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Seolhe — In a better world
#morgan #orca #wild #killerwhale #norway #anticaptivity
Published: 2015-12-26 02:41:57 +0000 UTC; Views: 1196; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 5
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Dedicated to morganthedutchorca on tumblr.Update: Cheyenne, the girl who ran the morganthedutchorca blog on tumblr, passed away from cancer on January 28th. I wanted to make this before she passed, and I'm happy I finished it in time and she got to see it. She was so passionate about Morgan and her cause, and this is dedicated to her memory.
Rest in peace.
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Morgan the orca, swimming free in the waters of Norway, where she belongs.
The orcas in the back are based on members of P-pod, believed to be Morgan's family.
Maybe in a better world, she never would have had to be taken into captivity, or at the very least, the greed of a couple of theme parks wouldn't have condemned her to being forced to perform tricks and become a baby-making machine for the rest of her life.
Morgan's story:
In 2010 a young Norwegian female orca was spotted swimming alone in the waters of the Netherlands. She was extremely emaciated when she was captured by a local theme park (Dolfinarium Harderwijk), under a Dutch Government issued ‘rescue, rehabilitation and release’ permit.
For 18 months she stayed in a small tank at Dolfinarium Harderwijk where she was displayed to the public and trained to perform tricks, rather than being trained to survive in the wild.
In 2011, after a legal battle over her future, Morgan was shipped to another theme park (Loro Parque), in the Tenerife Islands, Spain, where she has remained ever since. At some point along this trail, Morgan was claimed as an asset by SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc., who is based in the USA (this is effectively "whale laundering").
Morgan at Dolfinarium Harderwijk: www.wildedierendetentuit.nl/im…
Morgan at Loro Parque: vtlphotography.files.wordpress…
Morgan is not doing well at all where she is. Although she recovered physically after her rescue, she is constantly under attack by the other orcas at Loro Parque, all of whom are owned by SeaWorld. She spends a lot of her time performing stereotypical behaviours (unnatural, repetetive behaviours in captive animals caused by boredom and stress). Her teeth are badly worn down by chewing on concrete, and she's constantly bruised on her chin. Her skin is often covered in rake marks from the teeth of the other orcas at the park.
Morgan's teeth: www.freemorgan.org/wp-content/…
Rake marks: lh3.googleusercontent.com/VAPl…
Photo of Morgan being attacked by another orca at Loro Parque: lh3.googleusercontent.com/woQZ…
When the Dutch issued Morgan’s EG-permit, they issued it with a Governing Letter, which strictly outlined that Morgan was to be used only for ‘Scientific Research’ (that is, no permission was given for her to be used for commercial purposes, nor for breeding).
Despite this, she is a regular part of the commercial orca shows at Loro Parque and the park have expressed their opinion that she is ready for breeding.
Morgan may never get to see her family again, but the very least we owe her is a dignified life in a suitable environment, where she doesn't have to perform tricks to entertain tourists, and where she doesn't have to be attacked by other orcas.
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Comments: 15
The bacround mountains are amazing! I love the water to 
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Thank you!
It's definitely a hope that I share! <3
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I'm really glad that she got to see this before she left. I'm sure you made her very happy 
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I'm glad too, I can only hope that she liked it! Thank you
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Morgan acually is no longer being attacked, Kohana and Skyla have both accepted her. These photo's are very old and she doesn't look that 'rakey' at all. She has been seen swimming allong side Adan, Skyla and Kohana mostly, sometimes with Tekoa and not much with Keto
She isn't used in shows everyday or in everyshow, however she does peforms in a few
Its also said that morgan is deaf, as she doesn't react to a whistle, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLNZfn…
I acually think her mother has died, and thats why she got all the whale to Holland
They say the P-pod is her pod, but she doesn't even look like them, her saddle patch is way longer
And the last time one member of the p-pod has been seen (P11) was in 2012
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I don't know where you got that from, but it's clearly not true.
I know for a fact that Skyla (and possibly Kohana) still attack Morgan on a regular basis. Accounts from people who have visited Loro Parque earlier this year (including photos and videos) clearly shows that Morgan is still being attacked and harassed.
From what I've seen and heard, Morgan spends most of her time with Adan, a lot of time in the back pool with him and Tekoa, which could account for why she isn't attacked by the other females as often.
