truthaboutwildandcaptiveorcas:
Exempt from “The Winter Dolphin Chronicles”…..
I think you mean “excerpt”, not “exempt”.
In recent years, there has been a lot of argument over whether or not Lolita, a 45-year-old Killer Whale at the Miami Seaquarium, should be released back into the wild because the community of orcas where she came from has been well known to researchers since the 1970′s. This article will talk about why Lolita is not a great candidate for release and why she would have to remain in human care for the remainder of her life even if it involves moving her to either another facility or building her a new tank.
1. Lolita has lived in captivity for 41 years and has fully trusted people.
And this is not a scientific nor fact-based observation.
Since 1970, Lolita has been cared for by trainers and vets at the Miami Seaquarium. Over the years, Lolita has learned to trust her trainers thanks to her possible brother/cousin Hugo, who taught her how to trust and deal with trainers as well as enjoy daily routines.
I’m sorry, what? How is this fact-based at all? Where is the evidence to suggest this? Especially since Hugo was an aggressive orca and would often disrupt shows and refuse to perform. Even Lolita, to this day, refuses to perform on occasion.
Lolita’s trainers spend their time interacting with her, especially if there’s no show going on. Trainers will spend time playing with her and the Pacific White Sided Dolphins who share her pool. Playtime for any animal is important as it strengthens relationships and gives Lolita exercise. She is also curious about people too. Before shows starts, Lolita will sometimes come up out of curiosity and check them out.
There is, again, no evidence to suggest that Lolita looks at people out of curiosity. She has been surrounded by humans gawking at her from the other side of the tank for over 40 years. What makes you think she’s interested in looking at someone? To her, everyone is most likely the same. Unless you’re a trainer, or even a regular who is there all the time, I doubt she recognises, or cares, about anyone.
The only two things I do believe that Lolita really needs are a bigger and better tank and a few orca companions although she does get along with her dolphin tank mates. She has her own schedule like any SeaWorld orca too and does not find change to be reinforcing. She’s fed at 9:45 in the morning and gets a good two hours of rest and receives daily play sessions along with her dolphin companions. She is not forced to perform in any shape or form and can refuse to perform anytime. She is fed regardless of what behavior she exhibits.
This is all irrelevant information concerning the point about “Lolita trusting trainers”. It just shows that she sticks to a schedule. There is no scientific observation to suggest that Lolita trusts her trainers. And even so, I don’t see how this is an argument against moving Lolita to a seapen.
As often is the argument with many pro-caps, they complain that Lolita would be stressed without her trainers, as she’s grown to love and trust them. However, Lolita has had multiple trainers in the past. Many have quit, left, or moved away. What about Lolita? Did she not miss these people?
Who knows. But what I do know is that Lolita has had to deal with trainers coming and going in her lifetime. She can obviously handle it.On top of that, the argument is pretty much irrelevant, because the trainers are actually invited to help out with Lolita’s rehabilitation (if it ever happened). So if they cared about Lolita, they would assist with her rehab so she has a familiar face.
2. Although Lolita’s pod is known to researchers, there is no guarantee that they would accept her a pod mate.
No, there isn’t a guarantee. Hence why the back up plan is to care for her in the seapen. Retirement isn’t a bad option, but everyone acts like it is. Elephants are retired from circuses all the time, but you don’t see anyone kicking up a stink about that.
One anti-captivity argument is the fact that Lolita’s pod is well known to researcher.. While it is true that her birth pod, the L-25 pod has been studied by researchers for over three decades now, there is little to no guarantee that they would accept her as a legitimate member of their pod. You see, killer whales are social animals and most pods will only affiliate with whoever their parents have introduced them too such as other pods they normally travel with. When you think back with Keiko, all interactions with wild pods ended with Keiko returning to the boat were his care takers were aboard because the majority of interactions he had with them were aggressive.
Yeah this isn’t scientific or evidence based at all. Keiko interacted with wild orcas regularly:
http://www.keiko.com/history.html
Excerpt from the above site:
Year 2000: “Keiko makes amazing progress during his sea “walks,” even beginning to interact with wild orcas in the vicinity of his sea pen. His health and stamina improves as he comes closer to returning to his wild ways.”Year 2001: “Early in the year, Keiko exhibits behaviors consistent with wild whales-competing with other animals for food. Keiko begins initiating contact with wild orcas in the vicinity and spends several days away from his human companions.”
