Recently Spotted 103-Year-Old Orca Is Bad News For SeaWorld -- Here's Why

[Surya Gayatri]

UPDATE: Since this post, Granny has been making serious waves, by guiding her family, swimming hundreds and hundreds of miles off the Pacific coast and by generally proving SeaWorld wrong in every way. Also see this post for an explanation of how scientists know her age.

SeaWorld could be in trouble because of “Granny,” the world’s oldest known living orca. The 103-year-old whale (also known as J2) was recently spotted off Canada’s western coast with her pod -- her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But while the Granny sighting is thrilling for us, it’s problematic for SeaWorld.



First of all, SeaWorld has claimed that “no one knows for sure how long killer whales live,” when simple figures or even living and thriving examples -- like Granny -- can give us a pretty good idea. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation project estimates that whales born in captivity only live to 4.5 years old, on average; many of SeaWorld’s orcas die before they reach their 20s. Perhaps because of their reduced lifespans, the whales are forced to breed continuously and at perilously young ages, which could also diminish their overall health.

Another key aspect of an orca’s life -- which is missing in captivity -- is the ability to swim up to 100 miles per day. When Granny was spotted earlier this week, she had just finished an 800-mile trek from northern California along with her pod. According to animal welfare advocates, long-distance swimming is integral to orcas’ psychological health and well-being; SeaWorld, however, has gone on record claiming that orcas do not need to swim hundreds of miles regularly, ostensibly to defend the parks’ cruel practice of keeping massive, powerful orcas confined to cramped tanks.

https://www.thedodo.com/recently-spotted-103-year-old--547381307.html

[DetlefK]

1. They die as teenagers in captivity. And live to become great-grandmothers in the wild.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. Time to shut the Shamu Show down!!!

[stillwaiting]

3. Yes it is. Thanks for this story! nt

[Surya Gayatri]

4. My great pleasure - we need some good news!

Now, time to force Sea World to change their menagerie.

Use species that don't suffer from being caged. Jelly fish, sponges, etc.

[yeoman6987]

54. Can Seaworld survive without whales?

Serious question. I have been there once about 30 years ago and don't remember much of it. I think if Seaworld can survive they may change their entertainment, but if not, I don't know if they will ever quit whales.

[Surya Gayatri]

58. Well, if the public snubs their 'trained whale' show, they'll

have to do some serious rebranding. Or call it quits.

[DirkGently]

78. Let's find out! n/t

[Scootaloo]

81. Who cares?

[jeff47]

112. Sure. They've got dolphins and other sea creatures

that are much more practical to keep in captivity.

[JimDandy]

66. More likely a GGG-Grandmother!

Conservatively.

In the wild, female Orcas start breeding at about age 14-15, have calves on average every 3-10 years, and stop breeding at age 40-45. They carry the fetus for 15-18 months. So, on the high side, she could even be a GGGGGGGGG-Grandmother (I googled all this).

[AZ Progressive]

5. It's astounding how much savagery you see in human beings if you just look...

It's like the image and sense of "civilization" is really just a veneer, a façade, smoke and mirrors to hide the ugliness below the surface, to just hide the fact that underneath it all, we aren't really much better than the savagest of creatures...

[Surya Gayatri]

6. You don't see even 'the savagest of creatures' putting us in cages and torturing us!

[AZ Progressive]

10. I was trying to be nice

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. ...

If there weren't so damn MANY of us, the rest of the planet would be a lot happier.

I'm convinced that's why we continue to have such violence, wars and chaos. Not enough other factors to keep our numbers down enough.

[A HERETIC I AM]

39. Just wait...

Nature doesn't fuck around

[BlancheSplanchnik]

67. yep, that too.

All of it.

[daleanime]

7. So that's why they are running those disgusting ads.....

[Surya Gayatri]

11. I live in Europe and don't get 'Murcan TeeVee.

Is Sea World trying to lie their way out of this in their ads?

[daleanime]

12. Don't know about TV, never turn it on, but on Hulu.....

they've been running these "we are sooooo good to our whales" spots. Knew they were in trouble for something.

