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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Jan 29, 2014 - 12:31pm PT
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There's Mormon cricketts? They must need saving.
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2014 - 12:42pm PT
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Honey Badgers rock!
Truly badass!
Great one moosedrool!
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2014 - 04:09pm PT
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For those in the San Diego, CA area:
There will be a protest held Sunday February 16, 10 am PST. Please see the attached link for details. I hope that some of you can make it, and please let us know if you do!
https://www.facebook.com/events/562870523790162/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
I'm going!
PROTEST $EA WORLD PRESIDENTS DAY WEEKEND $AN DIEGO!
Sunday, February 16 at 10:00am
Sea World San Diego in San Diego, California
242 people are going
‘Blackfish’ Creators Challenge SeaWorld to Open Debate
Posted on January 27, 2014 by Alisha Mims •
The director of the SeaWorld exposé, documentary film Blackfish, issued a challenge to the multi-billion dollar corporation. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite asked SeaWorld to engage in a debate over issues addressed in the film after the company released a statement claiming the film is “propaganda” and untrue.
“As we have always maintained, we welcome an open and honest discussion with SeaWorld,” her statement on The Dodo says. “Unfortunately, Sea World’s business model is built on an antiquated form of animal entertainment which is dwindling in popularity and is no longer seen as humane by many people.”
Cowperthwaite also responded to SeaWorld’s assertion that Blackfish is “emotionally manipulative.” “We believe our audience is intelligent and in control of their own emotions,” she said. “We urge them to conduct additional research on topics such as SeaWorld’s separation of mothers and calves, the increased mortality rate of orcas in captivity, the impact of captivity on orca health, and the frequency of killer whales injuring one another and trainers.”
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2014 - 07:24pm PT
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Also Ron,
I think they are cute!
“SeaWorld claims it does not capture killer whales in the wild.”
Evidence shows that SeaWorld has other groups capture wild animals for them. Cowperthwaite notes that SeaWorld is currently attempting to import wild-caught beluga whales from Russia. “‘Rescues’ are often veiled attempts to secure wild animals,” she said. “A whale called Morgan, rescued in the Netherlands in 2010, was not released as local law required but was instead transported to a park in Spain. When SeaWorld published documents listing its ‘assets,’ Morgan appeared as part of its ‘collection.’”
“Why SeaWorld stays relatively quiet on wild captures and killings.”
In the midst of the annual culling and slaughter of wild dolphins in Taiji, Japan as well as the capture of orcas and beluga whales in Russia, SeaWorld remains relatively quiet, despite touting claims of its conservation efforts. The company has vast resources and could be a strong voice against the cruel practices of killing and capturing wild cetaceans. SeaWorld obtained a pilot whale in 2010 that was reportedly captured in a drive hunt. Cowperthwaite notes that the company could easily provide evidence of how its beluga whales and other animals are captured, if there is nothing to hide.
“SeaWorld claims it does not separate killer whale mothers and calves.”
Orcas are highly social animals that live in matrilineal family groups and work very closely with their pods for survival. Orcas stay with their family groups for life. Capturing orcas from the wild, particularly separating calves from mothers, as with other cetaceans, is an extremely inhumane and traumatic act. “SeaWorld’s claim that it does not separate them is patently false,” Cowperthwaite says. (See list of mother-calf separations).
Separations are extremely cruel and can lead whales to injure themselves or become severely depressed. “For example, during the course of our investigation we learned the story of a killer whale who became distraught when her daughter Skyla as shipped to another park,” she notes.
Kalina “broke open her face,” suffering lacerations from banging into the gate separating her from her baby, who was only two years of age at the time. At the same moment, Skyla was being harnessed and craned out of the pool. According to our sources, Kalina and other whales can stop eating and “shut down” due to the trauma of these unnatural separations, and may even be put on diazepam (valium) in an attempt to ease the stress.
Even the image that SeaWorld uses to advertise that it keeps mothers and calves together shows a calf that was, in fact, separated from its mother in Texas. The mother, Takara, is kept at SeaWorld San Antonio and the calf, Kohana, was moved to Loro Parque, Spain.
“SeaWorld maligns individuals who draw less than favorable conclusions about their practices.”
SeaWorld brands scientists, anti-captivity activists, former trainers, and independent researchers, who report on SeaWorld’s practices, as “radical activists.” The documentary Blackfish features interviews with individuals who captured wild orcas for SeaWorld as well as former trainers and scientists who have studied wild orcas for a living. “Maligning them on [the basis that they have independently come to a conclusion that is not favorable to SeaWorld] does not make for responsible criticism,” Cowperthwaite says.
