Some things I have been reading

[fabulousfive]

Sorry Holly L when I quoted you your quote wasn't in blue. I think what you wrote was right on! Thanks again.

 

[lexandme]

Here we go again - treating a captive cetacean like a circus freak in Russia. I wonder who will be chosen to be the "lucky one":

KRASNODAR, October 10 (R-Sport) – A dolphin is to take part in the Sochi Olympics torch relay three days before the opening ceremony, a regional Russian sports official said Thursday.

An animal trainer will hold onto a dolphin's fin with one hand and the torch with the other before the pair swims across a small pool in the Black Sea resort on February 4, said Krasnodar Region official Lyudmila Chernova.

The maritime mammal will be chosen from three at Sochi's Sea Star dolphinarium, which opened in 2005 and currently houses dolphins named Mona, Lada and Basya.

The torch relay for the February 7-23 Games started in Moscow on Monday. It is to take in 2,900 towns and cities on a record-breaking 65,000-km journey around the world's largest country.

It is currently en route to St. Petersburg.

ALSO:
The killing continues in the cove.
Plans to open a new dolphinarium in Japan continue. It's close to Hatakejiri Bay, where Taiji fishermen corral dolphins into nets before slaughtering them. You can swim with dolphins - then eat them.

BLACKFISH WILL AIR ON OCTOBER 24 AT 9PM ET ON CNN. I RECOMMEND EVERYONE WATCH THIS (IT'S FREE!)

 

[HollyL]

Speaking of Russia, I just read on the Free Lolita page on FB that they have caught an additional 2-3 wild Orcas for display in Russia and possibly to other Marine Parks. They had been trucked about 1,000 km, and once they arrived at their destination, they were in poor condition. They are now staying with Narnia, another Orca that was caught from the wild, and Narnia got them to finally start eating by bringing them fish.
SO sad, the barbaric practice of taking orcas out of their natural environment needs to be made illegal all over the world. Somehow, it wouldn't shock me if somewhere down the line, one of the males ends up being used in SeaWorld's infamous breeding program to bring some new blood into the lineage. This is there way of getting around the rules and regulations of importation.

 

[HollyL]

Here is a link to that sad, sad story;

http://blog.seattlepi.com/candacewh...ps-newly-caught-orcas-start-to-eat-dead-fish/

 

[luvmy3]

I welcome intelligent discussion regarding this topic. It encourages others to investigate the facts and come to their own conclusion. I do believe captivity of cetaceans is cruel. I also believe more people are coming to the same conclusion. Sea World's rebuttal to the movie Blackfish was weak at best. The videos of the dolphin that jumped out of the tank and the beluga that "beached" itself did not promote them in a good light either. Sea World is in a bad place now. The whole world is watching. Keep the conversation going!

And for those of you that drink the Sea World kool-aid, I encourage you to think critically, be aware of their bias and read about the other side of the issue. Sea World exists to earn billions of dollars yearly and they often hide the truth, distort facts, manipulate and use a host of logically flawed persuasive techniques to take your money. The true tragedy is Sea World achieves this by abusing beautiful intelligent creatures.

So if we come to a conclusion that is different than yours we drinking the Sea World kool-aid? I really don't think you welcome any intelligent discussion, I think you just want to preach to the "kool-aid drinkers".

 

[Ginger Renae]

So if we come to a conclusion that is different than yours we drinking the Sea World kool-aid? I really don't think you welcome any intelligent discussion, I think you just want to preach to the "kool-aid drinkers".

I don't know how anyone who watches Blackfish can walk away thinking Seaword is good for Orcas. Some animals have needs that are simply not condusive to living in captivity. Whales and dolphins fall into that group. Does SeaWorld do some good things for animals. Yes, I believe they do. However, it is overshadowed by the dreadful situation with the orcas and other sea mammals.

I haven't read the whole thread, so I apologize if this has been mentioned previously. Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by Tilikum, died a horrific death and SeaWorld blamed it on HER. They lied when they said Tilikum was "playing" with her and grabbed her by the ponytail. She was grabbed by her arm and her body was mutilated by Tilikum. Witnesses say he ATE her arm.

Orcas in the wild have never killed a human yet orcas in captivity have become aggressive and caused severe injuries and deaths to the humans. These are NOT happy animals.

Tilikum is nothing but a multi-million dollar sperm bank to SeaWorld.

It's disgusting.

 

[lexandme]

So if we come to a conclusion that is different than yours we drinking the Sea World kool-aid? I really don't think you welcome any intelligent discussion, I think you just want to preach to the "kool-aid drinkers".

If you watch Blackfish and come to the conclusion that cetacean captivity is humane and should continue then I will respect that. But you should hear both sides before making your decision. Most Sea World defenders have done little to no research on the effects of captivity.

 

[HollyL]

Not only has there never been a death to a human by an orca in the wild, there hasn't even been a documented attack. There were some close calls on surfers, but it seems that once the orca realized it was a human being, they aborted the attack.

I for one, cannot wait to be able to take my kids and see the resident orcas off the coast of Washington State/Vancouver area. That is a dream come true. If I didn't have to work for a living, I would love to go out there for a summer and study them in their own environment. Those orcas are the ones that I want my children to see and learn from.

My 5 year old is already anti-captivity for orcas. All he had to do was watch "Free Willy" to "get it".

 

[julieannboo]

If you watch Blackfish and come to the conclusion that cetacean captivity is humane and should continue then I will respect that. But you should hear both sides before making your decision. Most Sea World defenders have done little to no research on the effects of captivity.

