Today I signed a "no whaleshark in Singapore" petition that is supported by many major organizations locally and internationally such as PETA, Sea Shepherds, ACRES, Cicada Tree Eco-Place and the Green Volunteers.
The good thing about this petition is that once I put my name down to the form, it will email the pre-written letter (which you can also edit to customize) to the 1) Minister of National Development, 2) the Singapore Tourism Board and 3) Resorts World at Sentosa.
Shortly after I click sign, I got an automated reply from Resorts World with the following:Corporate Social Responsibility "csr@rwsentosa.com" to "leafmonkey@gmail.com" 5:23pm
All I can say is, I will not be visiting the Marine Life Park.
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
We will be compiling your comments and addressing the points raised. Do visit our website (www.rwsentosa.com) for updates.
We look forward to welcoming you at the Marine Life Park.
The Marine Life Park Team
And that is precisely why I signed the petition isn't it? How could they be asking me to visit the marine life park? I will not use my consumer dollars to support the captivity of large marine mammals. It's interesting that the whaleshark petition website quotes Jacques Cousteau. When I was in US, I was the news intern for Jacques' son, Jean Michael Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society who actually led the campaign to free the star of Free Willy, Keiko. Since then, I have never visited a single "marine life park" or "sea world". 
Whale flute sighted in the wild. Photo taken in 2005.
Definitely not after I had the pleasure of going on a whale kayaking trip and seeing these large animals free in the wild. A whale shark is not a whale but there is no difference. Besides, first a whale shark, next a whale? No animal of that size should be kept in a tank. No fish tank would ever be big enough to replace the ocean. This is not a gold fish we can flush down the toilet bowl after it dies. Are we willing to take responsibility for that?
Have you signed the petition yet?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
I signed the No Whaleshark petition, have you?
I can be contacted at 
6 comments:
i remember cousteau's son tried to work with one of the IR bidders to build an aquarium. anyway, everyone talk only. i suspect half of those who signed the petition are among the 20,000 people who want to work in the IR
Jacques Cousteau has many sons :) Jean-Michael is the eldest son.
According to this news article, The son who wanted to work with the Eight Wonder proposal is "Philippe Cousteau, President, EarthEcho International".
Singapore has 4.8 million population. Surely 20,000 is only 0.4% of Singapore's population. Even if I'm desperate for a job I won't work for the IR. And if I work for the IR, I'll probably want to try to make it better. haha I'll go join the gahmen instead lol
but wait, i must say that that's just me. There is nothing wrong with wanting a job in this recession. We'll just hope that the other 99.6% of the population will sign the petition then :)
Well said Monkey!
I have signed the petition and I would also like to encourage all those willing to do their part. cheers!
Consider signing the petitions at our website.
Thank you for this post, I reposted it on my blog last week - http://seelanpalay.blogspot.com/2009/03/petition-against-whale-sharks-in.html
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