14 DAY TRIAL // Friday, the 12th of October, is expected to witness Atlanta Pride's hosting a party at the Georgia Aquarium.
Although this party is meant to kick off the 2012 Atlanta Pride Festival (October 13-14), an event intended to raise awareness with respect to the LGBT community and its rights, concerns are now raised regarding how this social gathering will impact on the animals that live in captivity at this aquarium.
Thus, celebrity Jane Lynch and green-oriented organization PETA decided to team up and ask the Atlanta Pride group to re-think their decision to organize said party at the Georgia Aquarium, seeing how more appropriate locations are well within reach.
As they explain, most of the marine mammals presently looked after by the staff at the aforementioned aquarium rely on complex sonar systems in order to communicate with one another, which is why having loud music played close to them can have negative impacts on their psychological wellbeing.
This issue is all the more pressing as life in captivity has already been proven to stress animals such as beluga whales and dolphins.
In other words, this party would do nothing more than add insult to injury as far as the aquarium's permanent residents are concerned.
Hoping to get her points across, Jane Lynch sent a letter to the Atlanta Pride group, which read as follows: “Many of the marine mammals at the aquarium are extremely sensitive to sound, and large parties create an even more stressful environment than they already endure in captivity.”
To cut a long story short, “Given the animals’ extreme sensitivity to noise, the aquarium does not seem like an appropriate venue for such a large and festive gathering.”
It may be true that both Jane Lynch and PETA have so far stated their case in a rather courteous manner, but given the latter's long history of resorting to rather extreme measures in order to have its way, odds are that, unless this event is held at a different location, more disturbing news on this topic will soon follow.
This is not the first time when unnatural noises and lighting are argued to harm animals living in captivity.
Thus, not that long ago we reported on how celebrity accused Sea World of “torturing” whales by playing rock music during the animals' performances for the public.