Killer Whale Dies Following the Muddy Disaster at Marineland

[n2doc]

19 year old Valentin. Photo by Liam Kotteburg courtesy of Orcahome.de

Born 19 years ago, the killer whale ‘Valentin’ lived his entire life in the confines of Marineland’s tanks – tanks which ultimately may have been the cause of his death. Recent flooding in the south of France overwhelmed Marineland’s filtration system causing the water quality to plummet. The mud and debris led to other animal deaths, including turtles, rays and fish.

Valentin’s mother, Freya, died four months ago of an undetermined illness and the stress of losing her may have played a part in Valentin’s death as well. According to an article at Orca Aware, in some populations in the wild male survival is linked to their mothers and once the mothers die their sons often don’t live long. Yet Valentin had displayed aggressive behavior to his mother along with a suite of abnormal behaviors including chewing on concrete and bumping his head on the tank, according to the Orca Aware article.



more
http://blog.seattlepi.com/candacewhiting/2015/10/12/killer-whale-dies-following-the-muddy-disaster-at-marineland/

[MoonRiver]

1. SOBs that enslave these beings!

[2naSalit]

2. My

genuine positive regard for my species declines on a daily basis and this is but one of the reasons why.

[HassleCat]

3. It's whale jail

Dogs and cats like to live with humans. Other animals don't do well in captivity.

[dhill926]

4. fucking bastards....

just read the book "Voices in the Ocean." It will piss you off...this is just unacceptable.

[underahedgerow]

5. There is a petition circulating to the French Govt to close this park. There have been complaints

about it for years.

The park was absolutely devastated in the massive storm we had last week. Many people are still without internet service & electricity, many streets and businesses are still closed and being cleaned up. Thousands of cars were damaged by floodwaters and mudslides, the likes of which I've never seen before. Our house sustained some 35K in damage to a flat roof and our lower level floors, and we were extremely lucky! So many people literally lost everything and there is a huge regional appeal for clothing, furnishings and accomodations.

The park electricity was destroyed, and it was an old system to begin with, so all the massive sea water pumps went out. Granted they could have possibly brought in industrial generators and pumps, but the human life and needs regionally took major precedent.

The pools were just filled with mud, we had a literal wall of water hit the region that's never been seen before... I just can't even describe it, I've never seen so much water fall out of a sky in such a short time. As much of the area is hilly and on the edge of the Alps, lower level roads just turned into the Colorado River within minutes. Cars were piled on top of each other and carried for blocks. We had a river running through our house, and we're on top of the hill, it was bubbling up through the floor!

The park didn't stand a chance. Some 10 people died in a camping area just a couple kilometers away; it lies in a natural valley and is surrounded by flat paved parking lots just a few blocks from the sea. Had they had a redundant system, it's possible the animals could have been saved. They've been very quiet about the loss of many animals that we've heard of and we are hoping it just closes for good.

[Arugula Latte]

6. This is awful.

Stop letting people keep whales in swimming pools!

[joeybee12]

7. Disgusting...knr