Here's some photos and a desciption of Skyla attacking Morgan in September this year, as an example: morganthedutchorca.tumblr.com/…
I never said she was used in shows all the time, but she is used very often. There's a ton of photos and videos to prove this. And regardless of whether she is used in shows every day or only now and then, it is still breaking the conditions of the permit which stated that she was only to be used for research.
Actually, all that's is certain is that she has a hearing impairement, although it can't be confirmed how severe it is. There is no definitive proof that she is deaf.
To quote the scientific report "Assessment of basic audiometric functions in killer whales (Orcinus orca) at Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain", which is what people refer to when they say she is deaf:
"The lack of a click-evoked response in the killer whale, Morgan, suggests that this animal suffers from a hearing deficit. The magnitude and frequency range over which the hearing deficit occurs cannot be specified with the techniques used here as the click stimulus lacks the frequency specificity necessary for frequency-specific threshold measures. Nevertheless, it can be concluded based upon the recording of click-evoked responses at varying click levels in other whales that Morgan’s hearing ability is at least 20– 30 dB worse than the hearing sensitivity of the other whales tested. It is possible that Morgan suffers from a profound hearing deficit, or even complete loss of hearing, but the frequency range and magnitude of the loss cannot be determined through currently employed electrophysiological means."
Btw, I would seriously question the accuracy of the video you linked to, seeing as they can't even get basic facts right. In the very first sentence they say that Morgan arrived to Loro Parque in November 2010, when she actually arrived in 2011 after spending about a year and a half at the Dolfinarium Harderwijk. They also imply that Loro Parque were the ones responsible for nursing her back to health, even though her physical rehabilitation took place before she was moved to the park. Then there's the point where they said that "the results were conclusive", and I mean, I just pointed out how they definitely weren't.
Of course they also go on to basically kiss Loro Parque's ass by saying how absolutely wonderful everything is and how nothing is bad, ever! I mean, it's pretty much just a promotional video for the park (which is to be expected since it is posted on their own youtube channel), and this kind of biased ass licking just really rubs me the wrong way.
Well there's no proof one way or another as to what resulted in her separation from her family, so I don't really see the point in speculating about that.
As for the saddle patch, you do realize that there can be a wide variety in the way they look even among related orcas? Just look at this ID-chart of these J-pod whales: 33.media.tumblr.com/4eab9dc9f3…
If you were going to judge by saddle patch alone, you would probably have to say they weren't related, because they are all really different, even within the same matrilines.
Even in the one ID-chart I have been able to find of P-pod, where you can't even see the entire saddle patch on most of the whales, there's a lot of variation.
Instead of judging by visual similarities, she was matched to P-pod by comparing vocalisations.
With that said, I'm not necessarily saying she should be released, just like that. I'm not sure that she would be able to successfully return to the wild, in part because of her hearing deficit and in part because of the difficulty of locating and reuniting her with her family. What I am saying is that she deserves better, like every other captive cetacean. This is why we need to invest in cetacean sanctuaries, where captive animals could live out their lives in a more natural environment, while still being under human supervision and care.
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Skyla is a rather dominant orca, and it has been said that she will take of being a matriarch from Kohana, Morgan of course has a different dialect, if Skyla asks, which is probably why Keto is by her side, to the orcas in the tank to follow her around, like in a pod swim, and she doesn't respond, it could trigger a displacement.
I don't really see this as a attack, more as being raked as in displacement, this even happens in the wild sometimes, but a attack, where the other orca swims for its life, and beached it self, while its bleeding, sounds more like a attack to me
"Morgan beaches herself after having been attacked by Skyla on September 13, 2015
After the attack Morgan swam over to the stage and beached herself. She stayed there for a couple of minutes. Adan was in the water next to her."
More like that actually 
Thank you for this tumblr page, I like to read as lot of info as I can
In my opinion these J-pod saddle patches look like each other
Same forms same sizeBut Morgans is much longer than those p-pod orcas, I don't say her family isn't out there, but it probably isn't this pod
In a sanctuary, wouldn't she be alone? Since she's Norwegian and needs to be in Norwegian water probably, and non of the captive orcas are norwegian.
As for the others, are sanctuaries not a danger to them? As for the hybrids, just a tear in the net can be a danger to the wild population of orcas
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