Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons and leading animal rights activist had me on his show last Friday. I think it is a really good discussion. Sam is a great guy. It’s about 25 minutes, please share!:
https://soundcloud.com/voto4/david-kirby-sam-simon-6-14
An infant female orca by the name of Vicky has died at the Loro Parque amusement park in the Canary Islands, park officials announced today on their Facebook page.
Vicky, just 10 months old, had been rejected by her mother Kohana, a young orca who was ripped from her own mother’s side at just 19 months of age, and eventually shipped off to Tenerife.
“In contrast with joy with which Loro Parque announced the birth of the second baby orca in Spain, last August 3rd, today with enormous regret we inform you of the sad demise of Vicky, who with so much emotion and affection, the team of OrcaOcean cared for in her 10 months of life,” Loro Parque’s Facebook page says.
The death was sudden and the cause unknown, though Vicky had been showing unusual behaviors in recent days, according to the post. It was serious enough to fly in SeaWorld’s chief veterinarian to perform an examination.
The orcas at Loro Parque all belong to SeaWorld, and are cared for and trained according to SeaWorld protocols. In 2006, the company flew four young whales—two females, Kohana and Skyla, and two males, Keto and Tekoa—to Spain on a “breeding loan.”
About two years later Kohana, at just six years of age, (extremely young for an orca) was impregnated and, in 2010, gave birth to a male calf named Adan. All orcas born at Loro Parque are the legal property of SeaWorld.
Kohana, however, was an utterly unfit a mother and she wanted nothing to do with Adan, rejecting him almost immediately.
Many critics speculated that Kohana had simply never learned how to be a mother, because there were no mother orcas at Loro Parque for her to emulate. It didn’t help matters that Kohana only spent 22 months with her own mother before being taken away.
Even as Adan was being hand-nursed by park staff, Kohana became pregnant again, this time with Vicky. The father in both pregnancies was Keto, who is Kohana’s uncle, making Adan and Vicky more inbred orcas to add to SeaWorld’s “collection.” One whale was impregnated by her own son. According to bloodline charts, Vicky was related to 21 out of 26 SeaWorld killer whales.
Last year, when Vicky was born, Kohana, again immediately rejected her calf. The double-tragedy was covered beautifully by Elizabeth Batt at Digital Journal.
I have been studying killer whales intensively for about three years, and have never heard of a mother rejecting her calf in the wild. It is virtually unimaginable. But in my book Death at SeaWorld, I document several cases of maternal rejection in captivity.
TakePart has written about Loro Parque in the past, including this article about the female orca Morgan who, after stranding in the Netherlands, was sent to Tenerife and is now listed on SeaWorld’s stock offering as belonging to them.
And last December, in another piece about park, TakePart reported that, “Advocates were aghast at the trans-Atlantic arrangement. Killer whales, whether in the ocean or a crowded pool, are highly socialized animals who learn from elders about proper norms of behavior. Mothers, grandmothers and older siblings keep youngsters in check, and extinguish outbursts of disharmony that disrupt cohesion and proper pod functioning.”
“These whales are so young, without a normal upbringing, and now they’re in Spain together without any sort of adult orca supervision,’ one observer said. ‘It’s like Lord of the Flies over there.’”
It’s not clear if Kohana’s rejection of Vicky, or her inbreeding, contributed to her death (50 percent of wild-born orcas do not survive their first year). But it’s just another sad mark on the history and reputation of Loro Parque.
As I wrote in my book, at least one trainer was deeply concerned about the whales, and the way that Kohana’s uncle, Keto, kept trying to breed with her.
The trainer, Alex Martinez, turned to his personal diary to describe his growing worries about the erratic behavior. The whales’ seemingly bottomless sex drives were on the verge of upending the fragile social order imposed upon the hormonally charged adolescents.
“Keto is obsessed with controlling Kohana, he won’t separate from her, including shows,” Martinez wrote. Tekoa was also “very sexual when he is alone with Kohana.”