Even so, the argument with Keiko vs Lolita is not relevant either because Lolita’s situation is completely different to Keiko’s. Just like this post mentioned about pod structure, it is close knit and tight. Strangers aren’t often accepted, however Lolita still understands and uses the calls of her individual dialect - a dialect unique to the L pod.
Not only that, but Keiko’s original family pod was never found. Whether or not he would’ve been accepted by his own family can be argued all day and night. Lolita’s family is still alive and well, we know she comes from their pod, and we have a chance to reunite her with her family.
For the living members of the L-25 pod, Lolita would be considered a stranger to them rather than another pod mate. Also, in the case of rescued juvenile orca Springer, interactions with her pod were aggressive until one of her aunts stepped in to raised her. Most of the members of the L-25 sub pod who were alive at the time of her 1970 capture have died over the years and only two pod mates who were alive during that time are still alive. They are L-25 (Ocean Sun who was believed to have been born in 1928) and her supposed sister L-12 (Alexis who is believed to have been born in 1933) and both animals have been argued to have possibly be Lolita’s birth mother. While long-time whale researcher Ken Balcomb argued in a 2003 documentary that L-12, Alexis was her mother, other activists suggests her possible sister Ocean Sun. Yet, unlike Corky, there are no known photographs of Lolita with either one of these animals that were taken prior to the 1970 Penn Cove capture. So, only DNA testing would tells us the truth.
So why not allow a DNA test to prove it? I doubt MSQ would, they refused to allow a live chat between Lolita and her pod set up, to see how either party reacted.
3. Even if Lolita was moved to a sea pen, she would still be a captive animal that requires human care.
And what’s wrong with that?
Most activists who want to see Lolita moved to a sea pen don’t realize that by having Lolita reside at a sea pen, she would still be in captivity, except, she would reside in an enclosed area that would be surrounded by the ocean.
I’m sorry - “surrounded by the ocean”? You make it sound like she won’t be in the ocean.
Lolita’s seapen is the size of a football field, far larger than her pathetic tank at Miami SeaQuarium.
While the pen itself would take months to build,
The area chosen for the pen is ready for rehabilitation, for any time. It would not take “months” to set up, now you’re just exaggerating. Besides, it’s already been built.
View the plan here:
http://savelolita.org/the-planLolita herself would still require long-term care by zoo professionals that she currently receives at Miami Seaquarium, except, this care would be possible through public support and public funding which can only be made possible by the sea pen being opened to the public,
I guess you’ve never heard of “public donations”. The pen doesn’t have to be open to the public for this to happen. There are caring volunteers who will work around the clock for Lolita’s care. Her trainers are welcome to interact with her and provide stimulation if needed, and plenty of experts and specialists are more than happy to work for free to take care of Lolita.
this will help with funds needed for her care. Lolita should not be kept alone in the pen
Because, you know, Lolita isn’t alone at all in the tank she’s in now.
And no, small dolphins are not suitable companions for a killer whale. She needs her own kind., and whoever is operating the sea pen would be required to find a suitable companion for her because again, there’s no guarantee that her wild pod would ever recognize her a legitimate family member.
There’s no guarantee, but the longer pro-caps sit around and complain about it, the less time we’ll have to be able to find out.
4. The Salish Sea is still under threat as a marine habitat thanks to habitat destruction, increase tourism, and pollution.
Because this doesn’t happen at all in any other part of the world.
While various pollutants have been banned in the United States in the 1970′s, pollution is still threatening the Salish Sea’s marine ecosystem. For example, toxic substances accumulate in higher concentrations as they move up the food chain.
These toxins are found in every water system, all over the world. Stating that moving Lolita to the Salish Sea is dangerous because of this is sort of redundant. Even more so, considering that Lolita’s body is most likely filled with toxins from the fish she eats, and because toxins are also passed through the placenta to the baby before its born.
Lolita most likely already has toxins in her body, and is continually receiving toxins from the fish she eats in captivity, so this point is redundant.
As the top predator in the Pacific Northwest, Killer Whales are considered to be the most polluted marine mammals in the oceans. The toxic build up of pollution starts before birth when the mother passes these pollutants on to her offspring and later through nursing. In the Pacific Northwest, the Chinook salmon, the primary food source for Southern Resident Killer Whales is endangered due to stream-side logging, increase in agricultural development, spread of disease and competition by salmon hatcheries, and over-fishing worldwide. The lack of wild salmon has caused orcas to not have enough fat reserves that would ensure their survival during the long winter months. It has been observed that the orcas of Salish Sea are not fat and healthy as they should be, due to summer gorging; it causes a lot of concerns about their survival and their well-being in the coming months.
