WASHINGTON—The HSUS is applauding Argentina’s decision to deny
an export permit on a wild-caught orca who has been kept at a
marine park in that country since 1992.
Last October Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in Ohio made a
joint request to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
for a permit to import Shouka, a captive-bred orca from France,
and Kshamenk, a wild-caught orca kept at Mundo Marino in
Argentina. The HSUS and other organizations expressed concerns
about this permit request in letters to the NMFS in December
and March. In its letters, The HSUS argued that questions
surrounding the legality of Kshamenk’s acquisition from the
wild could lead to the denial of his export permit and leave
Shouka languishing alone at the marine park in Ohio. At the
time that the joint import permit application was made,
Shouka’s export permit had already been approved by France but
the status of Kshamenk’s export permit was undecided. In May,
the U.S. import permit was approved by the NMFS despite the
fact that Argentina had not yet made a decision on Kshamenk’s
export permit. Shouka was flown to Ohio only days later and
since then has been housed alone at the Six Flags park in
Geauga Lake.
Argentina’s denial of the export permit issued on July 29
was prompted by controversy over the manner in which Kshamenk
was acquired from the wild in 1992. The HSUS and animal
protection organizations in the U.S. and in Argentina have
argued that Kshamenk may have been forcibly stranded as a way
for Mundo Marino to get around Argentina’s laws and resolutions
that currently prohibit the capture of marine mammals from the
wild. “The Argentinean government made the right move in
denying the export permit,” said Dr. Naomi Rose, marine mammal
scientist for The HSUS. “We only wish that the NMFS would have
been as attentive as Argentina to issues concerning Kshamenk’s
acquisition. We are now asking them to rescind the import
permit.”
On July 15, The HSUS, along with the Earth Island Institute
and Cetacean Society International, filed a lawsuit in the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the
issuance of the import permit, arguing violations of the Marine
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA). The plaintiffs contend that the handling of
Kshamenk’s “stranding” in Argentina was not in accordance with
Argentinean resolutions and laws, and hence the import permit
is in violation of the MMPA. Reports on Kshamenk’s age and
health status at the time indicate that he would have been an
ideal candidate for immediate return to sea to rejoin his
pod.
In addition, the suit charges that the issuance of the
import permit by NMFS is in violation of NEPA, as the agency
did not complete an environmental assessment as required before
issuing the permit. Now that Kshamenk’s export permit has been
denied, the lawsuit’s arguments are considerably strengthened,
especially if NMFS allows the import permit to remain open and
valid.
The HSUS argues that flying Shouka back to France and her
tank-mates would be the lesser of two evils when the
alternative is for her to continue to swim alone in Ohio. Dr.
Rose stated, “Orcas are intelligent, highly social animals who
live in close-knit communities. The current living conditions
for both orcas are inhumane. Now that Argentina has denied the
export permit on Kshamenk, NMFS’s actions have, in effect,
sentenced Shouka to an indefinite existence of social
deprivation. We are also concerned about Kshamenk’s situation.
He too is swimming alone and probably in poor conditions in the
Mundo Marino marine park. If he cannot be rehabilitated for
release to the wild, we believe that as a second-best
alternative he should be retired from the entertainment
business and allowed to spend the rest of his life in a sea pen
in the waters of his birth.”