A few months later, Keto would “go off behavior” and brutally ram Martinez in the chest, killing him. Just two months after that, Dawn Brancheau would be mortally wounded in a similar fashion at SeaWorld Florida by the three-time killer, Tilikum, who happens to be grandfather to Kohana and great-grandfather to her two hapless children, one of them now tragically gone.
LOVED BLACKFISH?
Be Sure To Check Out:
DEATH AT SEAWORLD: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity
by David Kirby – In Paperback from St. Martin’s Griffin July 2, 2013
WHAT CAN I DO?
1) Support an Anti-Captivity Group- Here are some of the deserving groups working for captive orcas:
Whale and Dolphin Conservation www.wdc.org
Animal Welfare Institute www.awionline.org
Humane Society of the US www.hsus.org
Fins and Fluke http://finsandfluke.wordpress.com
The Orca Network http://www.orcanetwork.org
The Orca Project http://theorcaproject.wordpress.com
Voice of the Orcas http://voiceoftheorcas.blogspot.com
Without Me There is No You
http://withoutmethereisnou.wordpress.com
2) Work the Media – Organize a captivity debate and invite press; sponsor a talk by an orca expert; write op-eds, feature articles and letters-to-the-editor for your local paper.
3) Help Free “Shamu” – Some groups want freedom for wild-born orcas and retirement to sea pens for captive-born whales. To help empty the orca tanks, contact:
Animal Legal Defense Fund www.aldf.org
Nonhuman Rights Project http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/
Humane Society International www.his.org
Free Lolita Campaign – The Orca Network http://www.orcanetwork.org/retirement.html
Free Corky Campaign http://orcalab.org/free-corky-campaign/
Free Morgan Foundation http://www.freemorgan.org/
Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy http://www.kimmela.org/kimmela-center-in- action/#Nhrp
4) Lobby – Orcas endure small pools, inter-animal violence, isolation, lack of sun protection and other violations. Contact Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at USDA to demand enforcement of animal welfare rules: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/
5) Make Your Voice Heard – Protest. Stage a demo outside SeaWorld, hand out flyers or hold up signs as guests drive in; or get people to write to SeaWorld, asking them to reinvest some of their record profits to upgrading sub-par orca tanks.
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED AT WWW.TAKEPART.COM TODAY, JUNE 10, 2013
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a “repeat violation” and a fine of $38,500 against SeaWorld Florida for ignoring a federal court order and continuing to run a workplace with “recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to struck-by and drowning hazards.” (OSHA CITATION HERE)
The move, a major blow to SeaWorld, is the park’s latest losing volley in the more than three-year-long, bitter battle between SeaWorld and OSHA that began in February, 2010 when the orca Tilikum killed Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau in front of horrified park guests.
The citation, issued on Friday, was obtained today by TakePart, which has covered this legal saga extensively, including here and here.
Following the death of Dawn Brancheau at SeaWorld, OSHA hit the entertainment giant with a “willful” violation, a $75,000 fine and orders to keep all orca trainers out of the pools (something known as “water work,)” and to maintain a safe distance or physical barrier between trainers and the ocean’s top predator when the whales sidle up to the stage or haul themselves out of the water in the slide-out area, (or drywork.”)
SeaWorld agreed to end its water work, at least for now, but still allows trainers to come into extremely close physical contact with the killer whales (except Tilikum), as evidenced in numerous photos and television news accounts showing trainers hugging, kissing and massaging orcas – with no barrier or distance at all. According to OSHA, captive orcas could easily hit or grab a trainer and drag them into the water.
“At the Shamu Stadium pools, animal trainers working with killer whales other than Tilikum were exposed to struck-by and drowning hazards in that they were allowed to engage in drywork performances with the killer whales without adequate protection,” the OSHA citation reads.
“Sea World of Florida, LLC was previously cited for a violation of this occupational safety and health standard,” it added.
In 2010, SeaWorld sued OSHA to overturn the original violation and the ban on water work and close-proximity dry work. But the judge in the case refused, chastising SeaWorld for putting its workers at risk, just for the sake of entertainment. He did reduce the violation from “willful” to “serious,” however, and lowered the fine.
