export plan.

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But the final permits still depend
on Marineland, submitting detailed

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travel and care information, as
well as veterinary assessments of

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each animal's fitness for transport.

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Here's where there's a
possibility of them going.

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They will go to US Aquariums.

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And the potential recipients are
the Shed Aquarium in Chicago,

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the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta,
Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.

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I'll try that again.

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And SeaWorld at the various locations.

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None of these facilities have
formally confirmed acceptance yet.

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And critics are warned by sending
the belugas to other captive

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environments merely continues the
cycle of captivity rather than offering

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them a retirement in a sanctuary.

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Again, we're gonna get to that sanctuary
in just a moment lightly and briefly.

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In this episode, I'm gonna do a
deeper dive later on as I'm doing

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research to do another narrative
episode and seeing what goes on there.

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Okay, so here we go.

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Now we have this Marineland that's
putting pressure on the government

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saying, we're gonna euthanize these
animals if we can't get rid of them soon.

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We know that they wanna
sell it off for development.

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So again, that's the
part I don't understand.

231
00:09:54,518 --> 00:09:56,438
The government should
just be like, screw you.

232
00:09:56,498 --> 00:09:58,118
You're the ones who wanted these animals.

233
00:09:58,118 --> 00:09:59,138
You're gonna have to take care of them.

234
00:09:59,245 --> 00:10:02,605
If you don't take care of them we find
out you euthanize them, we're gonna

235
00:10:02,605 --> 00:10:04,615
put you in jail for animal cruelty.

236
00:10:04,675 --> 00:10:05,935
That's the way it should be.

237
00:10:06,048 --> 00:10:08,028
They should not be allowed to
euthanize, and the government

238
00:10:08,028 --> 00:10:09,075
has always come out and said.

239
00:10:09,185 --> 00:10:11,675
There's no way they're gonna be able
to euthanize 'em, but there's no way

240
00:10:11,675 --> 00:10:15,428
we'll give them permission to do so, and
there'll be serious consequences if we do.

241
00:10:15,518 --> 00:10:18,571
Hopefully that means, I hope
this never comes to fruition.

242
00:10:18,681 --> 00:10:21,415
I don't want these animals
to die for no reason.

243
00:10:21,525 --> 00:10:22,365
They are sick.

244
00:10:22,365 --> 00:10:25,095
The only way they would be euthanized
if they can't be moved, and if

245
00:10:25,095 --> 00:10:28,065
they're health is going downhill
and we can't get them better.

246
00:10:28,255 --> 00:10:29,305
So here are the choices.

247
00:10:29,305 --> 00:10:30,295
It's either export them or.

248
00:10:30,970 --> 00:10:33,160
Right now Marineland wants to
euthanize 'em, which I don't

249
00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:34,690
think is really an option.

250
00:10:34,780 --> 00:10:36,640
I don't think the government
will allow that to happen.

251
00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:40,120
Now, sometimes these businesses
will ask for forgiveness instead

252
00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:41,496
of asking for permission.

253
00:10:41,603 --> 00:10:44,273
So we don't know really what's
gonna happen to these areas.

254
00:10:44,273 --> 00:10:46,973
So there's a lot of
controversy around that.

255
00:10:46,973 --> 00:10:51,013
To me, it's just lack of responsibility
for taking care of the animals that

256
00:10:51,013 --> 00:10:52,866
made you so much money over the years.

257
00:10:52,976 --> 00:10:58,076
It's just such a disrespect, and I think
it's really where private industry gets

258
00:10:58,076 --> 00:11:03,146
a lot of criticism when it comes to these
types of situations where animals are

259
00:11:03,146 --> 00:11:05,786
involved and they're making you money,
and once they don't make you money,

260
00:11:05,786 --> 00:11:06,866
you want to kill them off.

261
00:11:06,986 --> 00:11:10,436
And I think that's really selfish of
these business, if that's what they want

262
00:11:10,436 --> 00:11:13,376
to do, especially when they can make
a boatload of money for development.

263
00:11:13,376 --> 00:11:16,256
So hopefully that's not even on the
table, but that keeps coming out in the

264
00:11:16,256 --> 00:11:19,766
press maybe because the press likes to
hear that and they like to put that in

265
00:11:19,766 --> 00:11:21,116
the headline and people will click on it.

266
00:11:21,395 --> 00:11:22,775
Who knows what's gonna happen.

267
00:11:22,888 --> 00:11:27,328
But regardless, there's gonna be
an export at some point somewhere.

268
00:11:27,328 --> 00:11:29,848
Now, this is not just the only option.

269
00:11:29,945 --> 00:11:33,935
The other option is we
export them to a sanctuary.

270
00:11:34,038 --> 00:11:36,678
Okay, so here's the Diddy on sanctuaries.

271
00:11:36,678 --> 00:11:37,908
Like, here's the information.