[Surya Gayatri]

13. Et voilà ! So they are!

[Chiyo-chichi]

76. Yes, those are on TV, too. And they run them during The Daily Show

and Larry Wilmore's show, for Pete's sake.

Can't stand them.

Someone has put one on YouTube. It's not very good quality, but if anyone wants to see it, here it it.

It contains the "our whales live just as long as in the wild" claim, which Granny disproves.

[daleanime]

77. Yeah, that's the one....

[Jamaal510]

99. I see those SeaWorld ads all the time on MSNBC.

Right off the bat, I knew something was up. I never seen any SeaWorld commercials like that before, then within the past month, they pop up.

[dreamnightwind]

100. It's a response to a whistle-blower

who has been making the rounds recently, I saw him on the Daily Show.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/27/john-hargrove-seaworld-jon-stewart/

I couldn't get the embed code to work here (anyone know?), but the video is on that page.

It sucks that Seaworld is able to use their money to air B.S. ads justifying their treatment of these animals. It's a good example of the problem with money and speech. Seaworld has a lot of money to shout their speech all over the airwaves. The orcas? Not so much, maybe an occasssional whistleblower if Seawrld can't succeed in intimidating him/her (they usually do).

We really need to examine this, it's ruining everything. Free speech needs to be interpreted in some way that accounts for the amplitude (really the distribution) of that speech. When someone has the money to shout something all over the place all the time, how can anyone else be heard? If they are heard, are they heard to an extent that allows their non-monied speech to compete and be weighed against the more widely heard monied speech? Obviously not, that's a root problem to our entire society that has to be teased out and remedied.

[A HERETIC I AM]

42. Yes, big time

They are running a big ad campaign basically saying what the poster above said; " we love our whales and are really good to them!"

Park traffic is way down and they are desperate

[Surya Gayatri]

46. Is bankruptcy in the offing? We can hope...

[A HERETIC I AM]

63. I think that may be a ways off

It used to be owned by Anheuser Busch but they sold it off in 2009. They are now a stand alone company that is publicly traded ( NYSE: SEAS)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaWorld_Entertainment

Share price is down considerably from a couple years ago.

[Surya Gayatri]

64. The public is deserting them in droves. Voting with their feet.

[A HERETIC I AM]

65. Yup.

[Romeo.lima333]

30. well that and it's spring time when many vacations are planned around this time

[cui bono]

95. It's vacationers that go there most I suspect.

It's a tourist attraction. They make package deals with Legoland and the San Diego Zoo I think, can't remember exactly, saw some package deals when looking for Legoland discounts.

Locals have either been or don't care that much cuz it's right there.

[hunter]

8. Fuck Sea World.

At some point maybe they were simply ignorant humans, but science moves on and they've now joined the ranks of corporations that murder and lie for profit.

Humans are not the only sentient and intelligent beings on this planet, but we are the world champions of murder, mayhem, torture, and destruction.

[Surya Gayatri]

9. 'Corporations that murder and lie for profit', only here they're

murdering our animal friends instead of us.

[BobbyBoring]

41. They murder quite a few of us too

n/t

[reddread]

14. pillory Sea World all you want

but stopping there, ignoring habitat destruction and the MASSIVE impacts we have on natural populations,
because it would inconvenience military considerations?

its bullshit.

if you dont care to discuss what happens to their lives in the wild,
blaming some Barnum and Bailey outfit for cruelties mirrored by
mass ignorance and indifference, how concerned are you, exactly?

thats showbiz.
dont be a sucker.
they face major problems out there.
dont be silent about the realities facing these incredible animals.
we manufacture their problems, Sea World doesnt.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. it's satisfying to have one distinct culprit to point at.

The underlying problem for habitat, wildlife, ecological systems, and people is---too many people.

Global net human population gain is currently 15 added per day. (I need to check that, I may be
mis-remembering. Might be 15 added per hour, but better to err on the conservative side. Global net population increase of 15 per day is still bad enough.)

EDIT: 15 per day is WAY TOO LOW. My mistake.
It's more like 150-something per minute.

Oh dear.

