SeaWorld

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SeaWorld tanks or sea pens? Dispute over which is best for orcas continues Source 1:

Copyright: NEWSELA https://newsela.com/articles/seaworld-whales/id/13994/

For the killer whales at SeaWorld San Diego in California, there won't be a "Free Willy" happy ending.A documentary released in 2013 accuses the company of neglecting and abusing its killer whales, or orcas. The movie “Blackfish” angered animal welfare activists. They are demanding that the San Diego theme park free its 11 orcas.But marine biologists — including SeaWorld critics — agree that the orcas probably will never be released to the open seas.Even if the killer whales don’t spend the rest of their lives in the theme park, the closest they would get to freedom would be retirement in ocean coves. The coves would be separated from open water by netting. There, they would be fed and cared for by humans for the rest of their lives.Never Completely Freed“They are not good candidates for release to the wild," said Naomi Rose. She is a marine mammal scientist for the Animal Welfare Institute.No enclosed sea pens exist to hold all 11 killer whales. The cost of building such pens could reach $5 million each, Rose said. The cost of paying workers to care for the orcas could cost up to $500,000 a year for each pen.

Although animal welfare groups have pushed the idea of moving SeaWorld’s orcas to sea pens, it may never happen. SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., which owns several SeaWorld parks in the U.S., has rejected the idea of giving up its killer whales. It says they are safer living in the parks’ concrete and glass cells.“They would not be better off in sea pens than where they are now,” said Chris Dold, the head veterinarian for SeaWorld Entertainment. “We would not ever feel comfortable putting our whales into that setting.”Sea Pens Hold DangersDold and other SeaWorld supporters say sea pens could expose killer whales to ocean toxins, viruses and harsh weather. They say that long-captive orcas can’t withstand these conditions.“There are so many reasons why sea pens are not a ... (cure-all),” said Kathleen Dezio. She is head of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums. It is an international group that represents marine mammal parks and aquariums.The call to release the killer whales has grown louder since the release of “Blackfish.” Facing customer anger from the documentary, SeaWorld San Diego proposed a $100 million plan last year to double the size of its killer whale exhibit. The project was called Blue World. It won the approval from the state of California in October. However, California officials added the condition that SeaWorld end its captive breeding program and halt the transfer of its orcas in and out of the park.Park Challenges Breeding BanSeaWorld has put Blue World on hold and has filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit challenges the state’s authority to impose the no-breeding conditions.During the court hearing, SeaWorld critics waved banners calling for the release of the orcas. Animal welfare activists said the captive orcas are tortured and driven insane by their concrete homes. They insist that the killer whales would be happier in sea pens.A petition on change.org has collected more than 220,000 signatures. It calls for SeaWorld Orlando in Florida to release an orca featured in “Blackfish,” Tilikum, to a sea pen.One famous example of a captive orca released to a sea pen is Keiko. He was the orca whose story was featured in the 1993 movie “Free Willy.”Unhappy Ending For 1 Freed OrcaKeiko was captured off Iceland in 1979 and trained to perform at theme parks. After several years at a theme park in Mexico City, Mexico, the killer whale was transported to a sea pen in Iceland in 1998. Experts disagree on whether the move was a success.Caretakers say they spent up to $300,000 a month to care for and attempt to train the orca to feed itself in the wild.During a short swim outside of the pen, accompanied by caretakers on a ship, Keiko swam away and turned up in a deep inlet in Norway. There, he was found playing with children and fisherman along the shore. The orca died a few months later of acute pneumonia, a lung disease.And Debate About What's Best ContinuesMark Simmons is a former SeaWorld trainer who was hired to assist with Keiko in Iceland. He said the Keiko experience showed that sea pens are not a safe environment for orcas.

Simmons said storms and strong currents in Iceland damaged Keiko’s sea pen. They created so much noise and vibration that it likely unsettled the killer whale.Dold, SeaWorld’s chief veterinarian, said sea pens can also expose whales to viruses from fish in the pens. Toxins and oil spills that wash in with the tide are also a problem.Animal welfare activists say critics dismiss the pens because they don’t want to consider an alternative to keeping the orcas captive.“They are blindsiding it because they don’t want a solution,” said Ingrid Visser, founder of the Orca Research Trust. It is a nonprofit group dedicated to education and the research of orcas. “We can put a man on the moon, surely we can move an animal out of a concrete life.”

