Lolita, the Orca who kept hoping

Lolita, the Orca who kept hoping
01.04.2016
Miami
Lolita, the Orca who kept hoping
Exploitation for shows

At Miami Seaquarium, Lolita turns in circles. She doesn’t know, but we are working to save her. For her perhaps: freedom. Soon.

The prison

Today,
Lolita swims in a circular aquarium of 24 by 11 metres, and with a depth of 3 to 6 metres, surrounded by spectator benches under the Florida sun. When she turns upwards, her tail fin touches the ground, because her body is 6m long. Completely alone for 36 years now, she shares her tiny prison with a few Pacific white-sided dolphins.

The only Orca companion that she ever had was Hugo, caught two years earlier from the same L pod clan. Most likely a brother or a cousin. The couple never had children, even though the two captives were extremely affectionate with each other, sometimes publicly. Lolita and Hugo lived together for ten years in the « whale jar ». Unable to cope with captivity, Hugo died from a brain haemorrhage by hitting his head repeatedly against the walls of the tank in the Spring of 1980. Lolita plunged into despair and there were concerns for her life. But the little orca kept going and today she is surviving the intolerable. Does she doubt what is planned for her? Is it hope that has kept her going far longer than a human would in her circumstances?

Freedom

On the outside, everything has been prepared for her. A reliable rehabilitation plan has been established for Lolita by her longstanding friend, Howard Garrett, (founder of the
Orca network), and a team of scientists. We just need a gesture from the company Aspro Ocio, who own her as well as the Antibes orcas, to open her prison doors to allow for an amazing occurrence in the close future. Imagine….

Hope

Lolita is in a bay close to the San Juan Islands, in the ocean off Washington State, having been transported by plane there. It has been a few weeks now since she rediscovered what she had never really forgotten: to catch her own fish, to dive, to voyage in the ocean. Her human friends take care of her but are becoming more and more discrete. One beautiful morning, we can hear a sequence of whistles coming from the ocean. The Southern Resident Orca Community is returning!

It’s the L Pod, her natal clan. The wild orcas swim carefully along the net cutting the creek, trying first of all to understand. Who is this stranger? They interrogate her, she clumsily responds in their dialect. It has been such a long time since she has spoken to someone!

Suddenly, in the crowd of gathered orcas, a matriarch detaches herself and comes closer. She addresses the stranger, whistling her name, questioningly. Lolita starts and replies. They know each other! « Mother?… » Yes, it’s Ocean Sun, her 80 year old mother who is looking straight at her. The net gently falls to the ground, whilst the two orcas lean on each other for the first time in 46 years! We don’t know how orcas cry, but these two are surely crying in happiness. Now, all of the tribe wriggle, dive, hit the waves and welcome the unimaginable escapee from hell. Soon, their large fins will line up together, taking Lolita to the dark waters of Puget Sound. She was right to keep hoping…

But all of this is still a dream. Help us make it real.

Morgan, the little lost orca

Morgan, the little lost orca
20.03.2016
Tenerife
Morgan, the little lost orca
Exploitation for shows

In June 2010, a small female orca swimming alone was lost at sea off the coast of the Netherlands. The Harderwijk dolphinarium hurries to rescue her as part of a capture authorization, which means that the orca must be cared for and then put back into the sea. But the dolphinarium, shortly after the « rescue », exposes Morgan to the public in a pool ridiculously small for its size. A few tricks have already been taught. The public pays to see her and bang on the widows of her pool. She stayed there for 18 months, while a scientific rehabilitation plan was organized to return her by plane to her family, the Pod P, located in the Norwegian Sea.

But Morgan was caught up in the marine circus industry. Despite the legal process initiated at the time, she was eventually sent to a park in Tenerife (Canary Islands) on November 29, 2011. The five orcas already held in this zoo were born in captivity in the United States. Nothing in their brutal behaviour or their primitive vocalizations reminds Morgan of the sophisticated manners of her community in the wild. Worse still, Keto, a teenage male orca, imposes his brutal law and harassing her for hours trying to rape her. Though young, she represents a valued gene pool to regenerate the breeding programs of the closed circuit of the dolphinariums.

Between two shows, Morgan isolates herself as much as she can in such a small space. She turns against the walls which enclose her, strikes her head on the concrete until blood flows or gnaws the iron bars of the enclosure. How long will it last? As soon as she was captured, a legal battle was launched for her release. The owner of the park, SeaWorld, manoeuvred to keep Morgan captive, condemning her to death. Time is running out, as with all of the other 50 or more captive orcas in the world.

Together, with your support, One Voice will not give up! In partnership with the Free Morgan Foundation, various actions are under way. Help Morgan by supporting our campaign!

What does the future hold for the orcas of Antibes?

