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The Hard Sell of Whale Sanctuaries | Hakai Magazine

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2021-07-21 23:00:06

This article is also available in audio format. Listen now, download, or subscribe to “Hakai Magazine Audio Edition” through your favorite podcast app.

One autumn afternoon in 1993, Amy Simon’s mother brought home a VHS tape of Free Willy, the boy-meets-whale tale that became a sleeper hit across North America that summer. Living in the tiny community of Aspen, Nova Scotia—barely more than a crossroads on the province’s sparsely populated eastern shore—six-year-old Simon had missed it in theaters. But her mother knew she would love the film about a 12-year-old boy who frees a killer whale from the clutches of a nefarious marine-park owner. A shy kid, Simon spent more time with animals than other children, caring for lost baby ducks in the family bathtub and rehabilitating injured squirrels.

Watching Willy’s saga, she was shaken to her core by the idea that an animal of such power and intelligence could be held captive to perform tricks for gawking tourists. And though Simon—cross-legged on the family room floor—couldn’t have known it then, that afternoon would come to play a role in bringing one of the most ambitious animal-rehab projects in history right to her doorstep.

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