The seaworld defenders only defend as they enjoy going to the parks and they dont want their enjoyment spoiled.
They have to defend as they cant admit that a whale having his food supply messed with so it can perform a trick for the public is a bad thing and not at all perverse.

 

[julieannboo]

On the tour, the guides mentioned being AZA accredited, following AZA rules for breeding and the Species Survival Program. While they were talking about this, I leaned over to DH and whispered "yeah, but SeaWorld is AZA accredited too." He looked at me with raised eyebrows. I know all of the best zoos in the country are AZA accredited and I am sure SeaWorld meets a lot of their standards for animal care (ie nutrition, cleanliness, etc.), but my question is why does AZA continue to approve their breeding program? It seems full of potential in-breeding problems to me and they are using a known risk in Tillikum as a sire in a lot of cases. Anyone have my insight or thoughts on this?

Tilikum is related to 52% of the whales at Seaworld - so inbreeding has begun. Those figures say it all.

Youtube a baby whale having a seizure due to inbreeding. I could stomach about 15 seconds of it before switching it off.

 

[julieannboo]

I have been reading many comments around about how cruel SeaWorld is and the terrible captivity the animals are in. I've been to Sea world many times and I can say that is completely false. I feel like people who are saying this have only watched the newest documentary about this or have never been to SeaWorld. It kind of makes me angry to hear this about a park and company who work so hard to save and rehabilitate animals who need help

Seaworld do some good things - like you say the rehabbing of certain animals, but keeping killer whales and dolphins isnt one of them.

 

[julieannboo]

No, they do not take Orcas from the wild. It is ILLEGAL for a marine park in the United States to take Orcas from the wild. Please see my post below for more information

LMAO!

Where do the whales come from?

The debate starts and ends there.

What colour is the sky where you live?

I want to live in your fantasy world!

 

[HollyL]

It is not negativity. It is a useful discussion and not everybody is required to have the same opinion. That's the great thing about this country. Differing views are a good thing. Trying to silence differing views-----not so good. We have an upcoming vacation to Orlando as well and we have been wanting to go to Sea World for years, mainly for the coasters.......but honestly, after seeing Blackfish, there is no way I could hand them $80.00 or more and still look at myself in the mirror. That's just my opinion and it is not one that I expect many of you to share.

I liked reading this. I am by no means a PETA member or animal rights zealot, but Orcas and other dolphins are a passion of mine, and I have been telling everyone I know about this film, so they can be made aware, and make up their own minds on whether they want to support Seaworld, and other parks like them. I have many friends with children who used to go to SW, but now that they are aware of the ugly behind the scenes truth behind Shamu's "smile", they can no longer support this place. Even my 5 year old tells me he doesn't want to go back to Seaworld, and I have promised him that when he's a little older, we will go see Orcas in the ocean.

The way I see it, for every person that is made aware, and makes the decision to no longer support SW, that is one more step in the right direction of ending cetacean captivity for good.

I also highly recommend seeing "The Cove". That's another one that will haunt you forever.

 

[HollyL]

You are badly misinformed. In the wild makes live to about 30 while females live to about 50. In rare cases they live to 60. Just show me an orca that has lived to 90! Captive orcas also live much longer than 9 years. While they USED to take wild orcas, they no longer do so. There are only 5 whales between the 3 parks that were born wild. All the others were born in captivity and would die in the wild. If you want to be an activist, maybe you should do your research! Also the documentaries are full of false propaganda.

Hi. Please google "Granny the orca". She is proven to be over 100 years old and still going strong. She is the matriarch of Lolita the orca's pod (a resident orca pod), who has lived through the horrible Penn Cove capture of the 70's and has seen many babies from her family stolen and some were even killed during that horrible ordeal. Just stating the facts ma'am.

http://us.whales.org/issues/penn-cove-orca-captures

 

[HollyL]

And read Death at Sea World by David Kirby. Might make heads explode.

Yes! I read that book prior to seeing "Blackfish". VERY good information in that book, and a must for anyone who has, or is planning to visit Seaworld, or any other ocean park that keeps orcas in captivity.

 

[HollyL]

So basically peoples opinions are often shaped by their experiences and their convictions.

These are my thoughts and mine only. I am keeping them very general.

I am a scientist. I am that way by education and by trade. If there is one thing I know how to do, it is to search for information and to analyse it. So to say I feel a certain way because of one thing is false. at least in my case it is.

Now I come from a long line of activist. My mom was a civil rights attorney. she spent much of her youth fighting segregation in Tennse and help get minorities the right to vote in that state. My dad fought for this country, won two silver stars and then returned home only to find out he couldn't go see a movie because the theater in his home town was for whites only.
I've been raised to speak my mind and to protest.

The way I do my part is to use my power as a consumer because I firmly believe that the only time America makes any type of change is when it affects (or is it effects? I can never remember) it's pocket book. I'm sorry but I'm super cynical. I believe we would kill every animal on this planet if it benefited us. I believe we would chop down every single tree in this country, pollute every lake, stream and ocean if we thought it would get us cheap gas. Sea world is a corporate entity, their primary focus will always be to satisfy their shareholders. The health and well being of those animals will always be secondary.

so all that being said, you have a right to your anger but don't assume I for some reason don't know what I'm talking about. I have been to sea world, I will not go back nor support them with my dollars. I am one person making my decisions based on my convictions.

If that makes you angry, I can live with that.

Very well written, and beautiful post Eliza.