2010 article:

Visualizations of Population Growth

Three days from now, as a result of today's staggering rates of population growth, earth will be home to more than 684,000 extra people. How can this be? For every person who dies during the next three days, somewhere around the world a baby will be born who will, physically speaking, replace that death. And after all of those replacement births take place, 684,000 additional births will occur. NOTE: 681,000 people would fill the FNB soccer stadium in Johannesburg to capacity over 7 times. (Femmer, What Every Citizen Should Know About Our Planet, 2010)




Can you visualize 900 jumbo jets landing at your local airport today and each deplaning 250 people? If so, you will have a good grasp of daily, real-time global population growth. Indeed, human numbers increase by over 228,000 every 24 hours (Population Reference Bureau). Every minute, 150+ additional people need energy, water, food, and space to inhabit. By year’s end, that results in a 83 million person increase. Obviously, it also creates demand for a significant amount of new resources the Earth must yield.




If today is Monday, then earth will be home to approximately 912,000 additional people by Friday. In addition to their CO2 and climate impacts and their need for food, water, jobs, health care, and sanitation, these 912,000 new arrivals require completion of additional schools and classrooms every four days – in a world with insufficient schools and classrooms right now. At this pace, how many new classrooms must we provide every four days? Assume that we can accommodate all the replacement births in existing classrooms. Answer: 36,480 new classrooms every four days (if we can house approximately 25 students in a typical classroom, then dividing 912,000 by 25 = 36,480 new classrooms every four days). Keep in mind that these must be funded, built, finished, supplied, and staffed immediately. Are we prepared to accomplish this same task and fund it with billions in taxes repeatedly over every four day period year after year in the decades just ahead? The need to repeatedly complete so many new classrooms in so short a time has corollary questions, such as: What if they are not built? And: Are they being built? (Femmer, What Every Citizen Should Know About Our Planet, 2010)

[reddread]

20. population growth in humans is typically a red herring

the same one that has been served over and over for how many centuries?
It didnt take a lot of people in California to wipe out the aequifer, it just took a lot
of shortsighted opportunists to pump up what wasnt theirs.
The drought alone is a major threat to endangered Orca populations, the small fish held accountable for
suffering, thirsty farmers is a key part of their food chain.

There is so much to discuss, understand and address in considering the real needs of these animals.
It gets NO shrift whatsoever.
just a bunch of folks who ruffle up over nonsense and think they just saved a species somehow.
without ever coming within miles of real issues.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

25. I edited my post...I was wrong about number I quoted.

Our continued growth and each person's demand on resources, habitat, waste production, demands for entertainment (thus, Sea World) ..............that's what destroys every other species' habitat.

[reddread]

27. I would suggest "individual demands" rather than "each person's"

because some junk bond scumbag can buy up the scarcest of resources to ravage and if things get sticky,
they can have some cointelpro operator blow up the opposition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judi_Bari

some things are JUST a little harder to find on the internets-

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=maxxam&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go

[BlancheSplanchnik]

48. ok....individual demands. Yes, add corrupt seizure of resources

And that emphasizes the point---too. Many. Damn. People.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

68. Whaaat?

wtf, dude

[demmiblue]

70. Results

On Mon Apr 20, 2015, 02:00 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

simple to address problem
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6537673

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

WOA! WAIT A SECOND! ZYKLON B????????

JURY RESULTS

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Mon Apr 20, 2015, 02:07 PM, and the Jury voted 4-3 to HIDE IT.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: What the hell??
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I don't think it was a suggestion, just making a point.
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: WOW... how fucking despicable! I can't believe I just read that.
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.


I can't believe it was so close.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

73. me either.

Oh he didn't mean anything by it?

Just making a point?

Having a look at the guy's other posts, it's the same...start off mostly normal sounding, then move closer to the edge.

Anyway, to the JURY-------LEARN YOUR HISTORY, CHILDREN, AND GROW SOME EFFING AWARENESS.

[Surya Gayatri]

75. 'Moving closer to the edge', that's for sure. This one can hardly keep from

showing its true colors.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

79. srsly!

I'm also wondering about the jury people who thought a Zyklon B reference is no big deal. WTF?

