Orcas On Vacation

Each winter millions of human beings migrate to warmer climes; some to seek a brief respite from the pressures of everyday life back home; others to indulge the senses with food, drink, and companionship; and most just to sit under a warm sun and vegetate. This latter activity invariably ends up with painful sunburns and peeling skin; an unwelcome consequence of too much of a good thing done too fast. But to the Killer Whales who spend most of their lives in the frigid waters off Antarctica shedding their skin is precisely what they seek when they too leave winter far behind.

According to a study reported in ScienceDaily*, one type of Orcas regularly travel from the Southern Ocean to the tropical waters off South America. It seems that living in those icy polar seas contributes to the growth of yellowish algae on their skin, and the Orcas' migration north helps rid them of their old skin and with it the algae. What is even more remarkable is that like their human counterparts, these trips are relatively brief. One Orca was monitored taking the 5,000 mile return trip in just 42 days. (Of course very few of us ever get a 6 week vacation, unless you live in France that is).

So the next time you find yourself sitting on some sunny, pristine beach shedding your skin just think, out there beyond the thin blue line that separates our world from theirs, there may be some big black and white member of the dolphin family doing exactly the same thing.

* J.W. Durban, R. L. Pitman. Antarctic killer whales make rapid, round-trip movements to subtropical waters: evidence for physiological maintenance migrations? Biology Letters, 2011: DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0875

Brutal Facts About Captive Orcas

BRUTAL FACTS:
* The average adult American drives 32 miles a day and is free to travel around the world.
* An adult Orca in the wild can swim 100 miles a day and is free to travel around the world.
* An Orca at Sea World can swim 50 yards across the show tank before having to turn around.

* The area of an average American home is 2,700 square feet.
* The area of the world's oceans is 139 million square miles.
* The minimum area set by the government for a captive Orca's tank is 1,800 square feet, with a diameter of 48 feet. An average adult Orca is 24 feet long. (Proportionally, this is the same size as cells for murderers on death row).

* The average life span for an American is 78 years.
* In the wild, Orcas can live up to 80 years.
* In captivity, Orcas have an average life span of 10 years.

CONCLUSION:
You tell me, is keeping Orcas in captivity cruel and unusual punishment? If you agree that it is, here is what you can do about it:

* First, stop going to Sea World or marine parks like it. And tell two friends to stop, and have them tell two friends. Soon the message will reach thousands of like-minded people.
* Second, express your views on Facebook or YouTube or on any and every forum to anyone who will listen.
* Third, teach your children that to keep intelligent and sentient beings in tiny cement tanks barely twice as long as their bodies, and force them to perform stupid animal tricks for our entertainment is wrong. Just plain wrong.
* Fourth, write your Representative or Senator and ask them to introduce a bill in Congress to outlaw the keeping and breeding of Orcas in captivity. (For those of you outside the U.S. do this with your respective government representatives.)

THE HOPED FOR OUTCOME:
Releasing captive Orcas into the wild is problematic and most likely a death sentence. As such, those already in captivity are doomed either way. However, if we stop going to Sea World and to all the parks like it; and/or if the government outlaws this inhumane practice, then the owners and management will stop breeding them or buying them. They will be forced to end the shows and allow their captives to live out the rest of their lives in peace. And eventually, in 10 years or so, there will be no Orcas left suffering in cement tanks anywhere in the world.

NOTE: I will be traveling for a few weeks and unable to post. I'll see you on the flip side.

Captive Orcas: Doomed Either Way...

Pending further study, a court in Amsterdam has blocked the sale of a young female Orca (named Morgan by the Dutch) to a Spanish amusement park but the court stopped short of ordering her to be returned to the North Sea where the then-sick animal was rescued a year ago. While freeing Morgan instead of condemning her to a life sentence in a concrete tank in Spain is a romantic notion, the harsh reality is that this resilient little being is doomed either way.

These are highly social animals: their family group is everything to them; providing food, comfort, and safety, to the exclusion of Orcas from different pods. As such, even if the court rules in favor of Morgan's release, the likelihood of her handlers being able to find her family group is slim: barring that, she has little chance of surviving on her own. Arguably, the alternative is even worse.

Female Orcas can live 80 years in the wild but only 10 years on average in captivity. There are over 40 Killer Whales in marine parks around the globe; two-thirds of these are owned by Sea World. While the Company's management and owners wax eloquent about how their actions have contributed to mankind's knowledge about the species, the truth is that captive Orcas are big business, pure and simple. If millions of people didn't spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year gawking at Orcas as they perform stupid animal tricks, we wonder how quickly Sea World's corporate altruism would fade?

Whether a Killer Whale is captured in the wild and sold into captivity, or born there, they lead foreshortened lives of mind-numbing boredom, physical distress, and emotional anguish. On several occasions, this has led to Orcas killing their trainers as happened at Sea World Orlando last year when a 12,000-pound male named Tilikum attacked his trainer, drowning her. It was the third such death involving this particular animal.

Sadly, Morgan is doomed no matter which way the Dutch court rules. And meanwhile, the owners of Sea World, and all the other marine parks like it around the world, keep raking in the money...

A Sad Day For The Sea And The Planet

Friday, April 22nd, 2011, was a sad day for those of us who love the sea and the whales and dolphins who rule over its dominions. On that day, SeaWorld Orlando debuted their new Killer Whale show, which they have presumptuously and insensitively named 'One World.' Their spin-doctors describe it as a grand spectacular of lights, and music, and fountains...and oh yes, Killer Whales, who they call the 'ambassadors of the sea.' They go on to claim that its purpose is to excite, and educate, and inspire their guests to make a difference in the world.

