Rosenberg: Here in Chicago, you are known as the "Wild Man" who staged alternative whale shows with inflatable orcas outside the Shedd Aquarium in the 1990s and who went to jail for disrupting a bird shoot with a powered paraglider. Now, both issues are back in the news.
Hindi: At the time we held the whale shows in 1992, two Shedd white whales had died 15 minutes after being given the parasite drug levamisol, unapproved for whales, by veterinarian Jeff Boehm. In the show, we had a mad doctor give an injection to a huge inflatable whale whose tail began shaking and as he flipped over dead. Just like in rodeos, marine "abusement" parks hide the real causes of death from the public.
Rosenberg: The way you positioned your show, while crowds watched the Shedd's performing marine animals, they saw your performance through the back window.
Hindi: Yes and banners on telescoping poles that said "Whales are Dying to Amuse You." We were able to explain to many people that in the wild, marine animals don't tail walk, they don't eat dead fish--they're predators not scavengers--they swim 50 to 100 miles a day and they don't live and breed with random animals outside their pods in chlorine pools. It is no different than human jails.
Rosenberg: Around this time you debated Ken Ramirez, the Shedd's vice president for animal training, on Chicago television.
Hindi: The show was broadcast from San Diego where we had been trying to stop the capture of dolphins taken from a preserve. Soon Ken Ramirez, who is a circus trainer in a wet suit in my opinion, had them swimming in their own feces.
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