Ocean Park cancels plans to import wild-caught beluga whales.
Capture methods used for wild cetaceans are invasive, stressful and potentially lethal. Captive facilities, with their space limitations and commercial considerations, cannot provide conditions that allow cetaceans to express their natural behaviours to meet their physical and psychological needs.
The Asia for Animals Coalition wrote to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park and meet with the senior management seeking abandonment of these plans and we are therefore very pleased to hear no beluga whales will be specifically captured from the wild to be brought to Hong Kong. We will continue to liaise with Ocean Park on this issue.