Dangerous? Not Hardly

[0rcinus]

If Orcas were so dangerous to the public, this never would have happened at Sea World San Diego [ where it did ] or anywhere else.

Comments

[longbottle]

Orcas are not "dangerous", we simply don't treat them with the respect such an intelligent, powerful animal deserves.

I can only hope that this will give Sea World pause about it's captive breeding program.

[0rcinus]

Captive breeding really has nothing to do with it. It's about keeping a 35 foot whale in a tank so small all he can do is float there and only be used in shows at the end to splash the audience. Just look at the aerial shots of him in one of the back tanks. Basicaly he's in solitary confinement with limited exercise time.

[longbottle]

Not saying there's a direct relation between the two, just that I hope this results in that. I've never been a proponent of the idea of encouraging cetaceans to breed in captivity (beyond whatever happens naturally).

I don't think we respect Orcas as much as they're due. We keep them captive with little consideration for their needs (as you've pointed out) and yet are amazed and shocked when "incidents" happen.

What happened to Kotar, after they took him out of that pool, again?

[0rcinus]

Most of the breeding done through AI I believe, no encouragement neccessary. :P

He and the three others were used in shows. I have no idea where they are now.

[longbottle]

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

If he's still alive, he'd be in his late 30s now, right?

[0rcinus]

As I was told at the time, they estimated his age to be approx 5 when caught, so that should be about right.

[longbottle]

I wonder if he'd recognize you without the beard.

[0rcinus]

Probably not at first. There were noises I'd make with my hands to let them know I was there. That would probably get them to recognize me.

[delfi_waveform]

What's touching is that, in that same shot, you see the other dolphins (must don't know that orcas are dolphins) hanging around the gate and peaking over it at their tankmate.

[0rcinus]

Which shot are you talking about? There is no gate.

[delfi_waveform]

To me they seemed to be clustering around the point closest to Tilly then. Makes sense that they would do that as orcas form pretty tightly knit groups. Herd animals, though, will also do the same thing if you corall one away from the others. the herd will cluster around the corall for a while.