In his scathing rebuke to SeaWorld, Judge Ken Welsch ruled that, “Proximity to the killer whales is the factor that determines the risk to the trainers,” and cited cases where “killer whales seized trainers during waterwork or pulled trainers into the water during drywork,” and where “the injured or deceased trainer was not recovered until the killer whale decided to release the trainer.”
At trial, the government presented documentation of numerous cases where trainers had been injured, dragged into the water or whacked by a whale while doing “dry work.” Dawn Brancheau herself was doing dry work (she was on a shallow ledge with about 6-8 inches of water) when Tilikum grabbed her and wouldn’t let go.
SeaWorld appealed Judge Welch’s decision to a Labor Department commission, which refused to hear the case.
Despite its legions of talented, high-paid attorneys, SeaWorld is nonetheless a three-time legal loser in the Brancheau saga. First OSHA ordered its trainers to stay away from the orcas; then when SeaWorld sued, a federal judge enforced the order; and then when it appealed to the Labor Department, it lost again. With nowhere else to turn, SeaWorld filed an appeal at the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, DC. That court sent the matter into mediation, which apparently went nowhere, (SeaWorld argued that the whales where essentially rendered harmless when beached in the slide out area), leading to the new violation and fine.
Now OSHA is once again ordering the recalcitrant, scofflaw SeaWorld to abate the hazard and finally “prohibit animal trainers from working with killer whales, including drywork, unless the trainers are protected through the use of physical barriers or the trainers are required to maintain a minimum safe distance.”
SeaWorld has 15 business days to respond, though if history is any guide, it may well contest the citations and sue the feds once again, perpetuating the legal battle for a few years more. Meanwhile, there is still an appeal before the Federal Circuit Court of DC.
Why it is so important for SeaWorld to have its trainers cozy up to killer whales during the Shamu show is beyond me. Yet the company is willing to spend years in court, and millions of dollars in legal fees, just to show how “close” the relationship is between whale and human.
Except, of course, when it is not. Just ask the families of the four people already killed by orcas in captivity.
I am pleased to announce that the cover for the paperback edition of DASW, which hits bookstores on July 2, is ready to go.
What’s new on the front cover is a blurb from the fantastic Wall Street Journal review, and a promotional “splash” urging people to go see the new documentary film Blackfish, which premieres on July 19. It will be a big summer for captive killer whales.
If you haven’t seen it already, check out the trailer for the upcoming documentary “Blackfish,” about killer whales in captivity, Tilikum, the death of Dawn Brancheau and many other issues also covered in “Death at SeaWorld.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEjYquyjcg
It currently has over 600,000 views.
The film features four former trainers profiled in my book, and a brief appearance by me. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite was working on the film as I was researching and writing DASW. Our paths crossed often, and we collaborated and shared notes. As you will see, it is a very poweful movie!
The paperback version of “Death at SeaWorld,” which comes out on July 2, has a special promotional “splash” on the front cover urging readers to see the film. There may be other cross-promotional opportunities in the future, so stay tuned. Together, the film and paperback may indeed make this the summer of the captive killer whale.
www.deathatseaworld.com
www.davidkirbycoaches.com
This article first appeared at www.takepart.com
Ever since my book Death At SeaWorld was released, nearly a year ago, I have received countless emails from concerned readers who were so disturbed by the lives of killer whales in captivity that they wanted to do something about it. But how? What, if anything, they wanted to know, can the average citizen do to improve the lives of orcas housed in glass-and-concrete tanks owned by powerful corporations?
Emily Vargo, a Spanish teacher from Maryland, for example, told me about how her father, a former SeaWorld employee who is now “very critical of the treatment of park animals,” read her excerpts from the book. “I cried and asked him to stop–I couldn’t take it!” she wrote “I just wanted to write you to see if there is anything one person can do? I am powerless but want to do something to speak for those creatures that don’t have a voice. It’s a depressing world we live in, and I figured there must be something I can do–something my father can do?”
That same question has been coming up repeatedly after screenings of the documentary Blackfish at film festivals around the world. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite tells TakePart that, during Q/A sessions at screenings, it’s often the first question out of the gate: “What can we do?”