What does the future hold for the orcas of Antibes?
18.03.2016
Antibes
What does the future hold for the orcas of Antibes?
Exploitation for shows

Whilst SeaWorld has stopped the orca reproduction programme, in Antibes, the show opens again. Following the deaths last year of Freya, Valentin, Eclair and Mila, what does the future hold for the flood survivors?

The lost children

Wikie, Inouk, Moana, Keijo… the four surviving orcas in the Antibes pool, hopefully now free from infected water. As if nothing has happened, Marineland is hoping that the show will go on. The early deaths of Freya at 34 and Valentin at 19 have been forgotten, along with those of Eclair and Mila, which by the way we had failed to report! The flooding which still poses a threat to the park has been forgotten! Under new management, Marineland launches a new season.

Reopening

For the reopening, Marineland has announced a review of the orca shows. The previously theatrical shows will now be educational, mimicking natural behaviour « It’s a new product, declares the park, reiterating SeaWorlds announcement, far removed from the ‘Blackfish’ effect. It is about listening to the public’s desire to be entertained whilst learning at the same time ». But by learning what? That orcas swim in groups of four, when in fact orca communities in the wild have up to two hundred members? That they hunt herrings together, when a fish would die within five minutes in the pool’s chlorinated water? How can we imitate ‘natural behaviour’ in a concrete tank surrounded by stands?

Nothing changes

If they are really inspired by SeaWorld, they should also stop orca breeding programmes, as the American group has just announced to be doing. Artificial insemination based reproduction causes terrible suffering to the mothers who lose many babies and are often separated from them when they do survive. Marineland could go one step further in reinstating the orcas into marine sanctuaries. For one thing is certain, whatever the staging or the musical scores for this « new product », it will be performed by captive orcas. For them, educational or not, the show will always be their breadwinner, their drill in the prison court. And after the show: suffering, boredom and confinement. Nothing changes.

What does the future hold for the Antibes orcas?

Captive cetaceans die young. Up to now, the media does not seem affected by the numerous deaths in just one year, nor by the psychological situation and the strange « community » of orcas reduced to one female in charge of two youngsters and her deformed brother. However, if nothing is done, our four orcas will die young at the end of a grim, medicalised and meaningless life … The phasing out of theatrical orca shows by SeaWorld has sent a strong message, this slavery has reached its end! It is now time to repatriate the Antibes survivors to a marine sanctuary in Iceland, with the other inmates from SeaWorld. One Voice is ready to support this project. Let’s join forces for their survival and freedom!

Harderwijk: the shock and the suffering

Harderwijk: the shock and the suffering
14.03.2016
Pays-Bas
Harderwijk: the shock and the suffering
Exploitation for shows

Dutch TV has gone backstage with hidden cameras to capture footage of the Harderwijk dolphinarium. The terrible information revealed in this footage questions how the existence of dolphinariums can even be justified.

The programme « Rambam » wanted to prove in this documentary that the dolphinarium is « an environment where people sit in a half circle on benches watching wild animals turning circles in return for food« , otherwise said, a circus and not a zoo. In Holland exhibiting wild animals is banned in circuses.

The film shows us the circus shows and the absence of the ‘educational value’ of the dolphinarium. It shows us fourteen male dolphins shut in tiny pools at the back of the main building. Far from benefiting from the prestigious seawater lagoon of the dolphinarium, they are languishing in boredom and fighting between themselves whilst waiting for the next show.

One of the scenes shown was extremely shocking, when a trainer masturbates one of the captive males who lacks female companions. « It’s to relieve him, » explains the man, « and to keep him ready for sperm extractions« . This type of procedure is practised in all the marine parks that practice artificial insemination. « The masturbation is repeated every day, from a very young age, in the form of a reward game« , explains Professor Thierry Jauniaux, veterinarian of the University of Liege in charge of dolphinarium autopsies.

We could therefore understand the importance of this training method for a ‘dolphin farm’ like the Harderwijk dolphinarium. Since the 1960’s, this establishment has effectively provided European dolphinariums with cetaceans born in captivity. The dolphinarium positions itself as the European reference for all that concerns breeding and training of show dolphins. In the past, it has also collaborated with SeaWorld to capture wild cetaceans in the USA, Iceland and Japan. More recently, it ‘saved’ the orca Morgan in the Wadden Sea before transporting her to a zoo in Tenerife controlled by SeaWorld.

The marine parks are without doubt circuses and not zoos. All of them inflict a life of confinement and frustration on their detainees. And the Harderwijk dolphinarium is not an exception.

One Voice commends the work of the Dutch journalists. This young team did not hesitate to take risks and to push the enquiry quite far. This vocation must be credited for revealing sometimes difficult truths and for allowing the public to have full access.

Unfortunately, most media channels have only relayed the shock video posted on YouTube, accompanied by denial from the Netherlands park. But behind these terrible images, what suffering!

It is urgent that other serious enquiries are led by the leisure industry and on the economic levers underlying it, from the Taiji Bay to the heart of Europe. It is not a funny or hype generating subject, but it causes much suffering and deaths amongst thousands of cetaceans in the world.

