Taiwan aquarium slammed over blotched release of whale shark

Focus Taiwan 22 Jul 13;

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) An animal rights group on Monday accused Taiwan's largest aquarium of endangering the life of a whale shark because standard procedure was not followed during its release earlier this month.

The 6.5-meter-long whale shark, which was released on July 10 by the aquarium in southern Taiwan's Pingtung, was stranded near the shore twice before it was towed out to sea, said the Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST).

It is uncertain whether the shark survived since it suffered numerous wounds during the release process and apparently had difficulty adapting to its new environment, according to the staff of the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.

"The aquarium was not freeing the shark, it was killing the shark," said EAST Chief Executive Officer Chu Tseng-hung.

The group said the aquarium should not capture any more whale sharks and should try to improve its wildlife management, including the way it releases marine animals.

In response, museum director-general Wang Wei-hsien said the release of the shark was carefully planned and rehearsed many times.

"We tried our best to protect the shark," he said. "It just didn't occur to us that it would refuse to swim away but rather would linger near the shore."

Wang said further studies will be carried out to learn from the problematic case .

(By Lee Hsin-Yin)