[Surya Gayatri]

80. Maybe younger DUers who've hardly even heard of the Holocaust?

World History ain't what it used to be!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

82. that's what I'm thinking. it's mind boggling to think that even the Holocaust could become meaningl.

The word "Zyklon B" should trigger an automatic revulsion response in all of us--forever. Hard to imagine there are people taking an equivocal attitude about it.

[2naSalit]

90. I must admit that

I didn't know what it was but I did "Google" it to see what it was... which is precisely what I would have done if I had been logged in and served on the jury. I am quite aware of the history of 1930s/1940s Germany but had never heard the name of the actual agents used for the mass murders. Now I do.

I could see from reading the posts, while lurking, where this poster was headed but yikes.

[In_The_Wind]

88. Indeed!

[Warren DeMontague]

89. Just poppin' in to add another WT to the F Chorus.

Serrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriously.

[Puglover]

115. That this was so telling pretty much proves the

awesomeness that is the jury system. Just fucking sickening.

[CreekDog]

104. that's like saying we shouldn't charge people with animal cruelty

because what harms and kills more animals is loss of habitat worldwide.

most of us who have been criticizing Sea World have also been proponents of environmental changes which would preserve and restore habitat.

you're setting up a caricature of those who have brought the Sea World issue to public attention, making them sound like non-environmentalists who only care about a pretty whale, rather than the remarkable numbers of environmentalists who have pushed for preservation of that species and many others AND protection of their habitat.

i'm troubled by this characterization, moreso from someone I consider a thoughtful contributor here.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

107. oh, no no no, I don't mean to impugn the people acting to stop exploitation

Like Sea World does with their poor captives!!!

Barnum and Bailey has pledged to stop enslaving and using elephants in their shows thanks to the same kinds of activists. Thankfully!

What I was talking about is one of my biiiiiig issues, human overpopulation. That's the underlying, driving factor in this and all global crises we face. In my (not very) humble opinion.

My ideal world would be one with about 5 billion fewer people, and all of them aware (as we progressives are becoming) of the connections between our actions and the effects on the rest of the life on the planet.

The gripe I was doing was about the fact that with human population already over tolerance levels, and continuing to increase, all efforts to mitigate are like scrambling to clean up your house while a waste treatment plant has routed a pipe into your upstairs window.

You've got a lot of rooms to clean, but you also need to get the valve closed.

[CreekDog]

108. thanks for the clarification and thoughts!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

109. thanks for asking!!!

[Surya Gayatri]

19. Let me summarize:

It's bullshit to express concern about Sea World's inhumane animal husbandry practices UNLESS we talk about the depradations these creatures face in the wild.

That about it? Alllriiighty then.

[reddread]

22. very good.

otherwise its just empty headed rhetorical hypocrisy.
sometimes known as

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque

but in the big picture, talking about puppies in the window does nothing for endangered species.

[Surya Gayatri]

23. Thanks so much for your constructive input...

[reddread]

24. I can scarcely help myself

I knew Ken Norris a bit.
RIP Ken.

[Surya Gayatri]

26. I don't really know how to respond to the assertion

that you can 'scarcely help yourself.'

Have you sought professional help?

[reddread]

29. well, i guess thats called for?

Im sure you have more insight into marine mammal issues than he ever did.

[Surya Gayatri]

33. I respect Kenneth Stafford Norris' work. What eludes me is why that body of work

renders you incapable of 'helping' yourself.

[reddread]

36. why should I keep silent when you wish to ignore the real threats to Orca?

everytime Sea World comes up, just like the success story in Utah, I feel obligated to ring in some reality.
Only because others fail to bother with the big picture while pushing a hollow product.

[Surya Gayatri]

40. Ooooohhhhhh, are you stalking me by any chance, good sir/madam?

Just to give me my daily dose of 'cold reality'?

I think if you peruse DU's SOP, stalking is against the rules.

But, whatever bloats your boast!

[reddread]

45. no, much better fish to fry.

I will be too happy to ignore you, if that helps.
or maybe, I should respond with scurrilous accusations and insults?
very persuasive.

[Surya Gayatri]

47. Allow me to repeat myself: whatever bloats your boast.

Have at it.

