End Killer Whale Captivity

hobbit-ses:

plort:

hobbit-ses:

plort:

scetaceans:

27-DSC_0993 by CetaceanN3rd on Flickr.

LOOK AT HER HERE, THOUGH! SHE’S SO FING PERFECT.

yes, she is perfect

now let her go home

Um, she was bred and born in captivity, and is at the place of her birth. She’s technically home.

So if you’re born in a prison that’s your home from now on?

Wow, what a life!

It’s all she knows.

We have the same problem with big cats:

captive bred-born big cats who are “liberated from captivity” are often killed because they associate with humans and come up to them, begging for food.

I’ve never seen research done for captive bred/born cetaceans thriving in the wild.

But it isn’t the same for every species. Over 84% of the gorillas - a mixture of wild caught and captive born - that the Aspinal Foundation have released into the wild in the Congo and Gabon since 1996 are still alive and there have been 19 successful births to those animals. Further releases are being planned. 

There has only been one captive orca that has been released  You can’t condemn all orcas to live in a concrete box based on one experience.  

Source 
(edited because I got the date wrong)

fightingforwhales:

ocmy:

oneworld—onedream:

OH MY GOD PEOPLE

Nalani being a goof. Gotta love the reflection off of the glass. Urgh. 

Gotta love those worn down and drilled teeth.

What’s going on at Orlando!!, all the whales there, even the youngsters have terrible teeth.

soleilalae:

save-lolita:

Orkid - July 16th 1998 - Seaworld San Diego

9-year-old female Orkid was performing a hydro-hop behaviour during a night show. The trainer accidentally hit her tail flukes with his hand upon his re-entry and she responded by hitting him in the stomach with her head. She responded to a stage call calmly.

Easily offended it seems.  Can’t say to blame her even though it was an accident on the trainer’s part.  Why is her face bleeding here?

This is from last year when Kalia rammed / raked her. 

For UK people - 

Blackfish will be at the Sundance Film Festival in London

Link

fightingforwhales:

save-lolita:

Ramu. Male. Wild.
Captured Feb 15th 1967
Days in Captivity: 5446
Date of Death: Jan 12th 1982
Age: 18 years
Cause of Death: “old age”
Place of Death: Seaworld Orlando

18? Old age? Screw you, SeaWorld.

He had the body of an old whale when he died despite access to “restaurant quality food”, medical care, clean water etc… His necropsy reads like a horror story, it includes;

Decline in appetite and general health six months prior to death

Acute kidney failure two weeks prior to death

Skin lesions on dorsal fin and chin

Ischemic and pale looking muscles

Acute heart congestion with tracheal fluid.

Both lungs filled with “Numerous marble sized lesions”

His heart had “Numerous baseball sized lesions”

He had a history of heart attacks.

Swollen liver

Cirrhotic pancreas

Lesions around the anus.

Very pale Kidneys that looked like they were an “old animals”

Profuse bleeding around the adrenal glands

Swollen and congested thorax

Enlarged and bleeding spleen.

save-lolita:

Kim. Male. Wild
Captured: June 1976
Days in Captivity: 2244
Date of Death: June 24th 1984
Age: 14 years
Cause of Death: Lung Abcess
Place of Death: Marineland Antibes France

Interesting fact: 

Kim was sick on and off for most of his time in captivity, but he was very sick for the last two years (and at one point he went temporarily blind and needed injections into his eyes), but near the end of his life, vets at Marineland wanted to perform a blood transfusion on Kim, but the other whale at the park, Betty, had a different type of blood that was not compatible with Kim’s (orcas have different blood types just like humans). So Marineland asked SeaWorld to donate  some of their whale’s blood to help save Kim’s life.

SeaWorld refused.

It was only after he died that they found the abscess in his lung and the transfusion wouldn’t have saved his life anyway, but it shows that SeaWorld have had a long history of not giving a shit about whales in parks other than their own. 