• Link to report with French subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmcSIeLLwbc&feature=youtu.be
• Article from Le Soir: http://www.lesoir.be/1147160/article/actualite/belgique/2016-03-11/soigneur-qui-masturbe-dauphins-l-histoire-qui-ebranle-flandre

Lucille, exiled dolphin at Port-Saint-Père

Lucille, exiled dolphin at Port-Saint-Père
07.03.2016
Port Saint Père
Lucille, exiled dolphin at Port-Saint-Père
Exploitation for shows

In August 2015, Lucille killed the first baby dolphin born at Planet Sauvage in a fight. This dreadful act, which she immediately regretted, was not random or « natural behaviour ». Sadly, it was predictable given Lucilles state of despair.

From SeaWorld to Harderwijk

Lucille was born at SeaWorld, Orlando the 16^th of April 1989 to Louise and Ralph, who were caught in the ocean. She was on exhibition in the Dolphin nursery of the park as a baby, before being brought to Dolphin Cove, where she could be stroked by a continual flow of visitors, for 45 dollars a time.

On the 7^th of June 1997, the decision was made to send her to Europe. A heartbreaking departure for Lucille, who would never see her mother again. The Hardenwijk dolphin aquarium needed reproductive females, and despite being so young, Lucille would go on to have two sons.

The 7^th April 2015, Lucille was uprooted once again: sent to Planet Sauvage and its mostly male population. This was a huge upheaval having spent the last eighteen years in the lagoon at Harderwijk. Despite having a difficult time, the SeaWorld exile eventually managed to find her place in the tough world of captive dolphins. She even managed to bring up her babies there. However, once again she was taken away, this time from her sons who were now adults, but allies in the violent world of overcrowded pools.

So Lucille arrives at Port-Saint-Père to a pool full of strangers. Since the much contested opening of the dolphinarium in 2008 (see OneVoice’s fight for cetaceans), relationships have been formed. Living there are previous tenants from Parc Astérix, Péos, Aicko and Galéo, as well as a hot headed youngster that has just arrived from Océan, Bruges. The two females, Parel and Amtan, come from Harderwijk, where they have crossed Lucille before. All of these young dolphins have been born in captivity, separated much too early from their mother, and are lacking in social maturity. The cohesion of this small artificial ‘family’ of four males and three females confined into the same space is maintained only under the tight control of their trainers.

Upon arrival, Lucille slips into a depression, refusing to leave the quarantine basin. This greatly worries One Voice, but the Dolphinarium refuses to admit to a problem. Then Parel gives birth to her first baby, and needs a Godmother to help look after her. This is an essential societal dolphin role which relies on tight links between two adult females. It is a relationship of trust which forms over time, and not from an imposed human choice. But in June 2015, Lucille is given this task of taking care of Parel, just three months after her transfer, when she has chosen to isolate herself from everybody! It doesn’t go well…

Just a fight between females

The 8^th of August 2015, the spectators are waiting for the show to begin. Lucille, Parel and her baby are enclosed in adjoining Basin n^o.4 when suddenly an agitation erupts in the tiny enclosure. In front of the stunned public, the two females try to resuscitate the dead baby dolphin by holding him to the surface. There is total confusion but the music is put on anyway and the show begins. The baby’s body is discretely removed from the pool with a net whilst the five dolphins appear on scene, too upset to concentrate on their routine…

Dolphin’s Society

When questioned about Lucille’s depression in May 2015, the dolphinarium responded that « The natural social organisation of dolphins consists of movement between groups with new individuals arriving and others leaving, to avoid inbreeding. We do exactly the same thing. Management between parks is organised at a European level by species coordinators (the EEP) »

But in reality, the young don’t ever really leave their family, they are weaned at the age of three and become distanced from the family clan but they remain connected their whole life by the dialect and culture. Female dolphins in particular stay in their clan a long time to bring up their children in collective nurseries. When the clans become too big, they split and multiply in the same territory. Dolphins have countries like us. Lucille’s parents were almost certainly from Florida Keys.

It is therefore wrong to claim that dolphins leave without returning from the age of three. In the wild, a matriarch doesn’t abandon her tribe. These situations are never seen in nature, any more than the fatal brawls between a young mother and her baby’s ‘Godmother’.

Lucille’s story dramatically reminds us that moving a dolphin from one dolphinarium to another always ends with serious consequences, as recognised since the 60’s. A dolphinarium can never replicate the natural migration or the complexity of dolphin’s society. These transfers are necessary for the survival of the doplhinariums and not of the dolphins themselves.

Lucilles suffering is just one case in many. This suffering will not end until the day that the dolphinariums discontinue these cruel EEP programmes and stop exploiting these beings who have feelings and emotions just like you and I.

Sign and share our petition for the closure of these dolphinariums!