Activists trying to free Lolita the killer whale

[lock_washer]

Well, the animal rights activists are at it again. They want to free Lolita the Killer Whale from the Miami Seaquarium and return her to the waters of British Columbia, Canada. This time they tried enlisting some celebrities to get attention.

Celebrities Unite to Free Whale from Years of Solitary Confinement

It’s the whole Free Willy/Free Keiko issue…again. They duped the whole world for money…20 million dollars total. They circumvented laws to move Keiko from Mexico City to Oregon, to Iceland. They legally fought between activists groups and the Oregon Coast Aquarium over ownership of Keiko. When they finally released him in Iceland: it was a failure. Keiko preferred the company of humans to other orcas. Eventually he died next to a dock in Norway. For an animal that was “successfully rehabilitated”…they sure got the “Hollywood Ending”.

Granted that Lolita’s tank is small in Miami, but the solutions are this:
1) Build her a new tank, but that’s up to the management of Miami Seaquarium
2) Send her Sea World in Orlando, or better yet: Sea World in San Diego where she can be with Corky: another British Columbia orca in captivity.

Lolita is not being abuse. Aquariums that display cetaceans in the U.S. are not like the rest of the world. The standards are higher here.

Lolita is not underweight or unhealthy. She is not alone either. It has been awhile seen she has seen another orca: Hugo – a male orca that once resided at the Miami Seaquarium. But she has “lags” (Pacific White Sided Dolphins) sharing her tank.

Trying to release an animal that has been in captivity for 32 years into the wild is a waste of time and money. Hayden Panettiere along with Johnny Depp, and Rapper 50 Cent is getting involved in this issue. Wonder if she will be modeling in a bikini to get Lolita released.

They would be better off trying to stop the Japanese Whaling in the Antarctic. Better yet try to save the other whales, dolphins, porpoises that are really in danger, or going extinct.

Lock Washer

 

[Stormboy]

because all we know is what we're told. The facts, and the abilities of orcas in and out of captivity, are a bit different. I won't bother to argue about the smears.

The first big problem is the idea that: "When they finally released him in Iceland: it was a failure. Keiko preferred the company of humans to other orcas."

First point: Keiko resumed catching fish as soon as there were fish to catch. Contrary to predictions by nay-sayers and scoffers like this writer, he quickly and easily grabbed and devoured fish in his tank in Newport, Oregon, and he caught his own fish in his pen in Iceland, and when he was led out on boat-follow exercises, and all during his 31-day, 870-mile swim across the Atlantic. He showed up in Norway with a full stomach and in excellent health.

Second point: Keiko was never in the vicinity of his actual family. The critical and unique fact about orcas is that both male and female orcas live out their lives in the company of their close relatives. In most cases they never leave their mother's side, or if she dies, they remain with siblings and other close family members. These orca families have their own diets and feeding strategies, rituals and particular behaviors. Most important, each orca family has their own vocabulary of vocalizations. There are estimated to be about 5,000 orcas inhabiting the waters around Iceland. Keiko came into contact with at most a few hundred. The big mistake made by the Free Willy/Keiko Foundation was to neglect to place him near where he was captured. When he was released he met up with many orcas, and there was never any hostility, but it seems he never met up with his own family and so he could not join them. They were not part of his family, and he was not part of theirs.

That's why Keiko returned to the company of humans.

It's probably true that the management tries to take good care of Lolita, but just living in a tiny tank is abusive. Imagine yourself confined to a 6' by 6' cell and cut off from all contact with your own species, not to mention your real family. You would feel abused.

Our proposal calls for a retirement pen where Lolita can be gradually rehabilitated and given the opportunity to swim out and rejoin her family, which swims a few hundred yards from the proposed pen every summer, or return to the pen if she wants human company or care. There is no risk or danger for Lolita in any phase of that plan.

Yes, let's try to stop Japanese whaling, and the brutal, horrific Japanese dolphin drives in which thousands of dolphins and small whales are killed each year. But that doesn't mean we can't at the same time return a long suffering orca to her home and give her the chance to communicate with her family, and possibly eventually rejoin them. Just helping to make that happen would be worth all the effort and every dime.

 

[lock_washer]

If you feel that Lolita is a "long suffering" orca that needs to be returned to her home. How come you activist don't seem to worry about "Nellie the Bottlenose dolphin" she's been in captivity at Marineland of Florida for 50 years. Also "Bubbles the Pilot Whale". She has been at Marineland of the Pacific (Palos Verdes - Los Angeles), and now Sea World of San Diego for over 50 years in captivity also.

I guess a Pilot Whale is not "sexy looking" or looks "good on camera" like an orca. But its amazing how shortsighted the animal rights groups are.

