What's the Problem?
After a former trainer from Marineland came out and spoke against the park's cruel treatment of their animals and the foul, toxic water that they are being housed in, attention is finally being paid. Now if only we can keep it rolling...
Basically the animals are suffering many ailments due to the extremely poor water quality and lack of attention paid to this serious issue.
Now let me give you an example of a personal experience of mine...
As a professional mermaid, I spend a lot of time in chlorine water at various pools around town. When training I wear goggles, but when I perform I don't since who wants to see a mermaid with goggles on right? Now to be clear, I can't actually see more than light, dark, colour and various shapes underwater, but I do keep my eyes open underwater to complete the mermaid look.
For one of my videos I was doing a Q&A session where I was answering some of the more popular questions I get asked. Earlier during my swim I had encounter many small children who wanted to see some of my tricks. After having spent about two hours, a good chunk of it underwater with my eyes open, I was starting to feel pretty awful. Then I did my interview and by then my eyes had already started to go. By the time I was dropped off at home, a white fog was clouding my vision. I got upstairs and rinsed my eyes again and laid down on my couch. I dozed off for a minute or two and when I woke up I had about 20% of my vision left. I could barely open my eyes and could feel with my fingers that my eyes were really swollen. This lasted almost four hours, most of which I was in a lot of pain with an icepack over my face. I couldn't see well enough to find my phone to call for anyone either and I was alone.
Now that was only a two hour experience in chlorine water. Imagine living your life in it everyday! Imagine the searing pain, the swollen eyes, the constant white, frightening fog! Not to mention the raging headache!
Watch me in this video, if you have time, and see how I squint and how red my eyes are. I try really hard to make it look like it doesn't hurt, but it really does, especially at the part where I swim under and come up with my eyes open.
Basically the animals are suffering many ailments due to the extremely poor water quality and lack of attention paid to this serious issue.
Now let me give you an example of a personal experience of mine...
As a professional mermaid, I spend a lot of time in chlorine water at various pools around town. When training I wear goggles, but when I perform I don't since who wants to see a mermaid with goggles on right? Now to be clear, I can't actually see more than light, dark, colour and various shapes underwater, but I do keep my eyes open underwater to complete the mermaid look.
For one of my videos I was doing a Q&A session where I was answering some of the more popular questions I get asked. Earlier during my swim I had encounter many small children who wanted to see some of my tricks. After having spent about two hours, a good chunk of it underwater with my eyes open, I was starting to feel pretty awful. Then I did my interview and by then my eyes had already started to go. By the time I was dropped off at home, a white fog was clouding my vision. I got upstairs and rinsed my eyes again and laid down on my couch. I dozed off for a minute or two and when I woke up I had about 20% of my vision left. I could barely open my eyes and could feel with my fingers that my eyes were really swollen. This lasted almost four hours, most of which I was in a lot of pain with an icepack over my face. I couldn't see well enough to find my phone to call for anyone either and I was alone.
Now that was only a two hour experience in chlorine water. Imagine living your life in it everyday! Imagine the searing pain, the swollen eyes, the constant white, frightening fog! Not to mention the raging headache!
Watch me in this video, if you have time, and see how I squint and how red my eyes are. I try really hard to make it look like it doesn't hurt, but it really does, especially at the part where I swim under and come up with my eyes open.
What can we do about it?
Here are some things we can do! First off I would recommend checking out Marineland Animal Defense if you haven't already done so! They have a lot of information on their site that is really worth checking out!
They also include contact information for Libby Davies (an NDP member who, years ago, introduced a private members bill to close the loophole that allows for which allows wild caught cetaceans to be imported into Canada despite the fact that we don't allow cetaceans to be caught in the wild in Canada) and how you can get in touch with her. For more information on who she is, please check out the post on Marineland Animal Defense. They have her email and various phone numbers as well.
I did a search on Change.org for Marineland petitions that you could all sign and here is what I've come up with so far:
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/save-marineland-s-animals
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/marineland-ontario-stop-profiting-from-animal-cruelty#
Please, if you have any more petitions or any more information on this, please comment or send us an email!
They also include contact information for Libby Davies (an NDP member who, years ago, introduced a private members bill to close the loophole that allows for which allows wild caught cetaceans to be imported into Canada despite the fact that we don't allow cetaceans to be caught in the wild in Canada) and how you can get in touch with her. For more information on who she is, please check out the post on Marineland Animal Defense. They have her email and various phone numbers as well.
I did a search on Change.org for Marineland petitions that you could all sign and here is what I've come up with so far:
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/save-marineland-s-animals
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/marineland-ontario-stop-profiting-from-animal-cruelty#
Please, if you have any more petitions or any more information on this, please comment or send us an email!
I leave you with this inspiring video of protestors outside Marineland on August 18th, 2012.
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