Captive Orcas 'Dying to Entertain You' - Whale and Dolphin ...

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industry's contention that captives are surviving longer. In fact, the most respectedscientific research to date suggests that captivity is highly correlated with a dramaticallyreduced lifespan in the case of orcas.This latest report aims both to summarise the relevant issues and to up-date readers onevents occurring since the publication of "The Performing Orca". It seeks to provide a"behind the scenes" tour of the display industry, highlighting the reality of captivity andemploying scientific, ethical and welfare arguments to debunk some of the mythssurrounding the confinement and display of orcas. Above all, it seeks to provideinformation to the widest possible audience - only then can members of the publicmake an informed choice.Finally, there is some cause for optimism. Greater public awareness of the issues has ledin turn to a willingness to question previously taken-for-granted assumptions aboutcaptivity. Attendance at several marine parks has declined in recent years and othershave stopped displaying orcas altogether. An ambitious rehabilitation and releaseproject came a step closer to its goal in January 1996, when a young male orca namedKeiko was moved to a specially-designed rehabilitation pool or “halfway house” at theOregon State Coast Aquarium. In September 1998, Keiko was airlifted to a purposebuiltseapen located in Klettsvik Bay, Vestmann Islands in Iceland. If all goes accordingto plan, the programme will culminate in Keiko's full release into the freedom of hisnative Icelandic waters, hopefully during 2000. (Please refer to Section 7: ReleaseProgrammes).Change will be gradual, but the very fact that change is taking place is important. Forthe sake of the captives, we must ensure that this momentum is not lost.3
Section 1The Showbiz OrcaFirst the facts:• At least 134 orcas have been taken into captivity from the wild since 1961. Onehundred and six (79%) are now dead. (An additional male escaped after 2.25years in captivity. His fate is unknown.)• Of the 107 which died, average length of survival in captivity was under six years(range: 1 day - 27.2 years).• Most captives die before they reach their early 20s, yet in the wild, females maylive as long as 80 years or more.• As of August 2000, a total of 49 orcas (26 wild-caught and 23 captive-borncalves) are held in 13 marine parks in five countries. 1 There is also a maleorca, Keiko, now in a seapen in his native Icelandic waters, as the second stageof a rehabilitation and release programme.• Of 59 known pregnancies in captivity since 1968, only 23 calves (38%) havesurvived.• Sea World owns 22 orcas, 44% of the world-wide captive total. Around 10million people visit Sea World parks annually. Sea World has itself estimatedthat as much as 70% of its income derives from visitors attracted by the orcashows. 2Now the facade. Enjoy the show...To the orcas circling endlessly in the holding pool, it is merely the start of the third, orthe fourth, or the fifth show of the day. This performance is likely to be identical to thelast and the one before that. Today will eventually join a long line of yesterdays as theorcas clock up yet another day in captivity. A day that will join the weeks, which turninto months, which blend seamlessly into years.To the spectators filing into the stadium, clutching cameras and popcorn, the showwhich is about to start is eagerly anticipated as the highlight of their visit to Sea World.Yet, these surroundings are not unique to Sea World's marine parks. The tiers of benchesranged around the concrete stadium, allowing spectators an uninterrupted view of theshow pool with its unnaturally 'superclear' water and Plexiglas sides, are echoed in otherorca parks elsewhere in the US, or in Canada, France, Argentina or Japan. But SeaWorld is clear victor in the battle for superlatives: it own the most orcas, has the largestpools, its shows are the most highly-choreographed, and it derives the most profit from itsshowbiz cetaceans.As the audience takes their seats, their attention is drawn to a giant video screen whichdominates the small stage at the rear of the pool. As hidden cameras pan around thestadium, visitors point and wave delightedly as they recognise themselves on the bigscreen. The performance warms up with 'Shamu's Quiz'. Question after question isflashed onto the screen and the audience is asked to raise a hand or nod their head inresponse to such brainteasers as 'Are killer whales fish or mammals?'As the quiz screen fades, four trainers run on-stage, dressed in sleek, red and blackwetsuits. The piped music, previously just 'acoustic wallpaper', now swells to atriumphant crescendo and the crowd, entering into the spirit of the show, eagerly clapsand cheers the trainers' arrival. The audience becomes aware of the orcas circling inthe holding area, but before the whales are allowed to enter the show pool, the hugescreen flickers once more into life. An avuncular narrator explains some of the mythsand legends associated with killer whales. These 'great black fish, rulers of the sea' are'relentless predators, with enormous strength and a ferocious nature' and a 'tremendouscapacity for killing and eating'. Brief footage is shown of a wild orca pod off VancouverIsland. But by now, the audience is losing concentration.Two orcas have been let into the main show pool and are circling. The larger of thetwo, its dorsal fin flopped rather pathetically over to one side, makes several rapidcircuits of the pool, leaping in a rather perfunctory way at precisely the same spot eachtime, accompanied by 'oohs and ahs' from the crowd. The voice of the on-screennarrator continues its description of orcas, '..four tons of streamlined muscle and bone'.4
Page 2 and 3: IntroductionContentsSection 1 The s
Page 6: At precisely the moment that his di
Page 9 and 10: the wild for the captivity industry
Page 11 and 12: since some individuals may reach 80
Page 13 and 14: Most of what we know about the habi
Page 15 and 16: Latest news, November 1999Northern
Page 17 and 18: Section 3Captivity: a one-way ticke
Page 19 and 20: It is also important to note that c
Page 21 and 22: 3. Japan: 1972 - to date. 28 orcas
Page 23 and 24: too. My overall impression was that
Page 25 and 26: has 12 belugas (3 adult males, 9 ju
Page 27 and 28: • On 19th November, 1995, a young
Page 29 and 30: Section 4Conditions in captivity:
Page 31: eceive a measure of protection unde
Page 35 and 36: Cote D'Azur use treated natural sea
Page 38 and 39: in this indoor pool, deprived of na
Page 40 and 41: In a special report for the 1990 me
Page 42 and 43: • Prince died in 1991 at Hong Kon
Page 44 and 45: These observations obviously have i
Page 46 and 47: • In June 1987, 28-year-old train
Page 48 and 49: Marine mammal veterinarian Jay Swee
Page 50 and 51: Section 5Marine Park Myths.'Are sou
Page 52 and 53: Although show scripts have improved
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go through their minds? Are they ab
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pollution (from shipping, seismic t
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e the eventual release of captive-b
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observing the births of older femal
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• Thor, Stella, Oscar and Maggie,
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identification techniques and under
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of discrediting the accepted link b
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In their quest to promote their pro
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eality, taken the form of peaceful
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make a great deal from these transa
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without a valid capture permit, Sea
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Attendance at Sea World's Ohio park
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park. One student observed that kee
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Many people now believe that marine
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The way forward: cetacean-free faci
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The future of current captives:Thos
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under his flippers, his 'papilloma'
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Lolita: Captured in August 1970 at
Page 91 and 92:
In Keiko's case, orca scientists ha
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Section 8Conclusions and recommenda
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APPENDIXTable 1 Current distributio
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24 NOAA. October 1993. Protected sp
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pp1-102.92 Awbrey, F. November 1991
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8, p34.156 Kleiman, D. March 1989."
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Captive Orcas 'Dying to Entertain You' - Whale and Dolphin ...

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