Whether your goal is to improve conditions for whales currently in captivity, retire all captive orcas to sea pens or the ocean, and/or see an end to all captive breeding programs, TakePart has come up with a list of suggestions. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section:
1) Educate Yourself
Knowledge truly is power, and when it comes to advocating for the welfare of killer whales in captivity, the more you know, the better armed you will be while convincing friends, family and colleagues. If you want to advocate on behalf of these splendid animals, it’s important to understand all the forces that govern and perpetuate their use for entertainment and profit in captivity. There is much to learn: everything from animal welfare regulations, marine-mammal veterinary care and survival statistics; to federal legislation, global venture capitalism and the pro-captivity Washington-Wall Street alliance. And, you need to learn about the lives of wild orcas versus their inbred, neurotic cousins locked up in pools. Fortunately, there is no shortage of resources:
Blackfish – Opening July 19 in New York City, this powerful and beautiful documentary presents a nonstop docket of evidence that orcas do not belong in captivity. http://blackfishmovie.com/
The Killer in the Pool – This outstanding piece of long-form journalism by Tim Zimmermann first appeared in Outside Magazine in 2010 and presents a concise background on all the events leading up to the death of Dawn Brancheau at SeaWorld Orlando. http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/The-Killer-in-the-Pool.html
Killer Controversy: Why orcas should no longer be kept in captivity – This report from Humane Society International reads like a legal indictment of the entire killer whale display industry. A must-read for anyone who really wants to understand the issues. http://www.hsi.org/assets/pdfs/orca_white_paper.pdf
Death at SeaWorld – The paperback arrives July 2 and some people are ordering copies for skeptical friends who think Shamu shows are perfectly fine. With more than 430 endnotes, it’s a compendium of the law, science, politics and activism that surround this continuing saga. www.deathatseaworld.com
2) Support an Anti-Captivity Group
There are a number of non-profit organizations, both large and small, working to improve conditions for captive orcas, and to one-day secure their release to a sea sanctuary or, in a few possible cases, the ocean itself. Naturally, all of them need your financial support, but there are other ways to help too: event planning, fundraising, petition drives, volunteer office or accounting work, publicizing their efforts via social media, etc. Here are links to just some of the deserving groups working on captive orca issues:
Whale and Dolphin Conservation –www.whales.org
Animal Welfare Institute – www.awionline.org
Humane Society of the United States www.hsus.org / Humane Society International www.hsi.org
3) Work the Media
The national and international press grows more interested in this issue with each passing month since trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by the male orca Tilikum in February, 2010. This will only grow stronger with the release of Blackfish, which will air this fall on all the various CNN networks, after a summer theater run. Capitalizing on that, you might help organize a screening and/or panel discussion/debate in your town and invite press, sponsor a talk by a well-known orca expert, or write op-eds, feature articles and letters to the editor for your local paper expressing your opposition, based on what you learned from step number one above.
4) Help Free “Shamu”
Most captive killer whales today were born in captivity, have been separated from their families, and scientists are not sure they would survive if released into the open ocean. But there are a few whales who are viable candidates for release, because many scientists feel it would be possible to reunite these orcas with their families, after a period of “rehabilitation,” in a netted-off sea pen. Among the candidates are Corky, at SeaWorld California, Lolita, at the Miami Sequarium, and Morgan, a whale who is currently at Loro Parque in the Canary Islands, Spain, but is claimed by SeaWorld. Some groups are working specifically to win freedom for these orcas, while others also want to allow all captive orcas eventually to retire to sea sanctuaries, where they could live out their lives in relative peace, without having to perform for tourists. Keep an eye out at orca websites (see below) for calls for official public comment on issues relating to rehab, retirement or release of killer whales. Meanwhile, you can contact these organizations, among others, to find out how you can help get orcas out of their tanks.