[CreekDog]

120. oh you have better fish to fry? where? on DU???

or elsewhere?

[CreekDog]

105. you have 4 hides already in 90 days

you seem to be intent on not only blaming liberals for various social problems, but as your reference in the hidden post above to the need for a chemical used in the holocaust reveals...your intent is to be as inflammatory as possible.

reddread (3,059 posts)

TOP 10 contributions Progressives and Liberals have made to destroying America [View all]

Number 10- Kansas. Clearly, nobody but liberals and progressives could be responsible for Kansas. Their silence, scarcity and unpopularity in the state of Kansas are DIRECTLY responsible for the common image of Kansas as backwards religious warriors with no use for Obama.
Liberal Progressives- YOU NEED TO OWN THIS.

reddread (3,059 posts)
2. Number 8-

the death of John Lennon.
If anti-handgun activists had chosen instead to advocate gunplay as performance art,
Yoko would have been ready.
Again, Liberal Progressives harmed what was great about America (and Liverpool).
OWN IT.


reddread (3,059 posts)
3. Number Seven- Legalizing controlled substances (and destroying our youth, a twofer)

Not much you can say about this, and remember.
you got me good, Liberal Progressives.
I spotted your scheme decades ago, and it destroyed my youth.
OWN IT.

http://betterment.democraticunderground.com/10026243297

[BlancheSplanchnik]

110. well. well.

What a ...piece of work mr. redread is.

[Romeo.lima333]

32. right if you cant fix everything why fix anything, right?

[reddread]

34. if you cannot distinguish between wild stocks and cute fuzzy pets

please dont go into wildlife management.

oops, sorry. that actually makes sense.
ill do better next time.

[Romeo.lima333]

37. well keep tryin

[abelenkpe]

51. + 1000

[Romeo.lima333]

53. thanks -at least this reply makes sense .... eom

[hunter]

57. I can't do both?

I'd ban commercial ocean fishing and automobiles tommorrow, I'd start teaching human sexuality and birth control in preschool, I'd make birth control free for everyone, school would be free from pre-school to old age, and everyone would be mostly vegetarian.. ah, if only I was emperor of the earth.

What we now define as "economic productivity" is a direct measure of the damage we are doing to this earth and our human spirit.

And I can still say Fuck Sea World, right?

[Surya Gayatri]

59. Damn, wish I'd said that, hunter! LOL!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

111. ....

[La Lioness Priyanka]

69. i tend to agree with you. it's nice to think there is one organization to blame

but really our collective lifestyles have a lot of negative impact on marine animals (and other habitats overall).

[hamsterjill]

16. Yay, Granny!!!! Sea World is going down!

Their attendance numbers are way down. It won't be long before they either change their ways or shut their doors.

It gives me hope that so many people have been touched by the plight of the creatures at Sea World, particularly after Black Fish, and that those people are putting pressure on Sea World through consumerism insisting that Sea World make changes.

United we stand; divided we fall!

[Surya Gayatri]

21. And, it's thanks to investigative pieces like this

that 'those people are putting pressure on Sea World through consumerism insisting that Sea World make changes.'

[hamsterjill]

74. Absolutely!!!

n/t

[NYC_SKP]

17. Phuck SeaWorld. eom

[uponit7771]

28. But.. we liked Shampoo (4yr olds pronunciation).. Is there any records of mistreatment? tia

[Surya Gayatri]

38. Captive orcas tend to die very young from stress-induced

ailments. Stressed out because they like to swim hundreds of miles a day, not turn round and round in a small tank.

They aren't meant to live caged up. They are creatures of the deep.

[uponit7771]

50. makes sense

[justiceischeap]

55. Watch the documentary "Blackfish"

That and Japanese whaling is what has brought the mistreatment of captive sea animals to the forefront.

[kcass1954]

62. I saw it for the first time last week on Netflix.

How horribly they've treated the animals AND their employees. Typical corporate schmucks.

I'm sorry I ever went there.

[Scootaloo]

83. You're keeping a 45-foot migratory predator in a 100-foot tank and feeding it dead fish

An animal that is at least as intelligence as some human children is confined to an area that is roughly the equivalent of a single living room, only with less stimulus.

