From some accounts I have read, orcas in captivity at times kill their
trainers by drowning them. This is actually natural behaviour, as this is
how they sometimes kill other marine mammals. I have seen a video of them
separating a baby whale from its mother (I think that these were gray
whales) and drowning it, just not letting it get to the surface to breathe.
This is a long slow process with whales of course, I think it took a couple
of hours. They then just ate the tongue and swam away.
It would of course be easy for an orca to kill a human with its mouth.
Ironically when they behave the way they do in nature we are horrified.
Unfortunately much of what goes on in nature is pretty ugly -- I still get
depressed when I think of that baby whale, as I do when I think of some of
the other events I have observed in the wild (mostly via video). It is not
surprising that most wildlife documentaries show nature at its prettiest,
such as the big cat bringing down its prey with one quick bite.
For me the key issue is whether we should present the kind of sanitized view
of nature that captive orcas convey -- does it really help the general
public become more aware of the world they live in? Or is it at least a
useful marketing gimmick for conservation?
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Shiffman" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: terça-feira, 4 de Maio de 2010 14:28
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Blog discussion: Captive orca whales and
release/rehabilitation
Some animal rights extremists have joined in the conversation, making
claims
like "evil aquarium employees who enslave whales deserve to be killed by
whales" and "aquariums and zoos have no education value whatsoever".