The Baija "The Chinese river dolphin" just went extinct.
The Chinese is trying to save the last of the finless porpoise...they are threathen with extinction.
Closer to home: The "Vaquita" the Gulf of California Porpoise is down to 150 animals.
In New Zealand: The Maui Dolphin is down to 450 individuals.
The Amazon River Dolphin "The Boto" is threathen with extinction.
There are only 350 right whales left in the North Atlantic stock.
And most important...the "Korean Gray Whale" also known as the Eastern Pacific Gray Whale. They are down to 100 individuals and no seems to be raising an outcry about them.

You are wasting time, resources and money on trying to "rehab another orca"

Lock Washer

 

[ReefGuy]

I'm with you, lock washer. IMO, Celebrities jump on stuff like this for the publicity.

 

[Stormboy]

I can see you have a sneering, scoffing, cynical, surly attitude no matter what, so an appeal to your reason or compassion will probably not have much effect, but here's one more try.
It's not that hard to walk and chew gum. Those are all critical issues and need support. If you do actively help any of those causes, good on ya. If you just use those causes to sound self-righteous while you put down other proposals that for some reason you don't like, not so good on ya.

Helping this orca return to her home, habitat and family is simply the right thing to do. Can you explain your nasty attitude about it?

 

[Wookie]

Nice second post, Stormboy. You know where to find sympathy? You will find a lot of folks around here that might not agree with your views. Spend a little time seeing what the board is about before you get too defensive. You are welcome to make your point in a calm rational manner. If you're going to get all defensive, you might find not too many want to see your side of things.

Just my 0.02

 

[amitsi]

Well, the animal rights activists are at it again. They want to free Lolita the Killer Whale from the Miami Seaquarium and return her to the waters of British Columbia, Canada. This time they tried enlisting some celebrities to get attention.

Celebrities Unite to Free Whale from Years of Solitary Confinement

It’s the whole Free Willy/Free Keiko issue…again. They duped the whole world for money…20 million dollars total. They circumvented laws to move Keiko from Mexico City to Oregon, to Iceland. They legally fought between activists groups and the Oregon Coast Aquarium over ownership of Keiko. When they finally released him in Iceland: it was a failure. Keiko preferred the company of humans to other orcas. Eventually he died next to a dock in Norway. For an animal that was “successfully rehabilitated”…they sure got the “Hollywood Ending”.

Granted that Lolita’s tank is small in Miami, but the solutions are this:
1) Build her a new tank, but that’s up to the management of Miami Seaquarium
2) Send her Sea World in Orlando, or better yet: Sea World in San Diego where she can be with Corky: another British Columbia orca in captivity.

Lolita is not being abuse. Aquariums that display cetaceans in the U.S. are not like the rest of the world. The standards are higher here.

Lolita is not underweight or unhealthy. She is not alone either. It has been awhile seen she has seen another orca: Hugo – a male orca that once resided at the Miami Seaquarium. But she has “lags” (Pacific White Sided Dolphins) sharing her tank.

Trying to release an animal that has been in captivity for 32 years into the wild is a waste of time and money. Hayden Panettiere along with Johnny Depp, and Rapper 50 Cent is getting involved in this issue. Wonder if she will be modeling in a bikini to get Lolita released.

They would be better off trying to stop the Japanese Whaling in the Antarctic. Better yet try to save the other whales, dolphins, porpoises that are really in danger, or going extinct.

Lock Washer

Where do you get your news? US weekly or people magazine?

 

[lock_washer]

I picked up this news item from Yahoo.

The facts about Keiko I picked up from an investigative reporting website and various newspapers. There was infighting between the Earth Island Institute, Oregon Coast Aquarium, and Ocean Futures over the ownership of Keiko. Keiko's originally handler Jeff Foster ended up leaving. At the end of his involvement, he didn't think that Keiko wasn't a good canidate for release. But he got a better home and treatment at the Oregon Coast Aquarium where he should have stayed.

Lolita's history...I have been following since I have been a kid thru books, newspapers and now the internet. I have been following killer whales since: Moby Doll, Namu the killer whale, Ted Griffin and company, and the original Shamu.

To response to Stormboy question...My attitude is this. You don't need hype and the limelight to rehab marine mammals. When you have celebrities involved, you lose creditibility. Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota Florida has been rehabing marine mammals for years. They had some successes, some failures, and some animals unfit to release to the wild. They have been doing this quietly without any hype and I have nothing but praise for them.

I would like Stormboy to answer me why is Lolita the Killer Whale, more special then Bubbles the Pilot Whale? They are both dolphins, live in pods and have families. There is no "Free Bubbles" group rallying for her.

