Following the recent death of a beluga whale at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, which spurred widespread condemnation among animal protection groups, Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) yesterday said he had issued an ordinance prohibiting the museum from importing protected marine species until a proper system for looking after the animals’ welfare has been established.
Museum veterinarian Lee Tsung-hsien (李宗賢) said that the 13-year old beluga whale, named Blue, had not eaten since Sept. 24 and also exhibited other odd repetitive behaviors, including keeping its distance from the pool walls and swimming in circles.
A blood test found that the whale had a high white blood cell count. The condition of the whale deteriorated on Monday evening and after antibiotic treatment failed, the animal died at 9:05pm on Tuesday, Lee said.
The preliminary results of an autopsy on Wednesday found that the whale had died of acute septicemia, with an accumulation of pus in its lungs and stomach.
Wu yesterday ordered the museum not to import any more beluga whales or whale sharks until measures ensuring the welfare of animals were in place, saying that he would order personnel from the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Department of Lifelong Education to study how other countries provide care for these animals.
He would listen to the arguments of animal rights advocacy groups, he said.
Department of Lifelong Education Deputy Head Lee Yu-chuan (李毓娟) said that despite issuing the ordinance, the ministry deems that the museum and Hi-Scene World Enterprises Co Ltd, which was responsible for the procurement of 10 beluga whales, to have taken good care of the cetaceans because the two entities have retained the autopsy reports of each of the seven belugas which have died from 2002 to date.
However, Environmental and Animal Society of Taiwan director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) dismissed the assertion describing what she said were “appalling living conditions” at the museum.
She said that two of the six belugas procured by the company in 2002 died upon arriving in Taiwan, followed by another four which died in 2008 and 2009. Conditions at the aquarium have adverse effects on the animals’ immune systems, as a number of belugas were found to have died from bacterial infections, she said.
Beluga whales live for an average of 35 years in the wild, while those kept in captivity live for an average of about 20 years, she said, calling for a third-party agency to be established to monitor the cetaceans’ living environment, to prevent the lives of the remaining three whales from also being at risk.
The 25-year buy-operate-transfer (BOT) contract struck between Hi-Scene and the museum helped the company rake in NT$800 million (US$26.27 million) last year alone, but the premium the company pays to the museum has been decreasing, and stood at about NT$25 million last year, she said.
She urged a thorough examination of the BOT contract to ensure that a sufficient budget is allocated for the welfare of beluga whales.
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