Animal Legal Defense Fund www.aldf.org
Nonhuman Rights Project http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/
5) Lobby Your Government
Killer whales are currently kept captive in California, Texas, Florida, Canada, Spain, France, Japan and Argentina. A larger and growing number of countries have banned the practice outright. Critics have documented substandard living conditions, inappropriate pool sizes, inter-animal violence, long periods of isolation, pools without sun protection and other violations of various national laws and regulations. Here is a guide on where to express your concern or opposition to conditions for captive orcas in North America:
USA – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) US Department of Agriculture http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/
CANADA – Canada has nothing like APHIS and animal welfare regulations are slim, and there is surprisingly little enforcement. To comment on conditions at Marineland Ontario, contact the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. http://www.ontariospca.ca/ , or Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) http://www.caza.ca/
6) Make Your Voice Heard
Protest. Help stage a demonstration outside one of the captive facilities and hand flyers to people going in or out, or hold up posters as they drive in or out, educating tourists about captivity. If that’s not your style, you can join groups that will be passing out leaflets outside theaters showing Blackfish this summer, with information such as that included in this blog; or you could arrange a public art exhibition where people can express their own opposition to captivity. Recently TakePart wrote about 22 Reasons, who organized paintings of life-sized murals of Lolita by children, who wrote messages in favor of freeing her. It made the local papers. www.takepart.com/article/2013/03/11/can-schoolchildrens-art-free-worlds-loneliest-killer-whale Another idea is to get people to write to SeaWorld directly, asking them to reinvest some of their record profits to upgrading orca tanks and environments for those whales who might live out their lives in captivity, rather than simply putting money into new sets, rides, restaurants, etc., or sign this petition asking SeaWorld to stop its orca breeding program, with an email sent to the company every time someone signs. http://www.change.org/petitions/seaworld-end-captive-orca-breeding-program. One other option, already exercised by PETA, is to buy stock in SeaWorld, if possible, and the attend stockholders meetings to express your opposition to Shamu’s artificial world.
FOR MORE INFORMATION – Please visit the following websites:
Blue Freedom – http://bluefreedom.org/
Cyber Whale Warrior http://cyberwhalewarrior.com/
Fins and Fluke http://finsandfluke.wordpress.com
Free Lolita Campaign – The Orca Network http://www.orcanetwork.org/retirement.html
Free Corky Campaign – OrcaLab http://orcalab.org/free-corky-campaign/
Free Morgan Foundation http://www.freemorgan.org/
Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy http://www.kimmela.org/kimmela-center-in-action/#Nhrp
Marine Connection http://www.marineconnection.org/campaigns/captivity.html
Orca Conservancy http://www.orcaconservancy.org/
The Orca Network http://www.orcanetwork.org
The Orca Project http://theorcaproject.wordpress.com
Voice of the Orcas http://voiceoftheorcas.blogspot.com
Without Me There is No You http://withoutmethereisnou.wordpress.com
The orca’s dorsal fin is in terrible condition—but did a virus or the bite of another killer whale cause the damage?
First Published at TakePart.com
As if having his dorsal fin completely collapse weren’t enough, something—or someone—has been eating away at the back of the massive appendage of Keet, an exceedingly itinerant 20-year-old male orca, currently parked at SeaWorld San Diego.
In a video recently posted on YouTube, visitors captured a treatment session in the medical pool. Other witnesses reported similar medical procedures on Keet over the past few months.
In the video, Keet obediently moves into position before the pool bottom, partly covered in green algae, rises up to beach him. Next, a female veterinarian gingerly applies what looks like laser surgery, apparently to cauterize the ragged flesh of his fin. At times you can see bits of his folded dorsal light up in orange as the laser burns away rotted tissue. The curator, heard on tape, is clueless as to what is going on.
I don’t how much pain, if any, the 7,000-pound killer whale is experiencing—he doesn’t seem to flinch. But it’s still a bit hard to watch. And one immediately walks away with the one obvious, but unanswered question: What on earth happened to this poor animal?
SeaWorld did not respond to a request by TakePart for comment, so it is impossible to know why his dorsal fin is in such dreadful shape.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, but maybe others have,” Howard Garrett, an experienced whale observer from The Orca Network, told TakePart. Dr. Ingrid Visser, of New Zealand’s Orca Research Trust, said that she has seen wild orcas “with ragged edges to their dorsal fins which are very similar to this.” It’s not clear if boats, sharks or other orcas did the damage.