Then why don’t you boycott eating fish? I bet you eat fish.
The Salish Sea commonly crowded with a variety of boats coming in and out of their habitats for various reasons. During the summer months, much of the Salish Sea is busy with boat traffic and that is noise pollution.
Actually, the area of Lolita’s seapen is completely free of boat traffic.
Of all the known senses of cetaceans, sound is the sense they rely on the most.
Yes, you’re right. Sound is their primary sense.
And yet you don’t seem too concerned when Lolita is floating miserably in her tank, forced to listen to the blasting, obnoxious music played every single day. No, not a care about that loud music at all. But you’ll care when it’s convenient to you, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhlhTmXVzzQ
Don’t you think that music is a bit loud?
With shipping, marine tourism and navy activity every increasing in the ocean, so much noise is being introduced into cetacean habitats, thus, interrupting their normal behavior, and even driving them away from feeding and breeding areas they rely on for survival. Recent studies have shown that noise pollution, especially navy sonar, has been linked to mass standings, and severe hearing damage in cetaceans. Cetaceans rely on sound to navigate, communicate with other animals, find and catch food.
And yet Lolita is forced to endure noise pollution every day in her small tank…. with no way to escape it.
5. If Lolita was released and is not accepted into a wild pod, there could be a chance that she could become a “wild-friendly cetacean”.
No, because if she weren’t accepted, she would live her life in the seapen.
While we may be able to teach Lolita how to hunt, we can’t teach her the ways of wild orcas, like how to avoid boats, and use sonar to navigate through murky waters.
You don’t need to teach an orca how to use sonar. It already knows how. Firstly, if she were to be accepted into a pod, her pod would teach her how to properly navigate through murky water.
Secondly, yes, you can teach orca to avoid boats:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/fyi/news/04/04/keiko/index.html
Excerpt from above site:
“Reports so far indicate Keiko is adjusting well. His first venture outside his bay pen one month ago lasted for about 20 minutes. Since then, he has learned to avoid boats, eat live food and find natural toys, said Jeff Foster, director of Field Operations and Research for Ocean Futures.”If Lolita was released and not accepted by her wild pod, her story could end like Keiko’s did; he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean alone where ended up in Norway and began interacting with boaters, and ultimately The Salish Sea is known for its summer boat traffic, a friendly Killer Whale would not be a safe Killer Whale.
Except, like I said before, if Lolita wasn’t accepted by a pod, she would return to live in the seapen, as she wouldn’t survive entirely on her own, and may be presented as a danger to herself and others.
L98 Luna was a good example of this. He was boat friendly and was eventually killed by the propellers of a tug boat. If Lolita approaches boats she puts herself in danger and puts the boaters in danger. This could create a very damaging situation. The chances of Lolita being re-captured before she is killed would be very low.
Luna is an example of the government refusing to take proper action to return Luna to his pod. They chose stay out of the issue, and when they finally decided to act, their plan was to send him into captivity instead of rehabilitate him, which was NOT what the public wanted. They wanted him to be returned to his family. His release/rehab failed, and the government gave up.
And I’d like some scientific evidence to support the claim that the chance of Lolita being recaptured is low. Because I doubt that.
I have made my case regarding Lolita and it’s concluded that Lolita cannot be released back into the wild but, remain in human care for the rest of her life.
It’s not concluded at all. You provided no links, no sources, no information to back yourself up. Instead, you relied solely on your own opinions of the issue.
There’s no guarantee that releasing her would be successful and she is not an experiment, nor should be treated like one. I would suggests that she should be given either a bigger tank that would be large enough to house her and her dolphin companions with the possibility of one day acquiring another Killer Whale companion
And how exactly would they acquire another killer whale companion, mm? Capture one from the wild? No one in their right mind would send a killer whale to MSQ.
or be moved to a SeaWorld park where she could at least be around other orcas. However, there is little chance to no chance of her ever being moved to another facility because Lolita does not like change.
SeaWorld does not want Lolita. I would advise against putting your hopes in that, because if they really wanted Lolita, they would’ve taken her by now. She’s too old for their liking.
~Jenna~
(Source: thewinterdolphinchronicles.wordpress.com)
