The World's Loneliest Orca: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in San Francisco are violating the U.S. Animal Welfare Act (linked below) by keeping Shouka in isolation, without an orca or other dolphin companion. Many would like to see Shouka returned to Marineland of Antibes in France where she was born and spent the first 9 years of her life, and where she still has family.
Animal Welfare Act: http://awic.nal.usda.gov/government-and-professional-resources/federal-laws/animal-welfare-act http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/08/10/worlds-loneliest-whale-send-shouka-back-france?cmpid=tp-ptnr-hufpo
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'Two killer whale types found in UK waters'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8440000/8440002.stm A great article just in from freelance journalist Elizabeth Batt, reporting on our very own UK orca - two ecotypes found off the north east coast of Scotland may be on the verge of becoming separate species! http://digitaljournal.com/article/330799 North east Scotland is home to two diverging types of orca: types 1 and 2 (find article on page below). There have been 38 individuals which the North Atlantic Killer Whale ID Project have identified frequenting inshore waters of Shetland, Orkney and Caithness, most typically during the summer months. http://www.northatlantickillerwhales.com/index.asp?pageid=100046 "When all pods are in, that's when babies happen," says Howard Garrett of the Orca Network (based in Washington State), referring to the three endangered Southern Resident orca pods of the Pacific Northwest. Here's hoping!
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/When+whale+pods+gather+there+good+chance+they+making+babies/7000499/story.html Take a read through the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust blog entries from the 5th and 12th August for mention of orca:
http://www.whaledolphintrust.co.uk/blog.asp If you search for 'orca' or 'killer whales' in the Google search engine, within the top 10 results you will come across articles reporting on a "Near Death at SeaWorld".
Orca captivity discussions are rife in the media just now: several lawsuits have and are being filed against marine aquariums holding captive orca, "Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity" by David Kirby has recently been published, a number of conservation groups and organisations are focusing more than ever their attentions on the captive industry... ...and a 15 minute video, revealing what has been described as a "chilling" incident of aggression by captive orca Kasatka against trainer Ken Peters, has been released to the general public for the first time. The footage was recorded in 2006 at SeaWorld San Diego and the video "...was presented at trial in SeaWorld v US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in the death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/near-death-at-seaworld-wo_b_1697243.html) Orca Aware will be addressing orca captivity discussions in depth at a future date. In the meantime, as we are posting ALL current news articles and videos which report on orca, we will be posting reports on orca captivity. This is not intended to spark a discussion, debate or any bad feeling amongst supporters of this campaign and if you have any questions, please feel free to privately message us - a member of the team will be more than happy to help. Thank you in advance for your understanding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQloiLMRimM Children of British Divers Marine Life Rescue member spot two killer whales off the coast of Norfolk in July. "Killer whales are rarely seen in the southern North Sea" says Peter Evans, director of the Sea Watch Foundation. It is thought that these orca may have been in the area foraging for common seals:
http://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/news/two_killer_whales_spotted_by_brother_and_sister_off_bacton_1_1461349 Exciting news for the Southern Resident community of the Pacific Northwest - exactly a week ago J37 of J pod gave birth to her first calf, J49. Check out the Center for Whale Research blog entry:
http://www.whaleresearch.blogspot.co.uk/ Orca found in UK waters are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). They are classified as a Priority Species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and are protected under the Conservation Regulations of Northern Ireland (1998).
They are also listed in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) - search by genus and species (Orcinus orca): http://www.cites.org/eng/resources/species.html - and in Appendices I and II of CMS (Convention on Migratory Species): http://www.cms.int/reports/small_cetaceans/data/o_orca/o_orca.htm Property rights advocates and California farmers filed a petition within the last couple of weeks asking the U.S. government to delist Pacific Northwest orca (the Puget Sound orca) from the Endangered Species Act. They are arguing the group of whales is not a distinct population segment of a subspecies but in fact, only a species. They have already lost this argument during a previous appeal.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018836800_apwaorcaslawsuit2ndldwritethru.html Orca are currently classified as Data Deficient in the IUCN Red List, due to the lack of sufficient data for populations worldwide (IUCN 2008).
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15421/0 |
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