Endangered whale may be safer in an aquarium Source 2:

Copyright: NEWSELA https://newsela.com/articles/orca-protect/id/7331/

Lolita the orca was taken from Puget Sound here in the Pacific Northwest many years ago, and has been kept at Miami’s Seaquarium ever since. On Wednesday, she was officially declared to still be one of the Puget Sound orcas.Because the Puget Sound orcas are listed as endangered, she will now gain the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act. The change is expected to lead to a lawsuit from those seeking the killer whale’s release.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was responsible for the reclassification.Seaquarium Says She Is FamilyWhale activists have long campaigned for Lolita’s return to Puget Sound. They hope the new designation will provide a stronger legal case to release Lolita than did a previous lawsuit. The earlier challenge centered on alleged violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.“This gives leverage under a much stronger law,” said Howard Garrett of the Orca Network. His group hopes a San Juan Island cove near Washington state will one day serve as the site for Lolita to re-enter the wild.NOAA Fisheries officials said their decision does not address whether Lolita should be released from the Seaquarium. “This is a listing decision,” NOAA official Will Stelle said. “It is not a decision to free Lolita.”Aquarium officials have repeatedly said they have no intention of releasing the orca.“Lolita has been part of the Miami Seaquarium family for 44 years,” said Andrew Hertz, Seaquarium's general manager. “Lolita is healthy and thriving. There is no scientific evidence that ... Lolita could survive in a sea pen or the open waters of the Pacific Northwest, and we are not willing to treat her life as an experiment,” he said.Whale Numbers Are SlippingOrcas, also known as killer whales, are found in many of the world’s oceans. The so-called southern resident population spends several months each year in Puget Sound. It is the only group of whales in the United States listed under the Endangered Species Act.Between 1965 and 1975, captures by marine parks reduced the southern resident population. Among those captures was a roundup in Penn Cove in which seven whales were seized, including Lolita.The southern resident population now consists of fewer than 80 orcas. Possible causes for the decline are reduced prey, pollutants that could cause reproductive problems and oil spills.Releases Are Not Always SuccessfulUnder the Endangered Species Act, it is against the law to harm or mistreat a protected orca.NOAA officials said on Wednesday that holding an animal captive is not, in and of itself, mistreatment.

Orca activists are expected to argue in their lawsuit that Lolita’s cramped conditions are a form of mistreatment. They also believe it is inhumane to force her to perform in shows.There is “rising public scorn for the whole idea of performing orcas,” Garrett said. He added that he hopes Seaquarium will decide to release Lolita without a court order.NOAA officials still have concerns about releasing captive whales, however. Any plan to move or release Lolita would require a thorough scientific review, the agency said in a statement.Among the agency's concerns are the spread of disease and the ability of a newly released orca to find food.NOAA said previous attempts to release captive orcas have often been unsuccessful. Some have ended in death.Garrett said the plan for Lolita calls for her to be taken to a netted area of the cove, which could be enlarged later. She would be accompanied by familiar trainers, who would “reassure her every bit of the way,” he said.Keiko As An ExampleSome who oppose a release point to the experience of an orca named Keiko. A captive orca, Keiko starred in the 1993 movie “Free Willy," about a boy who pushed for the release of a whale.In 1998, Keiko was brought back to his native waters off Iceland in an attempt to reintroduce him to life in the wild. He was released into the ocean in 2002 and died in a Norwegian fjord in 2003.Garrett, who visited Keiko in Iceland in 1999, said he was impressed by the reintroduction effort. He believes there was plenty of evidence that Keiko was able to catch fish on his own.“The naysayers predicted that as soon as he got into the (Icelandic) waters he would die, and wild orcas would kill him,” Garrett said. “He proved that 180-degrees wrong. He loved it.”Mark Simmons, who took part in the Keiko-release effort, has a different view. He says Keiko never was able to catch fish on his own, and that he continued to seek out human contact at every opportunity.Simmons wrote a book called “Killing Keiko,” which accuses the release effort of leading to a long slow death for the orca. Keiko, he says, lacked food and then died from an infection.“It’s not really the fact that Keiko died, but how he died,” Garrett said.