So what happened to Keet? It was either caused by disease—or another whale.
If another orca attacked Keet, or tore away bits of fin in a bout of extreme roughhousing, he wouldn’t be the first captive killer whale wounded by a tank-mate. In the most infamous contretemps, also at San Diego, in 1989, Kandu and Corky had a severe altercation during a show in which Kandu severed an artery in her jaw. She slowly hemorrhaged to death in a back pool, spurting red jets of blood from her blowhole as helpless staff and her calf Orkid looked on.
Keet’s dorsal looks like it could have been macerated. “Not knowing all the whales in this community, who knows who is doing what to whom, but it sure does look like someone has been chewing on it,” Dr. Naomi Rose, senior scientist at Humane Society International, tells TakePart.
Visser concurs. “Without a closer look it’s hard to tell,” she says. “Some of it certainly looks like orca bites.”
It reminds me of the sad story of Tilikum, the three-time killer who spent his youth at the second-rate SeaLand of the Pacific, in Victoria, British Columbia, where he was subjected to almost unceasing abuse by the tank’s two females, who dominate killer whale society.
As I reported in Death at SeaWorld, trainer Eric Walters complained to Canadian officials about safety and animal-welfare issues, including:
The three killer whales were “housed from 1730 hrs until 0800 hrs the following day in what is called the ‘module,’” a small, dark, metal confinement that barely accommodated the animals, Walters wrote. “I have seen the male, Tilikum, with the ends of his flukes [tail] abraded and bleeding,” Walters said. The tight space “leads to conflict between the whales, which have no options for avoiding confrontations. Often the whales’ skin shows teeth marks from aggressive action between the three, which are not just superficial tooth rakes.” Some witnesses said his flukes looked like raw hamburger.
Keet’s injuries, if that’s what they are, look a bit like those inflicted on his father Kotar. The back of his dorsal fin, when he was young, looks chewed on in this photo: Kotar, incidentally, attacked another male, Kanduke, in Orlando, biting his penis. In 1988 Kotar was banished to San Antonio, where he died seven years later when a metal gate crushed his skull.
San Diego, of course, is also home to Nakai, who sustained a ghastly disfigurement on his chin last year. According to journalist Tim Zimmermann, it happened during a major fight between Nakai, another male named Ikaika, and Keet. SeaWorld said Nakai “came in contact with a portion of the pool.”
Then there’s the germ theory. It’s possible, but if Keet’s flesh-eating disease is infectious, he must be isolated and the algae-laden medical pool thoroughly sanitized after each use.
“It’s hard to say without knowing his diagnosis, but not all diseases are highly contagious. It could be his outbreak is related, say, to stress rather than something external that can be sanitized,” Jenni James, litigation fellow at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, tells TakePart.
Keet’s condition could be viral, James notes. “In rehab facilities, for instance, stranded sea lions with San Miguel skin disease, which is viral, don’t need to be isolated because the virus won’t generally spread unless they are housed with seals who also have open sores.”
SeaWorld may say Keet is not contagious and sanitizing is not necessary, James adds, “but I doubt they would address the correlation between stress and viral outbreaks. SeaWorld won’t want to admit Keet is stressed, particularly because housing incompatible animals together is a violation of the law. Of course, Keet’s stress is not necessarily from his tank-mates. If those are the only choices, his outbreak is stress-related or external, SeaWorld’s in a conundrum because the one shows that captivity is stressful, and if it’s external, then why is he not isolated?”
As for algae, even in a medical pool, growth is not strictly prohibited under the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Algae growth is recognized as a contributor to poor water quality and bacterial growth, but it’s not banned. “An argument could be made either way that the algae in this video is a violation,” Rose says. “It would be easier all around if they clearly stated that ‘visible algae growth is not permitted.’”
Whatever or whoever was eating Keet, he is obviously getting good care. But one hopes it won’t happen again. He’s had a rough, unusually ambulatory life. Ripped from his mother’s side in Texas at just 20 months old, he was shipped to Florida. In 1999, he was moved to California and, the next year, to Ohio. A year later, he flew back to San Diego. In 2004, he was dispatched to Texas and, last year, sent once more to California.
