Revenge of the Blackfish

A documentary, Blackfish, opening today at the Toronto International Film Festival focuses on what marine "parks" around the world, like the GTA's MarineLand, are inflicting on their captive orcas and how, after years of basically being left in a bathtub, some orcas take their revenge.



Sorry but I'm with the orca on this one.   Leave them in the ocean with their pods where they belong.  It's disgraceful that the people and government of Ontario allow these creatures to be incarcerated for an abbreviated life in horrible conditions.

Please, No More Orca in Toronto

 It's bad enough keeping dolphins and belugas in captivity but it's an outrage to incarcerate orca for no other reason than to flog tickets to gawkers.

Yet, according to TorStar, Marineland owner John Holer is searching for a new orca to share the same fate that awaits his solo whale, Kiska.   Apparently the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums requires that killer whales in captivity have at least one companion.   In other words, Holer needs to keep a pair on Death Watch.  One simply won't do.

Marineland has had 26 killer whales over roughly three decades, according to the animal welfare group, Zoocheck Canada. Of these, 16 died at Marineland. Three are still alive: Kiska and two elsewhere. Six died in other parks after being transferred while one died en route from Marineland to Japan.

Junior, a killer whale born like Kiska near Iceland, spent the last four years of his life indoors in a small concrete pool in a converted factory made of concrete, with little natural light.

Kiska is the last of Holer’s killer whales; her five calves all died.
The file kept by Zoocheck is approximate, according to Julie Woodyer, its campaigns manager. She said trying to find out information about marine mammals in Canada is a “free-for-all” because there are no regulations covering captive animals.

Former trainer Christine Santos told the Star in mid-October that Kiska had been bleeding from her tail off-and-on since July. She said she had seen Kiska cut her dorsal fin on sharp fibre glass drain covers in her pool, but didn’t know how she cut her tail.

Death watch?  In the wild, orca males have a lifespan of about 30-years, females average 50-years.   In captivity, they seem to have lifespans shorter than Death Row inmates awaiting execution.

Of the 197 killer whales in captivity since 1964, almost 2/3 didn’t make it passed 10 years in captivity. Less than 30 orcas survived more than 20 years in captivity. Average time in captivity has improved steadily over the decades, but is still very low.

Tories Move To Protect West Coast Orca?

Word has it that the Harper government is going to order the protection of the "critical habitat" required for the recovery of two endangered killer whale pods in British Columbia.

We'll have to wait for another week or so to learn just what Jim Prentice and Fisheries minister Gail Shea are really prepared to do but it's encouraging to hear they've come to realize the problem. From the Victoria Times Colonist:

Ecojustice lawyer Lara Tessaro said she expects the March 4 publication to include a regulatory impact analysis statement, including costs and benefits of the order, from which the public “can glean DFO’s commitment to enforcing this order.”
Environmentalists note the whales are threatened by declining salmon stocks, increased boat traffic, toxic contamination, and acoustic impacts from activities such as dredging, seismic testing, and military sonar.

“Obviously whales need salmon, whales need clean water, and they also need quiet,” Barlee said. “That’s part of critical habitat. We need a comprehensive approach.”

Ottawa is scheduled to release an action plan within the next four years. That’s where negotiations involving various levels of government and stakeholders, including scientists and commercial fishermen, will face some tough decisions to allow for recovery of the whales.

The situation is complicated by the fact a whale’s habitat is the water column, not a stand of trees necessary, say, for the survival of a bird or mammal.

I hope, in a week or so, I can actually congratulate a Tory for finally doing something right. Until then I'm not going to get my hopes up.