Rescued baby killer whale - political storm

[DavidPT40]

Wouldn't captive breeding soon lead to inbreeding?

 

[maphic]

Interesting thought......could we apply the same reasoning to welfare....ooops!

I laughed so hard at this.

 

[Mr.X]

Look....again......I'm not trying to be clever, or looking for a fight. However...from your own link about the orcas:
at least 17 of the 48 in captivity (many it's hard to see where they came from) were captured. It's simply not true that all dolphins and whales come from captive breeding programs.......and for what it's worth, in Taiji they also "dolphin farm" many of their catch these days. The fact in Taiji is simple - a live dolphin that they sell to a marine park/aquarium is worth around US$30,000 last info I had. A dead one is worth about $3000.
Maybe I'm simple but I draw my own conclusions from that and don't think the folks in Taiji would be too happy if they couldn't make the money off the live animals. In spite of many popular misconceptions (what's new?), almost no one eats dolphin here - demand is almost non-existent except for the very local cultures of Taiji and Futo themselves where it's historically been part of the menu for a few thousand people.

Sure - many dolphin populations are under great pressure. This is mostly through pollution and bycatch factors though. While marine parks and aquariums might be able to keep a few species going as long as it's in their financial interests to do so, I really don't think it amounts to much more than window dressing. Now.....if someone was coming with practical solutions to keep such species viable in the wild then that'd be something else - but it's not what I'm hearing.

I'm sorry if I appear somewhat cynical in my assessment, but we appear to live in a world where we can't even agree on basic stuff like man made global warming, pollution effects, over fishing consequences etc......so yes......I guess I'm rather pessimistic these days.

But hey! If you really think that moving this one calf to San Diego will actually help anything....you have my moral support (although what good it'll do I'm really not sure). I suppose doing tricks for a living is probably better than dying in situ (maybe). I'm not fooling myself that this is staving off extinctions in the wild though, albeit we might keep a few specimens hanging on for curiosity value.

I must say though - I'm very interested in what Mr X has to add when he returns from his dive! I might not always agree 100% with what he thinks but it's obviously the thoughts of a very committed individual, and worth listening to!

True: Kim and I have had our differences, but we probably share similar views on the condition of this planet and the treatment of people. He and his wife do things to better this planet. I appreciate this very much!


The zoo business is funded by ticket/product sales and whatever the marketing geniuses concoct. The premier establishments that are funded by wealthy patrons do not have to worry so much about making the buck...although they do manage to move substantial #’s of people through their doors whilst educating. I like these institutions. Monterey Bay Aquarium is such a place. It’s simply marvelous. Seaworld, conversely is owned by Budweiser. That's a corporation that branched out into entertainment. One wonders if the CEO's & shareholders truly care about ecological matters? I’ve known a few CEO’s and they are not anything other than business people first. People, whales & the environment are not anything they lose sleep over.

It’s wistful to think that captive breeding can supply mammals for marine parks. To survive as a marine park you have to capture a majority of your critters. It’s cheaper this way. Marine mammals are not tiger/ligers/chimps etc. Whales need space to breed + hugely specialized care. No aquarium can truly maintain an active breeding program unless it brings in tons of money to pay for real estate, materials and maintenance. Something is always leaking, or broken. My duties at the aquarium (that’s with a masters degree) was being a full-time fish janitor and hose coiler. The aquarium biz. may look glamorous on kiddie shows, but behind the scenes this occupation is not so pretty.

I'll share my most unpleasant experience. During one collection day we caught small baitfish as food for some larger freshies. An assistant using a handcart tipped a large container over, dropping hundreds of small baitfish onto a blistering hot slab of concrete. Hundreds of wriggling fish were being roasted to death. I tried to pick up as many of the little guys as I could, but ended up having to euthanize (squash) a large number who were beyond recovery. Afterwards I felt sick and morally drained. The few that I managed to save died of complications related to heat, stress and abrasion. While gruesome, this episode provided an eye opening realization about my fellow aquarists – most did not give a s__t. "Hey, the fish were slated for death…why bother"? "Let em’ roast". Some even got a kick watching me trying to save the little guys. If anything, I soon discovered that this attitude permeated the administrative levels of this institution. They espoused research and tender care, but did neither. I will say one thing, when the press or media was involved they always threw forth their best efforts on camera and to the reporters. Gosh darn sells tickets and good wishes. In fact, the aging director still pitches his same shtick on various TV shows. In the end, there is nothing quite like the biz. and the institution I was at. In the retrospect, the director of the aquarium did me a favor by canning my a__ later that month.

X

 

[Zingtea]

The enviromentalist would rather see this animal die then have it go to Sea World. A pretty sad point of view for them to have.

Sea World probably has NO plans to EVER release that orca and it's a for profit business. The orca should be kept in a rehabilitation center where he/she won't be forced to do circus tricks for the rest of his/her life.

 

[lock_washer]

It always nice when people use your words against you. Of course you can't release this animal back into the wild. What other facilites has the support to maintain this animal. 3 other marine parks in North America other than Sea World: Miami Seaquarium, Six Flags Adventure Kingdom (Vallejo, CA) Marineland of Canada (Niagra Falls). Unless you want to foot the bill to send this animal to to Japan, Argentina, or Europe where other Marine parks have orcas. There is no rehab center that can provide the long term care for an orca, or companionship it needs from other orcas.

lock

 

[lock_washer]

Huh...guess everyone lost interest here.

 

[erparamedic]

Nope... no lost interest. Waiting on new news to post.

 

[Mr.X]

Nope... no lost interest. Waiting on new news to post.

Same here. However, I don't quite know what you are trying to say here? If anything, we more or less share the same perspectives. If anything, it's about getting the word out.

As per other environmental news...I will be leaving for a polar expedition shortly. It'll be interesting to see what the Inuit have to say about the ice. One thing I can say for sure is that the glaciers in Alaska are melting away - big time. Bad.

X