Lock Washer

 

[Stormboy]

My frustration is about many nay-sayers who assume that our motives for helping Lolita are somehow naive or dishonest, when in fact we are extremely well-informed about Lolita and her family and the prospects for her retirement, and simply trying to help the orca and her family, and in the process raise awareness, understanding and support for helping marine mammals, and the natural world in general, everywhere.

Many thousands of people all over the planet are doing likewise and we applaud them all. What frustrates me is the entrenched negativity we get from some quarters, and the lack of any good explanation for it. The only possible reason to be so hostile toward our effort is the fear that the marine park industry will be threatened by the precedent of a successful release of a captive orca. So if you are representing the marine park industry, please say so. If not, please explain your objections to our proposal to retire Lolita.

There should be a "Free Bubbles" campaign, assuming that Bubbles' family's whereabouts are well known and he/she could be retired in a careful, professional way with a provision for long-term care if necessary, as we propose for Lolita. I wish rehabbing and retiring Lolita did not require celebrities to bring attention to her situation, but with such negative reactions as we've seen here, we need to present more than the scientific facts of the matter to get through to the public, we need high-profile spokespeople to bring attention to her and to our proposal, and we're very grateful for them.

Mote Marine Lab does good science, although a bit intrusively, but to my knowledge has only released dolphins they themselves captured. And you may know that Jeff Foster has always worked for the park industry and was not in favor of releasing Keiko from the start, and in fact argued successfully against placing Keiko's seapen in Eskifjord, near where he was captured, which ultimately doomed Keiko's chances of rejoining his family. We obviously won't make that mistake.

So please do tell, why do you object to retiring Lolita? There is no risk to her or her family at any phase of the project, but there is a perceived risk to marine parks if a captive orca is successfully returned to its native habitat.

 

[lock_washer]

My objection to retiring Lolita comes from the fallout after what happened to 2 Orcas: a solitary male named Luna up in British Columbia, and an orphan female baby named Pasuala at Vallarta Adventures Dolphin Center in Mexico.

In Luna's case: He was a solitary orca that got separated from his pod. He wound up staying in Nookta Sound off Vancouver Island. The orca was lonely and wound up approaching boats in the harbor to seek contact. The Canadian Government tried to capture him to return him to his pod, like what was done for Springer the orca. But the local Indian tribe interfered and led the orca away from the capture team with their canoes. They claim the orca was a re-incarnated ancestor of a chief that died and refused to surrender him. A legal battle ensured between the Canadian Government, an activist group, and the Indian Tribe. Eventually they threw in the towel and agreed to let him stay in Nookta Sound. Luna began to become a nuisance by interfering with boats and people. The local people feared that the orca would injure himself...and the worst happened. A tugboat prop chopped Luna up. The harbor people knew that this was going to happen, but everyone sat on their hands. At a memorial ceremony for Luna, the local chief says that the tragedy was no one's fault. But the local Indian tribe has Luna's blood on their hands along with the Canadian Government. Luna would have been better off going to Vancouver Aquarium to live, then to die a painful death...that could have been prevented.

In Pascuala’s case: she was baby orca that got tangled up in a fishing net, and got separated from her mother and pod. She was rescued, and brought to Vallarta Adventures in Mexico: a swim with dolphins facility. The staff there tried to create a formula to feed her, but they couldn’t get it right. Sea World of San Diego offered to take her. The staff wanted her to go to Sea World because they need it would be her only chance of survival. They knew they didn’t have the expertise, and resources to provide for Pascuala. But the Mexican Government, and a local environmental group threw up a legal roadblock and stopped the transfer to Sea World. The baby died a month later unable to feed from the formula.

This is why I am so against moving Lolita from Miami. I still get mad when I think about what happened to Luna. Plus all the politics with Keiko and what eventually happened to him.

If an animal is brought in from the wild due to an injury or illness, rehabbed and returned back as quickly as possible I have no problems supporting that. If they are unfit to return to the wild, or too long in captivity…you can’t release them. An example of this is Winter the dolphin. She lost her tail due to entanglement in a fishing trap when she was brought in. She is unable to survive in the wild, but she now has a home at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. An amazing thing is they were able to create a prosthetic tail for her. The technology of fitting the artificial tail to her was a challenge, but it also opened the door for fitting the Iraq Vets with new and more comfortable prosthetic devices for lost limbs.

People here have seen my threads about dolphins and porpoises. There now 111 Maui dolphins left in New Zealand, and 150 Vaquita (Gulf of California Porpoise) left in Mexico. Breeding in captivity is going to be the only way to save these animals.

Lock Washer