272
00:11:37,908 --> 00:11:38,148
Okay?

273
00:11:38,148 --> 00:11:39,768
I am gonna download
some of the information.

274
00:11:39,871 --> 00:11:41,911
Sanctuaries are not a perfect thing.

275
00:11:42,116 --> 00:11:45,566
We hear the big sanctuary is the Whale
Sea Sanctuary project that's in Port

276
00:11:45,566 --> 00:11:50,756
Hilfer Bay, Nova Scotia, or that is under
development and has some permits to put

277
00:11:50,756 --> 00:11:54,956
in place, but they're not even close to
handling belugas or any animals at this

278
00:11:54,956 --> 00:11:56,696
point 'cause there's no infrastructure.

279
00:11:56,910 --> 00:11:59,820
The Transport Canada and Department
of Fisheries and Oceans Canada

280
00:11:59,820 --> 00:12:01,710
have not issued permits for that.

281
00:12:01,810 --> 00:12:04,930
The landowners, I think there's only
one landowner that said it's okay to

282
00:12:04,930 --> 00:12:08,290
do it, but there's still four more
landowners that said, Hey, if we give

283
00:12:08,290 --> 00:12:11,530
you permission to do this, we lose access
to our harbor 'cause there's gonna be

284
00:12:11,530 --> 00:12:14,575
belugas in there 'cause there's also two
belugas that they wanna put in there.

285
00:12:14,671 --> 00:12:17,311
And as well, we lose access
to our land and our beautiful

286
00:12:17,311 --> 00:12:18,665
property that we paid so much for.

287
00:12:18,771 --> 00:12:22,041
There's a lot of controversy around
there and there's people who are saying

288
00:12:22,041 --> 00:12:23,738
like, this should not be put in place.

289
00:12:23,848 --> 00:12:27,088
It's an American company that's holding
onto it, or American organization.

290
00:12:27,198 --> 00:12:30,078
Some people are not liking what this
American organization has done in

291
00:12:30,078 --> 00:12:31,878
the past within the whale captivity.

292
00:12:31,878 --> 00:12:34,878
Some people are saying that's all false
and it's being blown outta proportion.

293
00:12:34,991 --> 00:12:38,651
I'm getting to the midst of that and
I'll probably do a more detailed episode

294
00:12:38,651 --> 00:12:43,841
coming up shortly, within the next month
or so on the whale sanctuary project.

295
00:12:43,841 --> 00:12:45,101
Want to go down the middle.

296
00:12:45,101 --> 00:12:48,521
I don't wanna say one or way or another
trying to be like a scientist and

297
00:12:48,611 --> 00:12:50,671
try not to be as biased as possible.

298
00:12:50,778 --> 00:12:51,318
So, look.

299
00:12:51,546 --> 00:12:55,746
And this sanctuary, probably not the
size for 30 belugas, maybe 10 at once,

300
00:12:55,746 --> 00:12:58,986
but we don't know if it'll all be
able to handle it if it's operational.

301
00:12:59,096 --> 00:13:02,636
And then there's also two orcas that
might be put in there as well from France.

302
00:13:02,636 --> 00:13:03,566
So we'll see what happens there.

303
00:13:04,436 --> 00:13:08,116
Now there is an existing international
sanctuary called the Sea Life

304
00:13:08,116 --> 00:13:11,026
Trust Beluga Sanctuary in Iceland.

305
00:13:11,136 --> 00:13:14,706
Now, this is currently the only
operating seaside sanctuary

306
00:13:14,706 --> 00:13:16,206
for belugas in the world.

307
00:13:16,313 --> 00:13:18,023
It is located off the coast.

308
00:13:18,023 --> 00:13:19,106
I'm gonna try and pronounce this.

309
00:13:19,216 --> 00:13:22,658
Vestmannaeyjar Something
like that in Iceland.

310
00:13:22,768 --> 00:13:24,628
I apologize if I didn't
pronounce that properly.

311
00:13:24,628 --> 00:13:26,248
I definitely didn't
pronounce that properly.

312
00:13:26,355 --> 00:13:27,315
I apologize for that.

313
00:13:27,495 --> 00:13:30,825
And it's a home to two belugas, little
gray and little white, living in

314
00:13:30,825 --> 00:13:33,105
a closed, natural bay environment.

315
00:13:33,105 --> 00:13:37,575
The facility designed for rehabilitation
and extended care in seawater rather

316
00:13:37,575 --> 00:13:39,015
than traditional aquarium tank.

317
00:13:39,065 --> 00:13:43,156
The site shows that seaside sanctuaries
can work for belugas, but it's not

318
00:13:43,156 --> 00:13:47,446
clear that it currently has the
space or the plans to take a large

319
00:13:47,446 --> 00:13:49,323
group, like the ones in Marineland.

