Say No To Captive Dolphins In The USVI

[fms]

As I stated before, if you would like to email vidolphinvoices@gmail.com I will send you a scanned copy of that article. You may also call the CZM office on St. Thomas who will confirm that they have submitted applications that have been deemed incomplete.

I had a very lengthy meeting with Coral World and do not believe this is the forum to discuss all the details.

You state that you haven't visited Coral World yet make assumptions about their programs. Are you aware that they already have performing sea lions?

I'm sorry you can't access the full information on the petition site and don't know why that is as I haven't heard from anyone else unable to do so.

Thank you for your interest.

Fiona
VI Dolphin Voices

[toes in the sand]

I am sad to see that there is still no information forthcoming.
I am glad that I resisted my initial urge to sign the petition immediately and to dig a bit deeper. For those of you who have signed and provided your personal information I suggest you email Fiona and find out what it is you actually signed. I will watch to see what comes of this drama. I hope to see that Coral World will soon announce what their plans are. I imagine that will happen when the permit is approved and not before. Fiona, good luck in your venture, I sincerely hope you are working in the best interests of sea life.

Stay safe and I pray that Isaac stays in open water.

[lprof]

toes in the sand, from your initial post on this thread, I fully understood what you were not seeing on the petition site; I was not seeing a petition there either. Now, I believe that the "petition" is actually stated under the "Overview" tab.


Screen Shot 2012-08-22 at 11.59.07 AM by lprof, on Flickr

[fms]

Toes in the sand: The information is in the Petition Site and I believe everyone who has signed it has been able to read it. I'm not sure what further information you need. We would love to have your support, but if you don't feel comfortable we understand.

As stated previously, Coral World announced this in April as reported in the Daily News of April 13, 2012 page 7. Individuals who have asked to see that article have emailed me and I have sent it to them.

The plans will be available for public review once the completed application has been refiled and accepted by our Coastal Zone Management office. As stated before, you are welcome to call them to verify that Coral World has twice submitted permit applications.

And yes I do have the welfare of these magnificent animals at heart or I wouldn't be spending as much of my time on this, including responding to your posts. I am opposed to keeping dolphins in captivity and exploiting them for entertainment and profit.

Fiona
VI Dolphin Voices

[sapphirecat]

Another signature added!

Thank you, everyone; thank you, Fiona.

I can't believe a place would actually be considering an enormity like this.

[Lex]

I turned up some videos that give some idea what Coral World's sea lion operation is like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpY3YLEuLXY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enz3AmQtn8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRHhD2IuBxo
http://selfishmom.com/2011/07/04/swimmi ... st-thomas/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8NQ23wCOD4


Seems that patrons can either swim with the sea lions or meet them out of water.

[stingrat]

I signed the original petition concerning the dolphins. I am now recieving unsolicited e-mails to sign other petitions. So Toes is correct in questioning the petitions true intent. Is it really about the dolphins or is it about revenue from getting people to sign petitions. OK have at me.

[Xislandgirl]

I signed the petition and have received no emails. I believe that when you use sites like petition.org, you are asked if you want to receive other notifications. I am always careful to check or uncheck boxes on these types of sites. They will hammer you with mail!
It is like any other site, just unsubscribe.

[Connie]

Stingrat. I haven't received any additional/unsolicited emails either. I know you have voted for ACC in the past, could that be how you're getting emails?

[stingrat]

No the emails were coming from care2 so i just blocked the domain for e-mail

[sapphirecat]

Interestingly, I just got an email thanking me for joining the Sierra Club. I did not join the Sierra Club. The email came to the email address I used to sign this petition.

I usually stay far away from signing petitions, because of the chugging that follows.

I felt very strongly about the dolphins; I hate seeing any creature in captivity. And I felt Coral World really should know better (what century are they in??).

But now I am through with petitions.

[DonnaM]

I also got the emails from the Sierra Club and additional petitions. I have also received a lot more spam emails in the last couple weeks but am not sure if they are related. Not too happy about that.

[54b]

Donna and Sapphire...just hazarding a guess, but I'd bet you either missed it or misread it when you had the opportunity to opt out of emails when signing the petition.

Selling contact info is probably the main way the petition site makes money and to a potential advertiser, (like the Sierra Club), the contact info of someone willing to sign an online petition for a comparable interest is golden as I'm sure they have research that says something to the effect of..."if said person is willing to sign x petition, they are x% more likely to donate as well."

Anyway, here's the fine print from the Care2 petition website:

Does Care2 sell e-mail addresses to advertisers?

Not without your direct permission. We respect your privacy and despise SPAM.

As mentioned above, in some cases you may opt to receive nonprofit partner newsletters or other commercial offers. When you opt to receive such an offer via Care2, we will send your email address and other necessary contact information to the newsletter publisher. Depending on the newsletter, this may result in a fee paid to Care2 in exchange for a new customer.

I'm sure there was some box you either checked or didn't check (sometimes they're tricky like that) that would have precluded you from receiving an email from one of their advertisers.

I'm thinking you can go back to the petition site, log in and look for an option to revise your personal settings. There should be a box there that you can click or un-click to say you'd prefer your email not be given to advertisers.

Unfortunately, now that your email is out there, it's a little like Pandora's box because these lists have a way of making the rounds and getting added other places.

Again, just hazarding a guess in your case, but this would make sense and explain why you're getting emails from the Sierra Club if you've never had contact with them.

From a social media etiquette standpoint, I think Anthony should ask members who are posting links to things like this to add a little caveat that your email address could be used for additional purposes if you don't opt out.

Some people probably consider that basic knowledge for anyone on the internet and of course, if you're all hot and bothered to get someone to sign a petition, you probably aren't too interested in throwing a wet blanket like a warning on top of it.

[Anthony]

From a social media etiquette standpoint, I think Anthony should ask members who are posting links to things like this to add a little caveat that your email address could be used for additional purposes if you don't opt out.

This is a good point - I actually thought I made a post in this thread about these types of situations but I never hit Submit I guess...

[sapphirecat]

I expected this petition to be "clean", TBH.

But as 54b says, they are "tricky".

I am pretty sure I tried to make it clear on the petition (to whatever point one can) that I didn't want to join this and that or whatever.

It's really a big shame we get scammed like this by places that are supposed to be doing good. All they're doing is collecting our info. As I said, I am so done with petitions. I hadn't signed one in years, but, as I indicated, this one felt close to home. Sadly, it probably won't do a bloody thing to protecting sea life from Coral World.

If it does, I'd really like to know. I'd like to know all this wasn't in vain.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.