Activists and SeaWorld debate the life spans of killer whales

Source 3:Copyright: NEWSELA https://newsela.com/articles/orca-lifespan/id/2626/

Killer whales in SeaWorld parks die early. But killer whales in the wild live as long as humans. At least, this is what an activist claims in the middle of “Blackfish,” the popular, and critical, documentary about SeaWorld’s killer whale program.The claim isn't challenged in the film. It is used to convince the audience that killer whales, or orcas, suffer when forced to live in man-made pools.Yet SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. says its killer whales have life spans similar to those of wild orcas. The company says it provides a healthy and stimulating home for the 29 orcas it owns at four marine parks. Its captive collection is the largest on the planet.The truth is not nearly as simple as either side claims. The fact is that scientists don’t know for sure how long killer whales live."Both Sides Skew The Numbers"The marine park industry is led by SeaWorld, and "Blackfish" is a significant challenge to that industry. Both SeaWorld and activists are using numbers to make their case. Some experts accuse both sides of only choosing research that helps their own argument.“Both sides skew the numbers,” said John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld killer whale trainer. He said he wants to see an end to orcas in marine parks. But he is also critical of what he calls the loud “fringe” of animal rights groups.“This is a debate, but you have to debate with facts,” added Hargrove. He appears on screen in “Blackfish.”

Researchers have studied only a small percentage of the world’s wild killer whales. That is one of the biggest difficulties in understanding the whales’ life spans. Only a handful of populations in the northeastern Pacific Ocean have been observed by scientists long enough to reach strong conclusions.Killer whales are found around the globe, from Iceland to Sri Lanka to Antarctica. There are at least nine genetically distinct “ecotypes,” said Brad Hanson. He is a Seattle scientist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.In other words, salmon-eating orcas in the Pacific Northwest might have different lifespans than mammal-eating orcas in the Antarctic Ocean, also called the Southern Ocean.Looking At Annual Survival RatesSeveral studies conducted by U.S. and Canadian government researchers have calculated average lifespans for killer whales in the Pacific Northwest. They found orcas can live from 30 to 50 years for females and from 19 to 31 years for males. But the numbers can change depending on which population was studied and during what period.Individual whales can live much longer. The longest lifespan has been estimated at up to 90 years for females and 70 years for males, depending on the study.Most of SeaWorld’s whales are far younger; only one has so far lived into her 40s.But with the little information available, scientists say it can be wrong to compare lifespans between whales in the wild and whales in parks. Instead, they say, the better comparison to use is the “annual survival rate.” That is, essentially, an estimate of how many whales in a population can be expected to live through the year.One of the most recent studies of wild killer whales was led by Craig Matkin. He runs the North Gulf Oceanic Society in Alaska. His survey found that a population of orcas off the southern Alaskan coast had annual survival rates of 97 percent to 99 percent, depending on their age.Some Studies CitedThe best known peer-reviewed study comparing annual survival rates was published in 1995. The authors calculated an annual survival rate of a little more than 93 percent for captive orcas.That’s a big difference. Put another way: Captive whales were dying at a rate of more than 6 percent a year. That is close to three times the rate that wild whales were dying.That study is still cited today by animal rights groups and other activists. It’s one of the studies the makers of “Blackfish” relied on while researching the film.But newer studies suggest that captive whales are doing better. At a conference last month in New Zealand, a research team gave a presentation saying that the annual survival rate for captive whales had improved to about 98 percent in the past 10 years. This was based on numbers from up to November 2013.The New Zealand presentation was given by a team that included Douglas DeMaster. He was one of the co-authors of the 1995 study. The survival rate “for captive killer whales seems to be improving,” DeMaster said. He added that newer studies seem to show that captive-born whales appear to be surviving at about the same rate as wild whales.SeaWorld, for its part, says its whales have survived at an annual rate of about 98 percent during the past 10 years and about 97 percent during the past 20 years. The

annual survival rate for killer whales held at SeaWorld parks since the 1960s is much lower. But the company says using the more recent numbers better reflects improvements in care.

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How to Keep Captive Killer Whales Happy By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | January 5, 2017 06:59am ET

A baby killer whale swims with its mother Kasatka on Dec. 21, 2004, at Shamu Stadium at SeaWorld Stadium in San Diego, California. Credit: SeaWorld via Getty Images

Should killer whales Skype? A new study suggests that virtual links between captive orca populations might be one way to improve the lives of these marine mammals. The keeping of orcas, or killer whales, in captivity has been a matter of public controversy, especially since the release of the documentary "Blackfish" in 2013. The film centers on the 2010 killing of a SeaWorld trainer, Dawn Brancheau, by a captive

