Activists Urge Java Stand Boycott

Animal-rights activists are asking java lovers to boycott Starbucks Coffee because it is a corporate sponsor of the Vancouver Aquarium.

The Coalition for No Whales in Captivity wants Starbucks to give the money it raises for the aquarium to whale-release programs instead, such as the foundation established to release the killer-whale star of the Free Willy movies.

But aquarium spokeswoman Marisa Nichini said the aquarium is not concerned about the boycott.

“We have been very open with all of the organizations that support the aquarium,” she said Sunday. “They know what we are, they know what we do, they choose to support us.”

Starbucks sells coffee from a cart at the aquarium and donates the proceeds - about $20,000 this year.

Nancy Baron, the aquarium’s education director, said the boycott won’t help the orcas and the belugas, but it will hurt the children.

Starbucks’ donations pay for the Aquavan, a portable life-support system that takes intertidal animals around the province. It also pays for a program that brings high-school students to Vancouver harbor and Burnaby Lake.

Annalise Sorg of the coalition says she understands that Starbucks wants to educate children, but the aquarium is “mis-educating” as long as children see captive animals.