In addition, SeaWorld has created a misleading marketing effort to hide human deaths caused by orcas in captivity. One well-known example is the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, whom an executive for SeaWorld said should be blamed for her own death. SeaWorld also reported that the cause of Brancheau’s death in 2010 was purely a result of her own “mistake” and that her death was a result of “curiosity” or “play” by the whale Tilikum. However, “The nature of Tilikum’s attack on Dawn Brancheau was prolonged and violent,” says Cowperthwaite.
SeaWorld also refuses to acknowledge that captive orcas die at nearly three times the rate at which they die in the wild, and are often prescribed medication to deal with chronic symptoms brought on as a result of captivity. Captive orcas exhibit physical signs of distress as well as emotional. In captive male orcas, 100 percent exhibit dorsal fin collapse, which is suspected to be caused by whales spending lots of time floating at the surface of their tanks and swimming in circles or in the same direction in small containment pools in which they spend their entire lives.
On Friday, SeaWorld responded to the invitation for debate, rejecting it outright. Fred Jacobs, vice president for corporate communications at SeaWorld called the suggestion to hold a public debate “little more than a publicity stunt.” Jacobs further said that the company has “no interest in helping promote a film this dishonest and manipulative.”
Alisha is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. You can follow her on Twitter @childoftheearth.
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cuvvy
Sport climber
arkansas
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Jan 30, 2014 - 02:24am PT
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Let's not save the junk eating bears.
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 30, 2014 - 10:30pm PT
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 2, 2014 - 09:57am PT
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Tragic!
Continuing an exceptionally murderous run, fishermen in Taiji, Japan, slaughtered 65 striped dolphins on Tuesday, reports Sea Shepherd.
“It was nothing short of a horror movie,” read a statement on the group’s Facebook page. By the end of the daylong hunt, the entire pod, “including babies and juveniles, was nothing more than slabs of meat loaded onto skiffs and used as seats for the killers on their way to the butcher house.”
The 65 deaths came on the heels of the town's fishermen killing 40 bottlenose dolphins on Jan. 22 and 24 on Jan. 9. Prior to the Jan. 22 cull, the largest one-day kill in the 2013–2014 hunting season had occurred on Nov. 23, 2013, when 54 striped dolphins met their demise.
Kennedy Tweet Sparks Global Outrage Over 'Cove' Slaughter
According to Ceta-base, 1,270 dolphins from six species have been driven into the notorious killing cove this season; of those, 694 were killed, 422 were released, and 153 were captured live.
Every year beginning Sept. 1 and ending the following April, approximately 25 fishermen from the village, population 2,000, drive pods of dolphins and smaller whales from Japan’s Kuman-nada Sea into a shallow inlet. The younger ones are separated from their pod mates and sold for upwards of $125,000 each to aquariums in Japan and around the world. The others are impaled with harpoons and butchered—their mercury-rich meat destined for dining tables across parts of Asia.
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 2, 2014 - 10:31pm PT
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Check out Kid Creaton!
After blackfish inspires almost all bands to cancel their performances at SeaWorld, we wondered who would ignore the cries of cruelty and give SeaWorld a performance they now desperately needed. So it is no surprise that Kid Rock has now agreed to play at the upcoming concert, he is already a public supporter of animal cruelty, "My biggest extravagance is fur coats - I've got every kind of animal in my wardrobe." Despite all our efforts, there will always be those who simply do not care about the treatment of animals, no matter how cruel, senseless, and heartbreaking it may be. But it is still important for us to continue to fight and give animals a voice to be heard, SeaWorld and their shrinking number of supporters will not deter us!
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 2, 2014 - 10:42pm PT
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The dolphin hunts in Taiji are driven by the captive dolphin entertainment industry. Don't buy a ticket! Take a stand!
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JMC
climber
the land of milk and honey
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Sitting around the lunch table one day, it was the usual multinational mix - Indian, American, Norwegian, Japanese. The topic of whales came up, and both the Norwegian and Japanese scowled in irritation at the modern state of legal affairs presiding over whale meat.
I've eaten canned whale meat, tasted like dog food (which I have also eaten). My sister has had the fresh stuff up in northern Japan, wasn't to her palate. I'll still seek it out the next time I'm there.
There's a distinct difference between fishing for and eating these mammals and having them do tricks in a small pond. Dogs, horses, rats, monkeys - all are foodstuffs for one culture or another. Remember too, the pig is a pretty smart animal.
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2014 - 11:40am PT
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How the rich get richer!
SeaWorld won't pay income taxes for years!
"We won't be a taxpayer for several years to come," SeaWorld President and Chief Executive OfficerJim Atchison told prospective investors shortly before the company went public. "That's a great advantage for us."
SeaWorld is avoiding income taxes even as business is booming. The company's pre-tax profits more than tripled in 2012 to $117 million. Total sales across its 11 parks climbed 7 percent to more than $1.4 billion.
Tax-reform advocates say SeaWorld symbolizes a broken U.S. tax system. The federal government gave away as much money in corporate tax breaks in 2011 — $181 billion — as it raised in corporate-tax revenue, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office in Washington.