killer whale that had been captured from the wild in 1983. (That killer whale, named Tilikum, died on Jan. 6, Live Science reported.) As a result of the public outrage following the documentary, SeaWorld announced in March 2016 that it would shut down killer-whale shows in its parks, as well as its orca breeding program. But orcas live for decades (and some have been known to live past 100), and there are dozens in captivity that will remain at SeaWorld (and other captive-breeding establishments) for the rest of their lives. Fullscreen Now, two researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have some suggestions for how to improve these orcas' lives. The suggestions go way beyond offering orcas more toys and activities. One idea is to establish audio communication channels between different captive populations — and even wild populations — so they can "talk" to each other. Another is to establish feeding systems that require whales to work together to get food, as they do in the wild. "We are at a stage where, for the most part, the physical welfare of animals in captivity is good and often a good deal better than in the wild," said animal welfare expert Graham Law, one of the authors of a paper listing the suggestions in the journal International Zoo Yearbook. "However, the psychological welfare is an area that needs more work." [Orca Gallery: See Gorgeous Photos of Killer Whales] Orca psychology Whales' psychological health is at the center of the controversy over Brancheau's death. A male orca named Tilikum dragged Brancheau into the water after a show. As Outside magazine reported, Tilikum's early years were traumatic. He was captured and taken from his pod at age 2. (In the wild, male whales typically stay with their mothers for the rest of their lives, and a son's survival depends on his mother well into adulthood.) The young whale then was kept in a barren concrete pool in Iceland for a year before being transferred to a now-defunct marine park in British Columbia. There, Tilikum was bullied by two dominant females. In 1991, the three understimulated whales killed a part-time trainer who slipped into their pool, Outside reported. Tilikum was then sold to SeaWorld, where, Outside reported, he had better care but was still harried by dominant females. In 1999, Tilikum was involved in the death of a man who snuck in after hours to swim in the orca pool. (It isn't known whether Tilikum killed the man directly, though he did mutilate the man's body.) "Tilikum is basically psychotic," Ken Balcomb, executive director of the Center for Whale Research, told Outside magazine. "He has been maintained in a situation where I think he is psychologically unrecoverable in terms of being a wild whale." Though there are many arguments over whether killer whales should be kept in captivity, the fact is that they are already there, Law told Live Science. As of 2016, there were 56 captive orcas around the world, according to the journal International Zoo News. At some

point, Law said, there may be hard decisions to make about whether captivity might save the species. [Marine Marvels: Spectacular Photos of Sea Creatures] "The resident population of killer whales around Scotland are not doing very well, and soon they may be extinct" due to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in their environment, Law said. "We do not know what species we may need to protect in captivity in the future," he added. "We should, however, where possible, be aware of the best methods to do so." A better life Law and his colleague Andrew Kitchener, principal curator of vertebrates at the National Museums Scotland, focused on social, feeding, fitness and environmental recommendations for the care of killer whales. These recommendations have not been tested, they cautioned, but all are based on mimicking the whales' activities and environment in the wild. Socially, the researchers suggested, killer whales might benefit from communication with far-flung brethren. Orcas are vocally complex and can even learn new "dialects." Satellite uplinks between marine parks could connect disparate groups, Law and Kitchener wrote. Strange as it might sound, zoos have used sounds to promote natural behavior before, Law said. In 1989, researchers reported in International Zoo Yearbook that they'd used recorded gibbon calls to prompt a pair of gibbons in a London zoo to make their own territorial cries and to mate. The sound of what seemed to be nearby gibbons appeared to urge the primates to protect their territory and reproduce. Animals other than orcas also might benefit from more enriched soundscapes, Law said. For example, lions communicate across prides with loud roars, and leopard calls seem to be full of information about the caller's identity, he said. "We should think more about how unnatural it is to keep zoo animals in acoustic isolation," Law said. The researchers also recommended different methods of feeding that would require orcas to take an active role in finding food. Motion-sensor feeders could be programmed to release treats after whales perform a task. Methods that require whales to work together could mimic the requirements of hunting as a pod in the wild. Orcas are known to be clever hunters: They make waves to wash seals off ice, they eavesdrop on prey and they even set traps. Training could engage those sharp killer-whale brains, and build stamina. Law and Kitchener suggested training whales to hold their breath for long periods, thus simulating the deep dives the whales do in the wild. They also suggested more naturalistic features in tanks, like kelp (real or artificial), artificial boulders and wave-making machines. Acoustic materials could be varied in tanks to give whales something to echolocate off of, the researchers wrote. Tapes of ocean sounds could be played to stimulate whales' senses.

All of these ideas, Law said, need to be tested scientifically. The public debate over killer whales in captivity is highly polarized, he said, but trainers at SeaWorld and other marine parks are very enthusiastic about improving the welfare of their animals. "As far as I am aware, husbandry changes were already in the pipeline by a number of organizations that keep orca to create better conditions for them," Law said. "I hope that the public will support any positive attempts to make things more interesting and challenging for animals in captivity." Original article on Live Science.

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Copyright: http://seaworldcares.com/research/research-helps-wild-whales/

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