Whilst I accept that the death of a trainer at Seaworld in Orlando is a very sad, it just amazes me that humans can exploit animals in such a way for entertainment and profit, with little or no regard for them. Seaworld have stated that the show will go on, will anyone on vacation in Florida be going to visit this particular attraction?
I did hear of this on the radio-box. Though I don't know the full story, I understand the whale (killer whale no less... Orca, and all that) was kept in rather small ponds to the rear of the tank in which it performed. Not the best circumstances for such a ceature I would guess.
Tell me, did the circus have any defence for keeping the beats in these conditions other than to entertain a sun-kissed audience?
I'm wondering whether thay have tried to justify with 'scientific research' or 'breeding programme' or something along those lines.
Also tell me: Has the cheeky aquatic mammal been destroyed, or do you think it might be far too valuable a commodity?
If it were a dog, I should think it would be up for the needle.
One last question... was there blood, and is it on film?
lp
Do BA still fly to Florida?
Shall we organise a Social?
i jest.
Indeed, it does exactly what it says on the tin. and co-incidentally, thats just about the size of the container the sardine whale is kept in. most probably fo it's own good you understand. As i'm sure we might be told that S/he really enjoys it all.
lp
On reflection we in this country did not treat "Our" whale all that well either, we ended up killing it in the Thames that day.
Tilikum is a "Bull" Orca and has been in captivity since the age of 2.
I ate well that night!
But seriously; The Thames Whale was sick and died of exhaustion didn't it?
Part of the reason it came up the river in the first place?
lp
Yes I saw that programme too.
I have a soft spot for Orcas having lived on the west coast of Vancouver Island (where Luna hung out). It was 30 years ago and I remember how saddened I was when a small bay where I lived was used to corral an Orca to sell on to a sea world type place in Florida. Each day, the pod would visit to corralled Orca - it was there about a week whist transport was arranged. It was strange that despite being entirely capable of jumping over the net, it never attempted to do so - best guess was that the net interfered with it's sonar, however both the pod and it were aware of each other on either side of the net.
Orcas are apex predators, they have no natural predators and can (and do) take out any other creature in their environment - I've even seen footage of a mega pod taking down a Blue Whale.
They hate sharks, they often gang up and kill them - not for food, but to eliminate any threat to their young I guess.
In the 2 years I lived there, I was fortunate to see them close up several times whilst out scuba diving - they'd follow the dive boat, one time, one of them jumped over the boat and they breached nearby all the time. They'd hang out with us in the water, even with calves. A careless flick of the tail could have killed us, they could have trashed the boat easily, yet they were always extremely careful not to damage or injure us. As far as I know, in the wild, they have never made an unprovoked attack on a human. There was a case I read about where a pod attacked and sunk a sailing boat, but there was speculation the Orcas may have made a mistake - certainly I've not heard of a case since.
I don't hold with putting wild animals in prison, I'm just about ok with safari parks for species preservation.
Taking an Orca, who's back yard is millions of cubic miles of ocean, and putting them in a tank, is akin to placing a human being in a straightjacket and nailing them up in a coffin.
Please don't give these establishments your patronage, and prevail on your friends to do likewise.
Last time I was on Vancouver Island (10 years ago), it was somewhat alarming to see the massive amount of whale safari activity - they have spotters on all the headlands around Victoria, any sign of a pod, they're on the radio and ticket holders scramble for the boats. Thankfully there is a code of practice viz separation distance and amount of time allowed to view (which some operators flout), but I was concerned that pods were getting mobbed as soon as they showed up.
