MORGAN
Photo taken by Lunchi in 2011On 23rd june 2010, a female orca stranded on the coast of Netherlands.
She was highly dehydrated and emaciated, weak and more dead than alive. She was rescued by the Harderwijk Dolfinarium in Netherlands and nursed back to health there. The Dolfinarium named her "Morgan". 
Photo origin: Harderwijk Dolfinarium (Morgan after she arrived, almost only skin and bones.)
After some time, activists started to complain about the Dolfinarium keeping her in a backtank of their dolphin showpool.
Photo origin: Harderwijk Dolfinarium (Morgan after she arrived, almost only skin and bones.)After some time, activists started to complain about the Dolfinarium keeping her in a backtank of their dolphin showpool.
Even though Morgan had adapted quickly and amazingly well to the pool she lived in and the trainers who cared for her, the activists critiqued the park for keeping her there.
They did not seem to understand that Morgan was still in the process of being nursed back to health and still had to gain a lot of weight. In 2011, Morgan finally became fully healthy again, she had her strenght back and also her normal weight. Still, the protests continued. Even though Morgan showed huge interest in people, was very playful and interactive, the activists wanted her to be released into the wild.
Photo origin: Taken by Lunchi in 2011. Morgan back to her normal weight!
Photo origin: Taken by Lunchi in 2011. Morgan back to her normal weight!But just like Keiko, Morgan was a very bad candidate for release. Stranded and seperated from her family at only approximately 2 years, she was already so tame towards people that freeing her would have been dangerous. She could have swam up to ships and boats to interact with people and hurt herself on ship propellers or other human-equipment like fishing nets or garbage.
Also, her family was a pod of Norwegian orcas, which are not well-known, and other than the resident orca pods of North America, with few identified individuals. Also, almost no voices of these pods were recorded. The chances of finding and identifying Morgans family thus were very slim, other than in the case of Springer, a famous orca calf, that was brought back to her - wellknown to scientists - family after spending only few weeks in a seapen.
While Springer never left the oceanwater and was brought back to her family quickly, where her mother had died, but her aunt was still alive and later accepted her back in, Morgans family is not known and noone knows why they left her behind in the North Sea. Morgan had to stay in Harderwijk for over a year, in a pool with artificial, filtered seawater, not natural seawater of a seapen. So she also lacked the immunesystem now, to fight against the bacterias and viruses which are in the ocean. Yet the activists would have liked her to be put back into the ocean. They claimed they had found Morgans family (they claimed so a few times) but could not proove that at the court.
Photo origin: Taken by Lunchi in 2011. Morgan already totally fixed on people
Photo origin: Taken by Lunchi in 2011. Morgan already totally fixed on people There were several hearings at a court, because again and again, activists kept sueing the Dolfinarium that had rescued Morgan and treated her so well.
They wanted Morgan to no longer stay alone in the small backpool but to bring her together with the bottlenose dolphins of the park, in the showpool (a male group, who surely could not have communicated or played with Morgan because bottlenose dolphins and orcas have different "languages" and behaviours.
The dolfinarium had plans to introduce Morgan, who was no good candidate for release, to a group of other killerwhales in a different park. There she would have gotten the same good care, much bigger pools and playmates around her age of the same species.
They wanted Morgan to no longer stay alone in the small backpool but to bring her together with the bottlenose dolphins of the park, in the showpool (a male group, who surely could not have communicated or played with Morgan because bottlenose dolphins and orcas have different "languages" and behaviours.
The dolfinarium had plans to introduce Morgan, who was no good candidate for release, to a group of other killerwhales in a different park. There she would have gotten the same good care, much bigger pools and playmates around her age of the same species.
Still, the sueing of the activists stole precious time from Morgan, because again and again, there was a court hearing where they tried to pressure the judge into ordering Morgans release.
Eventually, after a lot of time passed, it was decided to move Morgan to Loro Parque. The Dolfinarium could proove that release would have been equal to Morgans death, while the activists could not proove that release would have been a good option. Moreover, they NEVER had collected enough money to free Morgan, not to speak of transport costs up to Norway, building a seapen there (like for Keiko back in 2001) or taking Morgan out to "open-ocean-walks" to help her find her family.
Eventually, after a lot of time passed, it was decided to move Morgan to Loro Parque. The Dolfinarium could proove that release would have been equal to Morgans death, while the activists could not proove that release would have been a good option. Moreover, they NEVER had collected enough money to free Morgan, not to speak of transport costs up to Norway, building a seapen there (like for Keiko back in 2001) or taking Morgan out to "open-ocean-walks" to help her find her family.
This procedure would have taken so much time that Morgan would slowly loose her ability to communicate with her own kind. (For Keiko it took 2 years of spending time in the seapen and doing ocean-walks and still his family was NEVER found and he died a lonely death, ever again searching out human company instead of trying to connect with his own kind. He was so afraid of other orcas, that he actually avoided them and hid behind the boat that did the ocean-walks with him.)
Go here to read why it was wrong to "free" Keiko:
Why it was wrong to free Keiko written by Catherine Brahic in 2009.
After a nice easy transport, Morgan arrived on Tenerife, at Loro Parque.
Go here to read why it was wrong to "free" Keiko:
Why it was wrong to free Keiko written by Catherine Brahic in 2009.
After a nice easy transport, Morgan arrived on Tenerife, at Loro Parque.
Loro Parque owns one of the largest orca facilities in the world with 4 connected pools which are up to 12 meters deep and contain 22 million liters of natural seawater, filtered by a modern filtration system.