I’ve written about this a little bit more on the website I’m making. I’m hoping to post it when I reach 2000 likes on the Facebook page. It seems like a nice milestone.

fightingforwhales:

save-lolita:

fightingforwhales:

save-lolita:

December 7, 2002: Hudson jumps out of pool
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. (CP) - A young killer whale put on quite a show at Marineland when it jumped out of its tank. The killer whale, four-year-old Hudson, is reportedly doing just fine. “He was playing around over at the edge and he just slipped over,” Marineland owner John Holer said Sunday. Holer was out of town when the incident happened on Saturday, but was updated by staff. The incident happened while a company Christmas party was taking place and some employees were watching the whales being fed. One man, who didn’t want to be identified, said staff were feeding the whales when one jumped right out. Holer is chalking it up to kids being kids. “Youngsters like to play,” he said. “We put him in a stretcher and we lifted him up with a crane and put him back in the pool,” Holer said. “And he’s fine.” 
(St. Catharines Standard) 
Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press

Photo is Hudson and Kiska

What? Is there pictures of this?

I haven’t been able to find any pictures or video of it. But I think I had read that he isn’t the only one to have jumped out before. I’ll try to come across the information again. 

Interesting. I didn’t know any of the orcas jumped out of the tanks.

I heard he jumped out of the pool on purpose when he was trying to escape from Nootka who was picking on him relentlessly.

FYI, Kotar also jumped out of the tank at SeaWorld. They flooded the stadium to get him back in.

save-lolita:

May 29, 2002: 
News report regarding the cause of Winnie’s death at SeaWorld Texas on April, 11.

SeaWorld San Antonio officials believe the death was caused by coins, tile and other objects the orca had swallowed years ago at a marine park overseas. Winnie had lived at the Windsor Safari Park in Windsor, England, for 13 years. A necropsy performed by SeaWorld and independent pathologists shortly after the whale died revealed it had ingested pieces of tile and British coins, along with nuts, bolts and other small items that made up a roughly 12-pound mass of objects that blocked her upper gastrointestinal tract. The blockage prevented absorption of nutrients from her food, causing an electrolyte imbalance that made her too sick to respond to antibiotics, park officials said. The 4,200-pound whale, originally captured near Iceland, shared a tank with dolphins at Windsor Safari Park, which closed in 1992 amid financial troubles. Animal activists cheered closure of the park. When Winnie was sold to SeaWorld and flown to its former park in Aurora, Ohio, in 1991, she was believed to be one of the last killer whales still in captivity in England at the time. Dudley Wigdahl, vice president of zoological operations at SeaWorld San Antonio, described Windsor Safari Park as a small, antiquated marine park. He said he believes the foreign objects were coins people had thrown into the water, and broken ceramic tiles that had lined Winnie’s tank. The nature of her death underscores the need to respect nature, because animals often mistake plastic bags and other refuse for food, Wigdahl said. To prevent similar tragedies, SeaWorld has divers check its tanks for foreign objects at the end of each day, park officials said.

Personal comment on this report: I find it hard to believe that Winnie lived with this problem for more than ten years and then suddenly dies of it! Apparently she swallowed stuff at SeaWorld, too.

She was the first orca I ever saw in captivity. I was about three or four the first time I saw her and watching her swimming round the tank in endless repetitive circles for hours in between shows is what stuck in my mind and eventually led to do more research and becoming anti cap years later. It’s horrible to think that she died such a pointless,needless death. 

“Dudley Wigdahl, vice president of zoological operations at SeaWorld San Antonio, described Windsor Safari Park as a small, antiquated marine park”

Ugh, considering SeaWorld were responsible for sending her to Windsor in the first place (After her capture SeaWorld bought her and gave her to Windsor as a replacement for Winston who was sent to SeaWorld in 1976) that have no right to complain about the care she received there. They knew about the conditions at the park as SeaWorld staff had been there to help with Winston’s transport.