Morgan Is Not The Only One Having Problems Hearing!

Loro Parque leads the way with study into the hearing of whales

Thursday, 13 November saw yet another judgment from the Dutch courts on the fate of the young female killer whale, “Morgan," who stranded on the Dutch coast in June 2010 and was rehabilitated by the group SOS Delfijn and employees from Dolfinarium Harderwijk. The animal was deemed unsuitable for release and was moved to live with a group of other killer whales at Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain in November 2011.

Killer Whales, SeaWorld and Media Credibility

As always the satirical web site The Onion gets it right.  Unfortunately, this could be reported as a fact by the mainstream press and science magazines.

Very little objective analysis by these news outlets as to the accuracy of the information presented within this documentary. Moreover, it is simply not the case that there is no alternative information available as this can easily be found on SeaWorld's supporting web sites and other legitimate sources. These go into a great deal of detail as to why Blackfish should not be viewed as a valid and objective documentary.

With yet another twist and turn in the saga of SeaWorld and its killer whales, it was erroneously announced by both popular and the scientific press that the San Diego Park would be phasing out its killer whale shows in 2016. 

  In point of fact, this is not exactly what was said at the SeaWorld press conference. The fact that both the mainstream (and even the scientific press) seem completely incapable of reporting anything to do with the whole issue of SeaWorld and its killer whales objectively should be a cause of serious alarm.  What SeaWorld has actually decided to do is to change the format of its killer whale show at San Diego to incorporate a more educational remit rather than the current more theatrical presentations that can be seen at the other two American parks. 

Killer whales, Politics and Animal-Rights.

I am sure that this animal-rights led pantomime will continue to roll on. Unfortunately, I am minded to think that the only people who will profit from this are lawyers and the least likely are going to be the killer whales and their care at SeaWorld. 

Perhaps it should be a given that politicians should be very wary of getting involved in areas of science where they have very little or no specialist knowledge. This is particularly true in the area of animal welfare – which actually can be considered a science that can be objectively studied. This situation has become even more complex since the inception of the philosophical concept of animal-rights which as many have pointed out bears little relationship to issues of animal welfare.

PETA & Chips or Should Aquariums Serve Their Exhibits Cousins As Food?

 This in itself strikes as total hypocrisy to an organisation that espouses the rights of animals and speaks for “all the fish in the sea” but then decided to kill other species in proxy of their rights.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is not adverse to running campaigns that do very little to further animal welfare or conservation. The most recent example can be found in a letter these self-publicists wrote to the U.K.'s National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth.  The story was picked up by the Plymouth Herald and under the headline: "Plymouth's National Marine Aquarium Defends Decision to Serve Fish in Restaurants after Complaints from Animal-Rights Campaigners" the newspaper reported PETA's complaint regarding the ethics of fish being served to customers in the aquariums cafe.

What's Wrong With Blackfish?

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Not So Scientific American

The article is jaw dropping in its content and one could be forgiven as not to think this was written by Ingrid Newkirk of the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA).

We live in strange times which have become even stranger if one is to judge by the recent editorial in the journal Scientific American (March, 2014) entitled "Free the Elephants and Orcas in Captivity".

This was an unashamed polemic on 'the rights' of large brained mammals such as elephants and killer whales in relation to their use and display in captive environments such as zoological collections clumsily dovetailed on the back of news of the recent restricting of biomedical testing on chimpanzees in the USA.

Morgan: No Damsel In Distress

Anyone who begins an article, which compares the slave trade to animals in zoological collections, could be said to be allegedly as morally bankrupt as the suggestion itself: also invoking Godwin's law with comments on Auschwitz are equally repugnant but sadly a disappointing reflection on the calibre of the below cited article. 

PETA Picking On Penguins

The People for the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals (PETA) have never been short of voicing silly,  shocking and offensive campaigns in the furtherance of their ideological animal-rights agenda and this certainly has included marine animals.  Its failed court action in February 2012 against the Sea World marine parks claiming their killer whales should be deemed slaves under the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution being a case in point.