Meanwhile, the public deserves an explanation. If some microbe assaulted Keet’s fin, can we be sure it won’t recur? And if he was attacked by another orca, will SeaWorld comply with the AWA’s provision that, “Marine mammals shall not be housed near animals that would cause them stress or discomfort, or interfere with their good health?”
If that’s the case, then the hapless, wayfaring Keet might have to board a plane once again.
Today, SeaWorld and the Blackstone Group will offer their IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. I would never advise anyone on investments, but I would ask them to consider the moral, ethical and safety issues of keeping killer whales in captivity for entertainment and profit.
Orcas are huge ticket sellers. But holding them in tanks 1/10,000th the size of their natural range creates risks that any investor must consider. First, captive orcas die at 2.5 times the rate of wild whales. But captive orcas also attack people, something that doesn’t happen in the wild.
SeaWorld’s prospectus warns that trainers have been hurt or killed by the company’s orcas, including the 2010 death of trainer Dawn Brancheau. “This incident and similar events that may occur in the future may harm our reputation, reduce attendance and negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations,” it says. My book Death at SeaWorld and the upcoming documentary Blackfish are included in the prospectus’ section on “risk factors.”
Now some business media are taking note. As one headline in Business Insider Australia put it: “SeaWorld: Our Investors Should Know That It’s Bad For Business When Our Killer Whales Kill People.”
Even as SeaWorld and OSHA engage in settlement talks over the 2010 killing of trainer Dawn Brancheau by the orca Tilikum, the company has suffered a legal setback in its fight to keep OSHA inspectors from interviewing trainers about federally mandated safety measures before the mediation process concludes.
U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton has ruled that OSHA inspectors can enforce subpoenas to interview trainers, in order to ensure that safety measures the federal agency imposed after Brancheau’s death are being enforced. Dalton’s ruling was first reported Monday afternoon by Courthouse News Service.
Those measures, which OSHA agreed to mediate with SeaWorld, in a surprising turnaround, include a ban on trainers getting near killer whales during shows without a minimal distance or protective barrier.
I wrote about those measures, and the negotiations last week at TakePart.com.
Despite the settlement talks, OSHA inspectors have been trying to interview three trainers about the company’s enforcement of the safety measures handed down by the agency and upheld last year by a federal judge.
Presumably, the inspectors want to ask the trainers if they have engaged in onstage behavior – including hugging, kissing and otherwise touching killer whales – in direct violation of OSHA’s safety mandates.
SeaWorld fought OSHA’s efforts. “OSHA issued administrative subpoenas to three SeaWorld employees, Tony Moore, Craig Thomas, and Brian McFadden,” Court News reported. “SeaWorld and the employees insisted, however, that they would not give testimony pertaining to the abatement date modification petition.”
But now Judge Dalton has ordered the company to comply.
It should make for interesting interviews – countless photos, YouTube videos and at least one Orlando TV newscast all show trainers in intimately close poses with the orcas, well after OSHA’s measures became an official order.
“OSHA may reinspect the premises – and issue administrative subpoenas as part of the reinspection process – to ensure abatement,” Dalton wrote. “As such, respondents’ (SeaWorld’s) objections are not well-taken.”
Enforcement of the subpoenas will not infringe on the outcome of the mediation process, where the ultimate decision “may moot OSHA’s follow-up inspection,” the judge wrote. “Nevertheless, Sea World currently has a duty to abate in accordance with the original abatement deadline, and OSHA may act to enforce the required abatement.”
The move comes as SeaWorld is trying to put its best face forward ahead of an IPO that is expected later this month. Just today, SeaWorld and parent company The Blackstone Group increased the offering from $100 million to $500 million.
For now, the clock is ticking. If OSHA inspectors interview the trainers, under oath, and find that they have performed in extremely close proximity to the whales, as expected, then it could head off any negotiations toward a settlement.
On the other hand, as the judge pointed out, if mediation is finalized first, it could well “moot OSHA’s follow up inspection.”