mandie pierce
media editor
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Mandie’s love of orcas began in the 1980s following a visit to the Miami Seaquarium, an entertainment park in the USA, where she watched orcas Lolita and Hugo perform. Even at that young age, Mandie felt strongly that orcas should not be kept in captivity but it was not until she reached adulthood that she had a much better understanding, spurring her on to become involved as a freedom advocate, focusing her efforts on raising public awareness to help orcas in captivity.
Mandie has since travelled to Iceland, and to the annual Orca Watch event run by the Sea Watch Foundation in John O'Groats, Scotland to see these magnificent mammals in their natural environment. She has a particular interest in the identification of orcas migrating between Icelandic and UK waters. Mandie is currently completing marine mammal survey training with the wildlife charity ORCA to assist with this information gathering. She is also a volunteer marine mammal medic with British Divers Marine Life Rescue and an onshore volunteer with Sea Shepherd UK, participating in outreach with the pubic, as well as leading beach cleans. Given her first orca experience, Mandie is passionate about the Free Lolita campaign and travels to London for public outreach. |