The losses drain state treasuries, too. Florida and other states lean heavily on the federal tax code when calculating their own corporate-income taxes.
SeaWorld says it is acting within "both the letter and spirit" of all tax laws.
"SeaWorld has an obligation to act in the best interests of its shareholders," the company said in a written statement. "In claiming deductions specifically added to the tax code by our elected representatives for the purpose of encouraging investment, SeaWorld is doing nothing more than what other businesses and individual taxpayers do in filing their returns each year."
In an interview, Atchison defended the company's practices. "I think it's fair that we, as an organization, follow the U.S. tax laws," he said.
Beyond that, "I think judgments about fair or unfair are best" left to members of Congress and other policymakers, Atchison added.
Senior lawmakers in both political parties have begun discussing a broad corporate-tax overhaul, fueled in part by reports of minimal tax payments by major American businesses, from SeaWorld to General Electric Co. to Apple Inc. But agreeing on changes will be difficult, as individual companies and industries lobby to preserve preferential treatment.
While refraining from discussing SeaWorld directly, some members of Florida's congressional delegation say reforms are necessary.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Alan Grayson said in an emailed statement that the Orlando Democrat thinks that "all profitable U.S. companies should pay U.S. income taxes."
"They should not have two separate set of books (one for shareholders and a different one for the IRS)," spokeswoman Lauren Doney added.
The single biggest driver of SeaWorld's tax savings is a break known as "accelerated depreciation."
When companies invest in things like equipment and machinery, the value of those assets declines over time as they age. Accelerated depreciation allows companies to write off the value of those investments faster for tax purposes than the value actually declines.
For example, SeaWorld and other theme-park owners are allowed to deduct the value of rides in as few as seven years, even though those attractions typically remain in service for far longer. SeaWorld Orlando's "Journey to Atlantis" opened 15 years ago, yet it remains one of the marine park's marquee rides.
The result is that companies get to take bigger tax deductions — and therefore pay fewer taxes — in the earlier years of their investments.
In theory, companies that use accelerated depreciation will have to pay higher taxes later, once they have completely written off the asset. But tax experts say companies often indefinitely defer those tax payments because they continually buy and build new assets that can be written off.
That is easier to do for businesses in capital-intensive industries — such as theme parks, which must constantly build and renovate attractions to continue drawing visitors.
SeaWorld has accumulated an extraordinary amount of depreciation, thanks to its 2009 sale to the private-equity firm Blackstone Group. Analysts say that deal was structured in such a way that much of the $2.3 billion purchase price was allocated to tax-depreciable assets.
Altogether, SeaWorld has amassed $556 million worth of tax credits based on losses it has reported — for tax purposes — since the sale to Blackstone, which remains SeaWorld's majority shareholder. The cushion should ensure that SeaWorld will not have to pay any significant amount in cash for income taxes over the next few years, though Atchison would not say how long he expected those credits to last.
The credits will not begin expiring until 2029, according to SeaWorld's regulatory filings.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Good for Sea World!
It's your patriotic duty as an American to pay as little tax as legally possible.
You should see some of my deductions.
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karen roseme
Mountain climber
san diego
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 4, 2014 - 03:23pm PT
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Sunday, February 16, 2014
10:00am until 1:00pm
This is President’s Day Weekend more people visit $ea World. It is a three day weekend and this day is known to be very busy. We are here to tell you it is time to EMPTY THE TANKS!
Really $ea World saying the movie BLACKFISH wasn't accurate. How dare you!
We must let $ea World know that we will not stop being a voice for these precious creatures who have lost their right to freedom, their right to live a natural life and are now imprisoned, artificially inseminated and forced to perform 'tricks' for food
Sea World San Diego
500 Sea World Dr, San Diego, California 92101
View Map · Get Directions
I'm going!
https://www.facebook.com/events/562870523790162/permalink/585627074847840/
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
where the wind always blows
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Karen Roseme,
Simple question. How many acres and animals have hunters protected?
-Q-ball
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bigbird
climber
WA
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How many acres and animals have hunters protected?
Technically anyone hunting invasive species like Nutrias or fishing Asian Carp in the south is in fact protecting native wildlife and plants...
kind of the exception and not the rule in the wider scheme of things
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
where the wind always blows
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Bigbird-
I am talking native species. Still a simple question (acres and animals) protected by hunters?
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
where the wind always blows
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rSin- yes protected.
Why are you so sour?
We have put over 300,000 acres in TN, in conservation easements in the last decade. Sorry that upsets you.
Q-ball
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
where the wind always blows
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rSin-
Sorry but lyme disease is a tick deal. So should we get rid of all wildlife to prevent transmissions?
As long as we have critters we will have lyme disease.
-Q-ball
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