Wait! What? To make a difference how? By paying huge sums of money to sit on bleachers and gawk and guffaw while intelligent and sentient beings, who God created to roam the open oceans of the world, perform stupid and demeaning tricks.

The people who own and operate SeaWorld do it because they can: they can because the government allows them to; and they can because their "guests" don't understand the difference between a Killer Whale and a trained monkey in the circus. But Killer Whales know the difference and that's what makes their imprisonment so very sad.

And while these ignorant and uncaring audiences continue to pay money to the wardens of these liquid prisons, magnificent ocean beings remain locked away in tiny concrete tanks where they lead shortened lives of mind-numbing boredom and mental anguish. For this, we are a lesser race and this is a lesser planet.

Arrogance, Intolerance and Stupidity

According to Chuck Tompkins, curator of zoological operations for Sea World parks, steps are being taken to get trainers back into the water with Killer Whales, one year after Tilikum, one of the captive Orcas in their Orlando park, killed a trainer (see my blogs in February, 2010). He says that they have spent tens of millions of dollars on safety equipment to protect the trainers, as well as on 'retraining' the Orcas. All this is being done despite findings by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)that Sea World was reckless in allowing humans into the water with the Killer Whales: a finding Sea World is currently fighting.

The tragedy in all this goes far beyond the caring and talented woman who died last year doing what she loved;

-beyond the magnificent creatures doomed to spend foreshortened lives in tiny concrete tanks performing stupid animal tricks;

-beyond the gawking audiences who are either oblivious to, or apathetic about, the physical hardships and mental anguish these animals suffer;

-beyond the employees of these parks who mean well and do not intentionally inflict harm upon their captives;

-beyond the owners and management of these parks who must answer to their shareholders who expect a positive return on their investment;

Sadly, the greatest tragedy in all this is that we as human beings have deceived ourselves into believing that we are the only intelligent, sentient beings on this planet; and that we have the God-given right to do anything we want, whenever we want, to the earth, and to the skies, and to the seas.

As I wrote in my morality tale, 'The Tempest's Roar',"...when we have all been dead ten thousand years, there will be nothing left to mark our passing except barren lands and empty seas; and in between on lonely shores, living stones will cry out in silence the three words that will serve as our collective epitaph; Arrogance, Intolerance and Stupidity."

The Fourth Monkey

Many of you recognized the proverbial principle of the three wise monkeys in the previous posting. Some of you know that the source of this maxim is a 17th century carving over a door in the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan. The three monkeys are Mizaru, who holds his hands over his eyes and sees no evil; Kikazaru, who covers his ears and hears no evil; and Iwazaru, who holds his hands over his mouth and speaks no evil. However, what you may not know is that there is actually a fourth monkey. His name is Shizaru, and he holds his arms across his chest to symbolize that he does no evil.

That said, the answer to the riddle is that none of the three monkeys were allowed into heaven. In a telling twist of fate, the fourth monkey was also on the bus and he too was killed but unlike the other three he was welcomed into heaven. The reason is that he never, ever went to the sea park: he knew that by paying money to see the Killer Whale perform stupid and demeaning tricks reinforced the evil behavior of the cruel and greedy humans who owned the park.

Please remember this parable the next time you think about going to a sea park where Killer Whales are held captive. It is not enough to see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil; you must do no evil.

Riddle of the Three Monkeys and the Killer Whale

One day, three monkeys went to an oceanarium. They sat down on a bench in front of a tank in which a Killer Whale was swimming in mindless circles and being made to perform stupid and demeaning tricks.

The first monkey whose name was, See No Evil, believed that it was cruel to keep such a magnificent creature imprisoned in a tiny tank where it would die long before its time. So he kept his eyes covered so that he would not have to witness the Killer Whale's mental anguish and humiliation.

The second monkey, whose name was Hear No Evil, liked looking at the Killer Whale: he had fun when he came to the sea park and didn't want to listen to what the first monkey was saying so he kept his ears covered.

The third monkey whose name was Speak No Evil knew a human who worked as a trainer at the oceanarium; his friend told him that everything the first monkey said was true: but he was afraid that the evil men who owned the sea park would fire his friend if he said anything so he kept his mouth covered.

The next day these three monkeys were riding in a bus that was hit by a truck and all three were all killed. Which monkey do you think got into heaven?

For the answer you'll have to wait until the next posting...

The PICWW: Three kinds of Orcas.

This begins my Politically Incorrect Whale Watcher feature, in which, I will occasionally give you my candid views on my fellow beings. Today we will start with the ones you call Killer Whales. First, let me set the record straight, all whales and dolphins are killers. We all kill to live, so do you. But let us not go there. There are three kinds of Orcas: first are those you call Residents. They live in coastal waters, stay close to home, and eat only fish. Among their own, they are very social, caring, and loving. Hence, I refer to them as Sissyboys. Next come Transients. These guys are mean, hard, and highly taciturn. They roam all cold-water seacoasts and only eat mammals; including other whales, so obviously I call them Cannibals (not to their faces because if I did I would be dinner). Your whale experts are correct in saying that they do not eat humans but it is only because you are bony, stinky, little creatures and killing you is not worth the effort. And finally, there are those you call Offshore Orcas. These guys are really, really cool. They live far from land and never interbreed with the other two kinds. They mostly eat sharks, especially Great White Sharks; so it should come as no surprise that I call them Heroes. So there you have it: the PICWW on Orcas. In the future, I will give you the scoop on other whales and dolphins. If there are any in particular that you want to hear some gossip about, let me know.