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South China Morning Post

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A casino's plan to feature whale sharks as an attraction has sparked debate

in Singapore about the ethics of keeping animals in captivity

 

Sara Yin

May 15, 2009

 

At first glance Whale Shark Gamble seems like a bad joke. The Facebook

application invites participants to bet on how long a whale shark can

survive in a casino and offers the winner a replica fish in a glass case as

a memento.

But it soon becomes clear that the game is a cheeky campaign directed at a

Singapore casino resort's plan to import a whale shark.

 

The winning bid three years ago by Malaysian developer Genting International

to build Resorts World of Sentosa featured a marine theme park with a lagoon

where visitors could swim with a whale shark (although the largest living

fish, the whale shark is a filter feeder that relies primarily on plankton

for food).

 

The government-backed venture was predicted to attract 10 million visitors

by 2015, and generate S$15 billion (HK$79.6 billion) in tourism revenue.

What Resorts World and the government hadn't expected was the degree of

local opposition.

 

With less than a year to go before the complex is due to open on the holiday

island of Sentosa, thousands of Singaporeans have joined protests against

the whale shark plan. (Resorts World has already drawn controversy by

capturing seven bottlenose dolphins to be used in performances at its marine

attraction. The dolphins are being trained in the Philippines while the

complex is being completed.)

 

More than 9,100 people have signed an online petition drafted by the Society

For The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other animal welfare groups

(whalesharkpetition.com), calling on the government to stop the import.

About 2,000 people, mostly generation X and Y-ers, joined a Facebook group

called " I will boycott Resorts World Sentosa and its Marine Life Park " .

 

And tomorrow hundreds of university students, led by the Animal Concerns

Research and Education Society (Acres) and the National University of

Singapore, will debate the morality of capturing a whale shark for our

entertainment.

 

" This is no longer about a few people campaigning for animal rights " says

Jagdish Ramakrishnan, executive creative director of advertising company

BBDO Singapore, which created the Whale Shark Gamble. " I think people feel

that having a whale shark in Singapore would look bad. "

 

Acres executive director Louis Ng agrees. " They say the idea is based on its

tourism appeal but I think it'll negatively affect Singapore's image, " he

says " We don't need it for tourism. "

 

Resorts World spokeswoman Krist Boo says the company was initially

" surprised " by resistance to the idea but claims they have also received

many e-mails from people saying they can't wait to see the whale shark.

 

" They see the point, that it is for the sake of conservation, " she says. " At

the end of the day, we will do what is right, not just what will make money.

We've engaged aquariums around the world to learn from their successes and

failures. "

 

Animal attractions are big business in Singapore. The Night Safari,

Singapore Zoo and Jurong Bird Park (which are operated by same group) raked

in more than S$18 million in profits in 2007. And all three consistently win

top tourism prizes in the city.

 

But this time, the whale shark plan has struck a nerve among Singaporeans.

Perhaps it has something to do with increased exposure to nature programmes

on television, or that animal rights groups have taken to protesting at the

city's underused Speakers' Corner.

 

Some well publicised losses haven't helped. In 2007, a whale shark

mysteriously died at the enormous Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Months later,

another whale shark died at the US marine attraction shortly after it

arrived from Taiwan.

 

Today there are nine whale sharks held in captivity - most successfully at

the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium - but little is known about how to keep them

alive.

 

Sarah Fowler, director of the shark specialist group at the International

Union for the Conservation of Nature, doesn't know of any whale shark that

has reached maturity in captivity. " I seem to remember that all had died

before doing so, " she says.

 

But Suzanne Gendron, foundation director of the Ocean Park Conservation

Foundation, says the public is overlooking the benefits of placing animals

under human care. As an example, she cites the collaborative programme

started by global conservation body WWF and Chinese authorities in the 1970s

to place endangered pandas under protection in enormous nature reserves.

 

Although whale sharks aren't as rare as pandas were, Gendron says this is

all the more reason to bring them in for study.

 

" The sad truth about conservation is that it isn't until the numbers are

very low that the world becomes concerned, and the animals are brought in

for saving. Wouldn't it be better to bring them in and learn more about them

while there's still a good population out there? "

 

Gendron won't comment on Resorts World plans, but says facilities can be

built to meet the needs of animals in the wild. She rejects the argument by

the online petition that migratory whale sharks, which can grow to 12

metres, require an aquarium that can allow them to swim thousands of

kilometres daily.

 

" They don't need to swim 3,000 miles in a straight line, " she says. " The

reason animals move from place to place is because they're losing places to

find food. A proper facility would balance their energy requirements with

their intake and outtake. "

 

Such arguments don't convince Singaporean oil consultant Amy Long Tian-ying.

" It's going to be cooped up. Migratory animals like that are not meant to be

kept in a cage, " she says.

 

However, avid diver Robin Pho Lui-fung says a case can be made for the

greater good through conservation education. " I believe that a balance can

be reached where one shark is `sacrificed' so that hundreds in the wild can

be protected, " he says. " It is possible that having one whale shark in

captivity can wow and awe visitors so much that they will be moved and act

on protecting these beings. "

 

But conservationists such as Janet Walker, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong

Dolphinwatch, and Clarus Chu Ping-shing, a senior marine conservation

officer with WWF Hong Kong, reject the idea of keeping animals in captivity

for education's sake.

 

" You're not learning anything when you see an animal out of captivity. Their

behaviour changes once you take them out of their natural habitat, " says

Walker.

 

Still, Chu suggests there may be a compromise that can satisfy the tourism

industry and increasingly eco-conscious consumers.

 

Instead of holding animals in a relatively small area, Chu says the

eco-tourism industry could focus on expanding areas of protected natural

habitat, as the mainland has done by reserving large tracts of land for its

pandas.

 

One example is a whale shark " resort " in Donsol in the Philippines. Here,

former whale shark hunters have opted for a more lucrative career in

eco-tourism.

 

What was once a village known for capturing whale sharks is now a favourite

among marine animal lovers.

 

" People are more concerned about animal welfare than they used to be, " says

Chu. " But there are still many people who enjoy their animals in a tank. "