Scientists Bemoan Seaworld Decision To Stop Breeding Orca

[Purveyor]

By JENNIFER KAY and MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- There's one last orca birth to come at SeaWorld, and it will probably be the last chance for research biologist Dawn Noren to study up close how female killer whales pass toxins to their calves through their milk.

While SeaWorld's decision last month to end its orca breeding program delighted animal rights activists, it disappointed many marine scientists, who say they will gradually lose vital opportunities to learn things that could help killer whales in the wild.

Noren got to observe only one mother-and-calf pair at a SeaWorld park before the end of the breeding program was announced.

"It's really difficult to publish with one. I really was hoping for a couple more, but that is what it is," said Noren, who works at the National Marine Fisheries Service's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

SeaWorld's 29 captive orcas in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio could remain on display for decades to come and will be available in the meantime for study by outside scientists, as they generally have been for many years.

But as SeaWorld's orca population - with whales 1 to 51 years old - dwindles, researchers will lose chances to collect health data and make other observations, such as drawing blood, measuring their heart rates and lung capacity, and documenting their diets and their growth. As the animals age, scientists say, research will be limited to geriatric orcas.

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SEAWORLD_KILLER_WHALE_BREEDING_FLOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-04-13-55-38

[sdfernando]

1. "documenting their diets" ....?????....seriously!?!?!?

They are captive mammals....they are fed by Sea World....it is already known what their diet is. How that relates to diet for Orcas in the wild is dubious.