SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City Hosts First Annual Fin-A-Thon to Raise Awareness and Money Against Shark Finning
Join Sea Life Aquarium Kansas City for their first annual Fin-athon on Friday, August 8, 2014 at the Henley Aquatic Center in Independence, MO. You can register your team of five for the event and help us raise funds and awareness for WildAid to end shark finning. They do ask that each team of 5 raise a minimum of $250 total to go to WildAid for their Shark Finning Program.
Date: Friday, August 8, 2014
Time: 10:00 am – 3:30 pm
Place: Henley Aquatic Center (18200 Missouri 78, Independence, MO 64057)
Read below to learn more about this great cause! I can’t even imagine why anyone would want to do such a thing to sharks. It just makes me sick! Amazing to know there are organizations out there helping to end such cruelty!
SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City Hosts First Annual Fin-A-Thon to Raise Awareness and Money Against Shark Finning
Kansas City, Missouri (June 18, 2014) – SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City announced the launch of its first annual Fin-A-Thon to help raise money and awareness against shark finning. The Fin-A-Thon will be held on Friday, August 8th, 2014, at the Henley Aquatic Center in Independence, Missouri. All proceeds raised during the Fin-A-Thon will be sent to WildAid to assist in their shark fin demand reduction campaigns.
Shark finning is the trade practice where fishermen capture sharks, cut off their fins and throw the rest of the body into the ocean, leading them to a certain death. Shark species around the world have experienced dramatic population declines in the past 30 to 40 years due to the growth in demand for their fins for a soup, considered a delicacy in China. The fins of up to 73 million sharks are killed annually just for their fins, often via this cruel practice of ‘finning’.
“Sharks are the key to keeping the marine ecosystem balanced because they are the top of the food chain,” says Joanna Hobday, marketing manager for SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City. “Without sharks, the marine ecosystem will be in ruins. Sharks have been around for 450 million years, we need to make sure they don’t disappear in the next few decades.”
To help protect the sharks from this cruel practice that fuels the unsustainable shark fin trade, we are asking interested participants to form a group of five friends and raise a minimum of $250 collectively. To register a team, please visit SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City’s website and bring the collected money to the event. The group who raises the most money will receive a grand prize. During the Fin-A-Thon, we will collectively swim 50 miles, the same amount of miles a Blacktip Reef Shark swims in one day.
SEA LIFE Kansas City Aquarium opened in April 2012. SEA LIFE Kansas City takes visitors on an enthralling two hour journey from the fresh waters of the Missouri River, into the mighty Mississippi River then out into the warm blue coral strewn waters of the Caribbean Sea, ending in the deep dark abyss of the Atlantic Ocean. Come nose to nose with sharks and prepare for astonishingly close views of everything from humble starfish and seahorses to graceful rays. In addition, a stunning centerpiece is a huge tropical ocean tank with a walk-through underwater tunnel. To get any closer you’d have to get wet! Visit http://www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/kansascity/ website for more information.
Merlin Entertainments
MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS plc is the leading name in location-based, family entertainment. Europe’s Number 1 and the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator, Merlin now operates 100 attractions, 10 hotels/3 holiday villages in 22 countries and across 4 continents. The company aims to deliver memorable and rewarding experiences to its almost 60 million visitors worldwide, through its iconic global and local brands, and the commitment and passion of its managers and more than 20,000 + employees.
Merlin has twenty attractions and one hotel in North America – including two stunning LEGOLAND Resorts – LEGOLAND Florida with its theme park, water park, and LEGOLAND California theme park with water park, SEA LIFE aquarium and themed hotel; Madame Tussauds celebrity wax attractions in New York, Washington DC, Las Vegas and Hollywood; LEGOLAND Discovery Centers in Chicago; Dallas/Fort Worth; Kansas City Missouri; Atlanta, Georgia; and Westchester, New York; Toronto, Canada; and SEA LIFE aquariums in Phoenix, Arizona; Kansas City, Missouri; Dallas/Fort Worth; the Mall of America in Minneapolis and Charlotte – Concord – underlining the company’s position as the world’s biggest global aquarium operator. Visit http://www.merlinentertainments.biz/for more information.
About WildAid
WildAid is the only organization to solely focus on reducing the demand for wildlife products. Working with hundreds of Asian and Western political figures, celebrities, and business leaders, including the Duke of Cambridge, Yao Ming, Jackie Chan, Edward Norton, and Sir Richard Branson. WildAid’s public service messages and educational initiatives reach hundreds of millions of people a week in China alone through donated media space. “When the buying stops, the killing can too.” For more information: www.wildaid.org.
About Henley Aquatic Center
The Henley Aquatic Center is one of the premiere competitive swimming pools in the Kansas City area. Built in 1990, the Henley Aquatic Center has recently undergone major renovations. These improvements include: a new air handling system, new pool deck, fresh paint job, new laneropes, new diving boards and diving board stands, new starting blocks and a new Daktronics Timing system.
One response to “SEA LIFE Aquarium Kansas City Hosts First Annual Fin-A-Thon to Raise Awareness and Money Against Shark Finning”
I have loved sharks since I was very small. One of my favorite movies, don’t ask me why, is of course Jaws. I have been aware for almost as long about the shark finning that mainly Asia is responsible for, and am appalled by it. They believe that the shark fin soup has aphrodisiac like qualities, but seriously? Come on, people. Much of their other food comes from the ocean, and if we don’t keep the balance of the ecosystem by protecting these sharks, much of their food supply will be in danger. Too much of anything isn’t good.