A creature that is highly social, forming not just familial but actually tribal bonds i nthe wild - including distinct "languages" - has maybe a single partner in this cramped tank.

I think these all count as abuse.

[uponit7771]

113. That's a way to look at it, never thought of it from their perspective... they looked happy but hell

... how are humans supposed to know what a happy Dolphin looks like

[MADem]

31. You have to wonder why they don't do the "endless pool" thing to help those whales in captivity.

I'm not suggesting this is a solution--I really don't like the whole concept of "performing whales" at all--but so long as they have them, why not give them more of a straight swim exercise in an endless pool where they swim against a current? If a human can get a lap swim in a tank that's not terribly larger than a bathtub, they could surely do better for the whales???

[Surya Gayatri]

35. Because it might cut into their corporate bottom line?

[MADem]

94. Penny wise, pound foolish, I'd say.

Best thing is to stop these shows altogether....they're like elephants in the circus, it's cruel. But until they do, I think the current pools might help the whales. Poor things.

[AngryDem001]

93. That would mean less moolah for SeaWorld execs.

[jeff47]

114. Not sure that can be done with a "swimmer" that can go that fast.

For example, I can swim faster than "endless" pools on the residential market - if I use one I have to intentionally go slower than I'd like. To be able to keep up with a whale, you'd need a really massive flow. That would be pretty hard to engineer.

Add in the need to suddenly cut it off if the whale decides to stop, and I don't know if it could really be done.

[MADem]

116. It might cost money, but extending the life of a whale x4 might make it worth it.

We can put a rover on Mars, I've got to believe there's a way to make this happen--maybe a device that has the ability to speed up the faster the whale swims, or slow down if the whale does, using sensors.

You need a swim ex, I think!!! http://www.swimex.com/about/swimex-vs-competition/swimexvsendless.php

[jeff47]

118. It's not just money.

I haven't bothered googling it, but let's say an Orca can swim at 40mph. Yes, engineering a 40mph flow of water is just an exercise in money. But you don't just need a 40mph flow.

You need a 40mph flow that can stop on a dime, or the whale smashes into the "back" of the tank when it stops. And it needs to start very quickly, or the whale smashes into the "front" of the tank. And you need it to constantly adjust to what the whale wants to do - perhaps it's feeling like taking it slow at the moment, so you need a 20mph flow. But then it decides to sprint, and you need to crank that all way way up RIGHT NOW.

Even then, you're just creating a treadmill for the whale. It's still in a very small box, creating just as many problems as putting humans in a very small box called "solitary".

It's far better to just not keep the whales in captivity instead of trying to engineer ways to keep the whales in captivity.

[MADem]

119. I still think they should do it. Or at least try.

They could double the size of the box, to give the whale more wiggle room. They could heavily pad one end of it with inflatable bladders to catch the whale in a soft 'pillow' in the event the system fails.

Of course they should just let the whales go, and stop the whole program. They're unlikely to do that anytime soon--that's the sad truth. So long as they keep them locked up, they should at least make their torture less onerous, and in the interim, while they're waiting to get the spirit and do the right thing, I think they should go talk to the Navy, specifically, the Naval architects who build submarines.

There's no way they could let the poor things go, now, anyway--not before they learn to swim in a straight line at speed....

[KamaAina]

43. And they're smart, too.

This month's National Geo cover article is "Thinking Like A Dolphin". (Orcas are part of the dolphin family.)

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/dolphin-intelligence/foer-text

[Surya Gayatri]

44. Thanks for this link, Kama! I used to have a subscription

to NG, but had to give it up for financial reasons.

[WilliamPitt]

52. Please turn out the lights. The coolest thing EVER has been found.

WOW.

[Surya Gayatri]

56. Granny has lived through a lot. She was born when

WWI was just about to start. What changes has she had to adapt to in her natural habitat? Only she knows.

The doyenne of the deep!

