Dolphin petition presented to politicians

(Published in Hawkes Bay Today - 29.06.2006)

RACHEL PINDER

The petition of 13,588 signatures to replace the iconic dolphins at Napier's Marineland is now in the hands of Parliament. Cr Harry Lawson and 13 other supporters made the trip down to Wellington yesterday to hand over the petition.

"It went very well, beyond my expectations really," he said today.

"I just hope something will come of it now. The situation is they can't issue a permit without having an application, which has to come from the council. But with this huge amount of support, they would be wrong to ignore it. This is real democracy at work.

"I'm staggered by the response and humbled by the incredible support. I think our chances of success now are quite high," Cr Lawson said.

The petition was to be presented to Conservation Minister Chris Carter, who is in charge of giving out permits for importing dolphins, but he was not available. Instead it was handed to Napier MP, Russell Fairbrother.

Mr Fairbrother says the current law allowed applications to be made to import captive dolphins and the petitioners will need to gain the support of Napier City Council for a permit to replace the dolphin Shona, who died in April.

Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott said the council's hands were tied by Government restrictions on replacing dolphins, unless the petition forced MPs to change their minds.

At last week's full council meeting, councillors decided to wait for the Government's response to a request for funding from the petition, and will include that response in their consideration of Marineland's future.

Another petition against replacing the dolphins has been set up by Napier resident Dave Head, and animal rights activists are continuing their fight against keeping dolphins in activity.

For original article please click here