IMADA
International Marine Animal Defenders Association (IMADA)
Wild and free – the way they were meant to be
A global campaign against marine mammal captivity
IMADA CONCEPT
Find us on face book: http://www.facebook.com/IMADAssociation
Listing of events: http://www.savelolita.com/miami-seaquarium-events/
Coalition partners: http://earthrace.net/imada-coalition-partners
Coalition on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.182426748495778.45915.131908926...
The International Marine Animal Trainers’ Association (IMATA) is holding their annual conference in Miami, FL September 18-23, 2011.
From September 17-23, 2011, Earthrace Conservation and SaveLolita.com are convening the 1st IMADA ‘Shadow Conference’ – a series of high profile events and global actions to educate the public, galvanize marine activists/advocates, and attract world-wide attention to the truth about marine mammal entertainment captivity.
We find IMATA's choice of location in the State that fostered the beginning of modern marine mammal entertainment captivity in the U.S., both sad and provocative. The Miami Seaquarium, the venue for this IMATA Conference, holds the wild-captured orca ‘Lolita’ in a tank that violates the Animal Welfare Act. Additionally, over the past five years, Miami has fostered a growing community that consistently and publicly opposes Lolita’s captivity, advocates for her retirement/release and, indeed, an end to all cetacean captivity for entertainment.
Our Mission: To convene the 1st International IMADA 'Shadow' Conference focusing on the TRUTH about marine mammal captivity, open to the public, in response to IMATA Conferences
WHAT WE STAND FOR
• We oppose marine mammal captivity for entertainment.
• We oppose the training of marine mammals for any purposes other than to facilitate medical treatments as part of rehabilitation leading to release.
• We oppose wild capture of marine mammals for exhibit, entertainment, or research.
• We oppose the designation of ‘non-releasable’ rehabilitated marine mammals trained and held for entertainment purposes.
• We oppose the captive breeding of marine mammals for sale, trade, or profit.
• We support the three R's of responsible marine mammal captivity: rescue, rehabilitation, and release only.
CALL TO ACTION:
1. We call for a ban of all wild capture of marine mammals, locally and/or internationally, including dolphin drives, ‘non-releasable rescues’ and other methods of procuring marine animals for captive entertainment; and the sale, trade, and transport of cetaceans for this purpose.
2. We call for transparency in the sourcing of all captive marine mammals that IMATA professional members work with, and we will demonstrate wide-spread, international concern about the inadequacy of IMATA’s own Code-of-Ethics to prevent the public display and profit from wild-captured cetaceans. We plan to collect 250,000 signatures on a petition with specific suggestions for IMATA to “adopt and enforce codes, by-laws and guidelines into its very structure and corporate culture that eliminate any possible association with wild-catch marine animal operations”:
(http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/IMATA-Improve-Your-Code-of-Ethics-to-Pr...)
3. We will promote public education-outreach activities during IMATA week, including community rallies, educational films about marine conservation/captivity, host guest speakers, and workshops on the role of advocacy and activism in ending marine mammal captivity. We will engage local and international, and social media to promote the truth about the marine mammal captivity industry.
IMADA EVENTS
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184369611608716&ref=ts
Miami, FL: Our ‘shadow conference’ comprises a series of events, educational activities, rallies, film screenings and workshops, open to all. Many of these will take place in Miami itself on the doorstep of the 2011 IMATA Conference, Sept 18-23, 2011 including a mass rally outside the Miami Seaquarium on Friday 23 September. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=222203704481981#!/event.php?eid=22...
TICKETS FOR FLORIDA PREMIERE OF 'KEIKO - THE UNTOLD STORY' NOW ON SALE
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 6:00 PM (ET) http://keikofilmmiamisix.eventbrite.com
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 8:00 PM (ET)http://keikofilmmiamieight.eventbrite.com/
Around the world: We encourage everyone who shares our goal of ending the captivity of marine mammals for entertainment to organise an event, workshop, rally or other event in your community as part of this global initiative.
If you are lucky enough to live in a country where cetaceans are no longer used for entertainment purposes, think about running a campaign, workshop, school visit programme, film screening or other event designed to educate the public and encourage them never to visit any attraction whilst on holiday for example, where marine mammals are exploited for profit.
List of captive cetaceans:Where appropriate and to help you plan, you can find a list of all facilities around the world that house captive cetaceans at: www.ceta-base.com. If you have any accurate information about captive cetaceans not listed there, please email phinventory@gmail.com with details. You can find out more about what information Ceta-base needs on our main 'Captivity' page.
If you would like to run an event of any kind as part of the IMADA Conference, please contact IMADAevents@earthrace.net with your details, ideas or questions. .
We aim to build a coalition of many hundreds of organisations that defend marine mammals against, and educate the public and the media about wild captures, entertainment captivity, abuse, and neglect.
To join the coalition as an organisation, please contact IMADAcoalition@earthrace.net for more information or visit this page http://www.earthrace.net/imada-coalition-partners.
For media and promotion inquiriesIMADApress@earthrace.net