[benld74]

60. MORE Free Range Orcas!!!

[Surya Gayatri]

61. The oceans should be their oyster!

[bhikkhu]

71. Reminds me of this long-lived whale story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-461703/Whale-survives-harpoon-attack-130-years-ago-worlds-oldest-mammal.html

...a bowhead whale killed in 2007 that had a civil war era harpoon point embedded in it.

[Surya Gayatri]

72. Fascinating. 130 years old and still going strong.

Sad they felt obliged to kill it.

[Kelselsius]

84. I have been boycotting Sea World since 1987

In 1987 the money counters at Sea World saw that the killer whales at Marineland, Palos Verdes, were a big attraction. So they proceeded to attempt to catch their own. Every single attempt resulted in killing their prize. Some say as many as 16 killer whales were murdered by Sea World, San Diego.
Failing at that, they purchased Marineland in Palos Verdes California. Stating the outright lie that they wanted to renovate and improve the park. Then they paid local gang members to vandalize the place during the night.
The next day they announce that Palos Verdes was a bad neighborhood and shut the park down.

In case there was any doubt; before the deal was even complete, Sea World had hired a moving company to build transport tanks to move the Marineland killer whales to San Diego.

And to rub salt in the wounds, they pured concrete into the drains to make sure the park could never be re-opened.

Clearly they only care about one single thing. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Rex]

85. Wow 100 miles a day, that is amazing to me. Whales are awesome mammals.

Then again I guess whales and other marine life have no material attachments like humans do. The are nomadic from day one.

It must be soul crushing to be in a tank or artificial pond. That's like sticking an elephant in a rail car.

[blackspade]

86. Time to let them and dolphins go.

Sea World is an abomination.

[tomm2thumbs]

87. * SeaWorld Sees Major Drop in Attendance *

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2015/02/26/seaworld-sees-major-drop-in-attendance-at-us-theme.html

The declines come as SeaWorld continues to deal with a public backlash stemming from the 2013 release of "Blackfish," a documentary capturing the death of one of its trainers, Dawn Brancheau, by an orca named Tilikum. Brancheau worked at the company's marine park in Orlando.

Last July, Southwest Airlines said it was ending a promotional partnership with SeaWorld that began in 1988. Airline officials attributed the decision to "shifting priorities."

[Surya Gayatri]

97. Couldn't be more pleased. The sooner these corporate torturers

have to close up shop, the better.

Either that, or do a radical rebranding.

[niyad]

91. seaworld has a lot to answer for in its treatment of these magnificent beings. won't

break my heart if these aquatic zoos go out of business.

[pansypoo53219]

92. same as circus elephants. FREE WILLY!

[alcibiades_mystery]

96. "integral to orcas’ psychological health"

'Zat right?

[Surya Gayatri]

98. Yes, so the marine-life experts say. Orcas are sentient beings

possessing a complex social structure, which involves travelling with their extended families over vast distances.

Here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026536906#post83

[Enthusiast]

101. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch!

[Surya Gayatri]

102. Morning!

[Enthusiast]

103. Morning!

[nolabels]

106. Humans are basically, just a cancerous virus, a pock

Some things will survive after we disappear into the fossil record. Yet surely the one thing that will stand out with the other great die-offs in similar patterns, domination ends abruptly as life goes on. The end line of the species often occurs because it is not able to adapt to the rest of the biosphere (sometimes because it has crowded out others that would help it do so)

Our selfishness to think we could live outside from world we were born from will be our downfall.

[Joe Chi Minh]

117. You know when you sense someone is looking at you,

and it's confirmed in spades when you look around? I had a similar sort of experience, at a sort of aquatic zoo in West Australia, when I suddenly met the steady gaze of a dolphin looking right at me from its pen (with a few others), at the edge of the sea, where it was located.

I'm not sure, it might have been called, Water World or something like that. It was quite straightforward though; I simply looked down and found myself meeting its steady gaze, a stare, really, although full of entreaty, as if begging for help. I was pretty sad about it. You know, animals frequently seek the help of humans, sometimes even wild animals.

By the way the phenomenon has been studied and confirmed - that we do have that sense. Security guards, night watchmen, found that just looking at thieves who'd broken in, via a hidden CCTV camera seemed to clearly spook and deter them. As if our eyes send out signals as well as receiving information.