Morgan quickly adapted to her new home and met the 5 other orcas of the park: 2 males called Keto and Tekoa, 2 females called Kohana and Skyla and little male Adan, about one year old, who was handraised because his mother Kohana did not accept him after birth. Since then, one can see Morgan playing with the other orcas every day. She is already trained for the shows, to keep her body and mind stimulated and alert. Moving, jumping, diving and playing are all natural behaviours of wild orcas as well, and thus important for their health. Even slideouts are a behaviour seen on wild orcas who hunt sealions on beaches in Argentinia for example.
Morgan quickly adapted to her new home and met the 5 other orcas of the park: 2 males called Keto and Tekoa, 2 females called Kohana and Skyla and little male Adan, about one year old, who was handraised because his mother Kohana did not accept him after birth. Since then, one can see Morgan playing with the other orcas every day. She is already trained for the shows, to keep her body and mind stimulated and alert. Moving, jumping, diving and playing are all natural behaviours of wild orcas as well, and thus important for their health. Even slideouts are a behaviour seen on wild orcas who hunt sealions on beaches in Argentinia for example.
Morgan spends long hours each day with the other orcas, and therefor has made physical contact with them. The other, older and more dominant orcas have given her some scratches on the skin, so called rakemarks. Immidiately the activists jumped on this happening and called the rakemarks "shocking wounds" and "poor Morgan being attacked".
Morgan with rakemarks on her eyepatch here called shocking wounds
Fact is: Rakemarks appear on all dolphin-species and mean that the dolphins communicate with each other. Since they have no hands to touch each other, they do so with their flippers and often with their mouths and teeth. The teeth rake along the skin in a playful manner or to show dominance of an animal lower in rank. This occurs in all marine parks in the world with all species from belugas, over bottlenose dolphins to orcas and also in the wild!
Morgan with rakemarks on her eyepatch here called shocking wounds
Fact is: Rakemarks appear on all dolphin-species and mean that the dolphins communicate with each other. Since they have no hands to touch each other, they do so with their flippers and often with their mouths and teeth. The teeth rake along the skin in a playful manner or to show dominance of an animal lower in rank. This occurs in all marine parks in the world with all species from belugas, over bottlenose dolphins to orcas and also in the wild!
In the wild, Morgan would not only get rakemarks, but may also be injured by boat-propellors, nets or other animals (sharks, other orcas). See the really severe wound in a wild orcas dorsal fin here:
Origin of photo: http://sea-inc.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/OrcaPusser1-680x453.jpgThe following photo shows an argentinian orca called Mel who attacks a sealion to eat it. Some of the sealions bite the killerwhales to escape their deadly grip. Mel got real wounds from those bites, as you can see here:
Origin of photo: http://images1.fanpop.com/images/photos/1900000/Orca-attack-orca-the-killer-whale-1998383-2560-1702.jpg
Can you see how the red colored deep wounds look totally different from the harmless rakemarks present on Morgan, other captive held and wild orcas? I hope people remember now, that orcas are not lovey-dovey cute creatures, but huge predators who have teeth which they also use:
(Orca attacking a gray whale)
Origin of photo: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oQX_5zFsuI05jtRPfiwuwg0xMEIzxzydcMD6sX17gnclEZzzoflDaggJ8M9JNPJHbpn6p4Of_i9z5Recc7opuZ9AvN6aBXYz4hjxHnDvskonY3R172XSX6yYnCWgTDUaimSXWn6OKG4/s400/pt1296-D-orca_attacking_gray_whale_brandon_cole.jpg
Do not jump to conclusions or listen to these activists before looking up how these animals live in their natural surroundings. Rakemarks are rakemarks and wounds are wounds, and one should not confuse these 2 just to get people into believing that an orca is treated badly in a park and should be released! Certainly, a rakemark is not a reason to pity or even free an orca ...
Niews about Morgan, always with photos or movies: http://www.dolfinarium.nl/nl/dolfijn/orka_morgan/laatste-nieuws.html
On the movie of 23rd may 2012, you can see that the rakemarks near Morgans eyepatch have already almost vanished again.
Dolphins constantly shed their skin, and scratches like these vanish quickly.
Origin of photo: http://images1.fanpop.com/images/photos/1900000/Orca-attack-orca-the-killer-whale-1998383-2560-1702.jpg(Orca attacking a gray whale)
Origin of photo: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-oQX_5zFsuI05jtRPfiwuwg0xMEIzxzydcMD6sX17gnclEZzzoflDaggJ8M9JNPJHbpn6p4Of_i9z5Recc7opuZ9AvN6aBXYz4hjxHnDvskonY3R172XSX6yYnCWgTDUaimSXWn6OKG4/s400/pt1296-D-orca_attacking_gray_whale_brandon_cole.jpgDo not jump to conclusions or listen to these activists before looking up how these animals live in their natural surroundings. Rakemarks are rakemarks and wounds are wounds, and one should not confuse these 2 just to get people into believing that an orca is treated badly in a park and should be released! Certainly, a rakemark is not a reason to pity or even free an orca ...
Niews about Morgan, always with photos or movies: http://www.dolfinarium.nl/nl/dolfijn/orka_morgan/laatste-nieuws.html
On the movie of 23rd may 2012, you can see that the rakemarks near Morgans eyepatch have already almost vanished again.
Dolphins constantly shed their skin, and scratches like these vanish quickly.