320
00:13:49,543 --> 00:13:52,603
So advocates, nonetheless, a site
that is proof of concept and the

321
00:13:52,633 --> 00:13:54,523
true sanctuaries can be built.

322
00:13:54,523 --> 00:13:58,693
So the question here is if this is not
big enough, can it be expanded for these

323
00:13:58,693 --> 00:14:02,943
30 belugas if they're able to even
travel to Iceland to be able to do this?

324
00:14:03,050 --> 00:14:06,230
And it's in and of itself a chore to do.

325
00:14:06,350 --> 00:14:08,090
And then when I say chore,
I mean that lightly.

326
00:14:08,190 --> 00:14:10,290
it is a huge, huge chore.

327
00:14:10,290 --> 00:14:11,400
I'm underrepresenting that.

328
00:14:11,510 --> 00:14:14,240
It's a big thing, especially if they're
not doing well in the first place.

329
00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:18,026
They have to be at a certain health
level before they can be transferred.

330
00:14:18,026 --> 00:14:20,846
So if we can make 'em bigger and they
can be transferred, that would be great.

331
00:14:20,846 --> 00:14:22,228
We'll see how that works out.

332
00:14:22,341 --> 00:14:24,981
But other than that, other
places have not been built.

333
00:14:24,981 --> 00:14:27,873
Like the Whale Sanctuary project
in Nova Scotia has not been built.

334
00:14:27,983 --> 00:14:31,643
And there aren't any other areas that
can be done at this point that I know of.

335
00:14:31,643 --> 00:14:36,120
If you know of any other place, let
me know in the comments below, or go

336
00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,540
to speak up for blue.com/feedback and
you can let me know what you think,

337
00:14:39,540 --> 00:14:41,790
either by voicemail or by writing it.

338
00:14:41,795 --> 00:14:42,355
So writing it down.

339
00:14:42,813 --> 00:14:43,593
I would love to know.

340
00:14:43,700 --> 00:14:47,720
There may be some other sanctuaries or
retirement facilities in planning stages.

341
00:14:47,833 --> 00:14:50,653
Some done for bottle
nose dolphins in the past.

342
00:14:50,763 --> 00:14:54,483
But really the only other one is
probably the Whale Sanctuary project.

343
00:14:54,483 --> 00:14:57,477
And again, we just don't know if
it's big enough or the area that you

344
00:14:57,477 --> 00:14:59,277
would have belugas at this point.

345
00:14:59,277 --> 00:15:01,227
There are belugas in
the St. Lawrence River.

346
00:15:01,333 --> 00:15:02,743
It's an endangered population.

347
00:15:02,743 --> 00:15:04,753
I don't think you'd wanna put
it there because it's around

348
00:15:04,753 --> 00:15:05,713
an endangered population.

349
00:15:05,713 --> 00:15:08,570
The genetics are different, so we
probably don't wanna be doing it there.

350
00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,020
And some advocates are saying,
Hey, why don't we just let

351
00:15:11,020 --> 00:15:12,280
them free and see what happens?

352
00:15:12,390 --> 00:15:14,730
If they're gonna die in the tank,
why don't we just let them die

353
00:15:14,790 --> 00:15:16,350
at sea and see what happens.

354
00:15:16,460 --> 00:15:17,360
Now we've seen some.

355
00:15:17,742 --> 00:15:23,712
There's one beluga in Russia that is
free and that has an impact, I guess.

356
00:15:23,818 --> 00:15:26,488
It comes up to boaters all the time,
and you can throw a ball to it and

357
00:15:26,488 --> 00:15:27,748
it'll go fetch and it'll bring it back.

358
00:15:27,748 --> 00:15:30,058
But it is surviving out at sea.

359
00:15:30,058 --> 00:15:33,538
But you gotta remember, a lot of these
belugas have never been to sea before.

360
00:15:33,538 --> 00:15:34,918
They've never been in the open ocean.

361
00:15:34,918 --> 00:15:38,635
They may not know how to eat
on their own, hunt on their own.

362
00:15:38,738 --> 00:15:41,448
They may be required, have care, right?

363
00:15:41,448 --> 00:15:45,738
These belugas have been raised
in captivity and have been fed by

364
00:15:45,738 --> 00:15:47,748
hand for a very, very long time.

365
00:15:47,858 --> 00:15:52,388
And so they may not be able to survive on
their own and they may require that care.

366
00:15:52,495 --> 00:15:55,315
And to be honest, all of this is new.

367
00:15:55,815 --> 00:15:59,985
It's an experiment to release captive
whales, especially those who have won,

368
00:15:59,985 --> 00:16:01,995
haven't been out in the Ocean ever.

369
00:16:02,325 --> 00:16:05,895
'cause they've been born in captivity
or if they were in captivity and

370
00:16:05,895 --> 00:16:06,705
they were caught for a while.

