It seems WDCSs fears for the welfare of Morgan the orca have sadly been proven correct soonerthan previously thought, with new pictures emerging that clearly show damage to herdorsal fin.
Morgans sad story has followed her from the wild to captivity. It began in June of 2010 with Morgans rescue from the Wadden Sea, then to the Harderwijk dolphinarium in the Netherlands, where a court decision sentenced Morgan to a life in captivity at the Loro Parque Zoo in the Canary Islands.
This decision came despite the majority ofexpertsinitially consulted regarding Morgan’s possible release changing theiropinions. They agreed Morgan is a potential candidate for release backinto the wild.
When the decision came WDCS raised fears for Morgan’s health and welfare at being introduced into a new captive environment, to orcaswho are strangers to her and to the circus-style shows at LoroParque. On herarrival at Loro Parque, Morgan was quickly introduced to other orcas fromthis highly unstable group, with no period of quarantine. Recent video footage shows Morgan being continually rammed and bitten by the other female orcas there, Kohana and Skyla. Visitors to the parkhave since observed her alone and isolated in one of the shallow, side pools.
Unfortunately, these rough interaction are not unique to Morgans experience. Observers have also noted deep rake marks on Ikaika(Ike) after his recent transfer from Marineland Canada back to SeaWorld in SanDiego. These images of both Morgan and Ike highlight the difficulties ofintegrating into captive orca hierarchies which can be unstable or already well-established, both making it difficult to assimilate. This issue is intensified bythe extremely stressful captive environment.