In his capacity as a Board member of the Vancouver Aquarium, KPE professor Dave Harper had a letter read on the nationally broadcast CBC radio program, The Current, on Thurs, Sept 25.
Here’s the link: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/popupaudiofour.html?categoryid=2185449222
Scroll down to the third link: “Checking-In: Fair wages for cheerleaders, marshmallows testing self-control, worry about the Voyager and travelling with Ian Wright – Sept 25, 2014Better wages for cheerleaders and better outcomes for those with self control. We look back on our listeners’ thoughts of the week. Plus, we travel with Globe Trekker Ian Wright and Chris Hadfield helps a child with his worry about the Voyager spacecraft.”
Harper’s letter is read in the portion that starts at 13:37. He is introduced as a faculty member at UFV. Here is the portion of his letter that was read on CBC:
We are asking the wrong question
The question that has been posed by the activists is, “should we keep cetaceans in captivity?”. There is a very human, visceral response to this which is “no”. But the answer is much more complicated once all of the consequences of the emotional response are fully considered. What about animals presently in captivity? Should we release them to the wild to a sure death? The better question is, “should we keep animals in captivity to entertain people for profit?”. I am confident that every member of the Vancouver Aquarium, its entire staff, and management, and the Board would agree with the activists that this is not desirable.