371
00:16:06,705 --> 00:16:09,525
They haven't been back in a long
time, which is usually the case

372
00:16:09,525 --> 00:16:11,055
for some of these older orcas.

373
00:16:11,165 --> 00:16:13,415
In this case with Marineland, we
just don't even know if they're

374
00:16:13,415 --> 00:16:15,125
healthy enough to do anything with.

375
00:16:15,235 --> 00:16:17,212
So some advocates are
saying, Hey, you know what?

376
00:16:17,318 --> 00:16:18,968
Why don't we just keep them here?

377
00:16:19,118 --> 00:16:21,548
Like, why don't we just keep 'em
into Marineland, keep 'em like

378
00:16:21,548 --> 00:16:25,208
the best care possible until
they eventually all pass away.

379
00:16:25,238 --> 00:16:27,458
It's sad no matter what you do.

380
00:16:27,458 --> 00:16:30,308
If you get them up and you move
them down to the US, it's sad.

381
00:16:30,308 --> 00:16:32,888
If you export them to China, which
is not gonna happen, it's sad

382
00:16:32,888 --> 00:16:35,768
because they're going into another
entertainment and they're going into

383
00:16:35,768 --> 00:16:39,068
a breeding kind of life, and that's
not one a life that we wanna see for

384
00:16:39,068 --> 00:16:40,748
these belugas or any captive whale.

385
00:16:41,135 --> 00:16:44,345
And then, you know, if they go to a
sanctuary, they may die on the way there.

386
00:16:44,345 --> 00:16:45,395
They may not do well in there.

387
00:16:45,502 --> 00:16:48,538
Unfortunately we're in a
situation where no answer is easy.

388
00:16:48,645 --> 00:16:53,745
There are hard opinions on every
single side, including the ones who

389
00:16:53,745 --> 00:16:57,375
just want them to stay in Marineland,
where they are, and just live out

390
00:16:57,375 --> 00:17:00,758
their last days being taken care
of the best they possibly can.

391
00:17:00,872 --> 00:17:02,992
And that could be like, they
could survive for another year.

392
00:17:02,992 --> 00:17:04,192
They could survive for another 10 years.

393
00:17:04,192 --> 00:17:05,482
We just don't know.

394
00:17:05,585 --> 00:17:09,335
And so it's not an easy answer
no matter how we look at it.

395
00:17:09,515 --> 00:17:11,285
And so there's options out there.

396
00:17:11,375 --> 00:17:13,305
We'll see like which
options come to fruition.

397
00:17:13,415 --> 00:17:15,275
And unfortunately, we're just
gonna have to live with the

398
00:17:15,275 --> 00:17:19,055
consequences of those options,
whether they're good and hopefully.

399
00:17:19,225 --> 00:17:23,005
They are good or whether they're bad, and
that's just the way it's gonna have to go.

400
00:17:23,035 --> 00:17:25,945
But again, I would love to hear your
opinion on this 'cause this is the

401
00:17:25,945 --> 00:17:28,855
beginning of a conversation that
I would love for you to continue.

402
00:17:28,855 --> 00:17:31,195
Let me know in the comments below
if you're watching this on YouTube.

403
00:17:31,195 --> 00:17:34,675
And again, if you're listening to this on
your favorite podcast app, audio style.

404
00:17:34,765 --> 00:17:35,815
I love the audio.

405
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:41,080
Go to speak up for blue.com/feedback
and let me know what you think.

406
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:42,760
You can either type it in
there or leave me a voicemail.

407
00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,117
I would love to hear what you think.

408
00:17:45,227 --> 00:17:49,787
Let me know in the comments below or
at speak up for blue.com/feedback.

409
00:17:49,877 --> 00:17:51,107
That's the episode for today.

410
00:17:51,107 --> 00:17:53,117
I wanna thank you so much for listening.

411
00:17:53,220 --> 00:17:56,970
I wanna thank you so much for trying
to get more information on oceans

412
00:17:56,970 --> 00:18:00,090
and, you know, whale captivity and
what's gonna happen with these whales.

413
00:18:00,090 --> 00:18:03,350
We're at a very interesting
crossroads with what to do with

414
00:18:03,350 --> 00:18:05,990
these whales and I don't know if
there's a good answer, to be honest.

415
00:18:05,990 --> 00:18:07,880
I really don't know, but I'd
love to hear your opinion.

416
00:18:07,983 --> 00:18:10,143
Thank you so much for joining
me on today's episode of the How

417
00:18:10,143 --> 00:18:11,253
to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

418
00:18:11,253 --> 00:18:14,163
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from
the True Nords Strong and Free.

419
00:18:14,163 --> 00:18:14,763
Have a great day.

420
00:18:14,763 --> 00:18:16,923
We'll talk to you next time
and happy conservation.