Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Whale of a problem

Exhibit A:

Seriously-- who could blame the Killer Whales for wanting to toss one of these jumping, & clapping like a seal, staffers?
Killer Whales are wild ocean living mammals who are highly sensitive & intelligent, mammals with highly sensitive hearing & sonar.

I hope Tillicum the Whale is retired from the circus performing business, and allowed to live in a more
natural setting.
Watch this clip-- I don't think it's an accident!


Here is a link to an excellent article:

8 comments:

Mauigirl said...

Fran, I agree - these intelligent animals should not be on display at sites like this for human entertainment. The article is a good one, as it points out the usual argument that displaying the whales builds public support for saving them no longer holds true in the current Internet age.

Fran said...

Sadly, they are talking about keeping him & continuing w the shows.
I was reading that Orcas can swim 100 miles per day. Clearly, keeping them captive in these tiny pens leaves them bored, and the shows w flashing lights, loud speakers, and performance demands are most likely very stressful.

We had Keiko living in an aquarium here in Oregon for a while. He was sent here to rehab-- he had been doing performances in a tropical area-- wrong temperature, wrong diet, and performance fatigue.
Getting him in the correct temperature, natural diet, and no longer performing, yielded a much healthier Orca. His skin infections cleared, and it must have been great to not have to perform anymore.
They had staff interact w him, to keep him active & interested.
But even the huge tank they built for him was not big enough. When they had him in good shape he was shipped (via UPS!) to Iceland, where he lived in an Ocean bay. An attempt to unite him w a pod failed.

I think they revealed the real reason why they want to keep him @ Sea World. Their official statement said Tilikum's participation in shows is "very important to his overall health & husbandry".

They want to breed him to make more captive whales & keep the $ flowing.
They charge $78.95 for an adult ticket, $68.95 for kids 3-9 year of age.

Looks like they rotate 3 to 5 shows per day rotating which Orcas perform.

One whale expert said "building a tank the size of Rhode Island wouldn't be large enough for a 6 ton male, such a Tilikum".

A marine-mammal scientist, Naomi Rose, predicts Tilikum will kill again if he remains in captivity.

I've never attended a Sea World show, and never plan to in the future.

Mauigirl said...

It's really very sad for these intelligent animals. I've never attended one of these shows either and don't intend to.

Mauigirl said...
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Mauigirl said...
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Mauigirl said...
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Mauigirl said...

Sorry, got impatient and clicked too many times and had to erase duplicate comments!

Fran said...

clicks happen!