Orca Captures in the Past

  Apologies for no posts in a while, been so busy with essays. Got the last one done today though, so will try and keep up to date from now on. Also, check out this amazing website called Cetacean Cousins, its by some uni students from Devon and if you ask me it is one of the most accessible sites for all things cetacean. Really good info on there about pretty much every captive or captured cetacean, be it living or deceased, so its handy for my next post. Kudos to you guys at Cetacean Cousins. :)

  So, today I will be talking about the captures of live, wild orcas that have happened in the past. I will mainly be referring to the Washington State/ British Columbia captures, the live captures in Taiji, Iceland and Russia, and also with much controversy, the capture of Morgan the orca this summer. But first, here is a really great, if slightly strange, video that was posted on Ric O'Barry's wall today, about the situation of the dolphins of Taiji. It may be quite long, but stick with it, its strangely haunting and beautiful, and certainly gives a different perspective. It can be found here. Also, another beautiful thing to have a quick look at- some orcas surfing the waves in NZ, these pictures are so beautiful and conjure up so many emotions within me. Take a look.

  So, back to the post, which to start with I shall be looking back upon some of the first live orca captures, which due to their barbarism and cruelty have gone down in history as the most infamous captures ever seen in recent decades. Firstly, the capture of a female orca in 1961 by Marineland in California, whose head animal collector Frank Bocato saw a lone, mature and sick orca feeding in Newport Harbour. He then corralled her and led her into the shallows, where she was captured and taken to Marineland. Once in her tank, she headed straight towards the wall head-on. Bocato then recalled that the next day 'she went crazy', 'striking her body repeatedly'. It is no wonder that she then convulsed and died, an autopsy revealing she had pneumonia and acute gastroenteritis. Despite this absolute shambles of a capture, Frank was still sent out to perform another live capture just a year later, this time to Puget Sound in Washington. After searching for a month, they came across a male and female, who was focused on hunting a porpoise that was heading straight for the boat, presumably to use it as a shield. Once it had swam past, followed closely by the female, they flung the lasso and caught her. However, as Frank recalls, it was then that 'everything started to go wrong'. She swam out to the end of the line, and as soon as she ran out of room to swim, let off a 'high-pitched screaming', which then led to the male swimming toward her, as if to help. However as if sensing their lives were in danger, they both swam at full speed toward the boat. They charged the boat several times, hitting it with their flukes as they turned around. It was then that Frank decided that getting out his rifle was the best action to take. He shot at the male who swam off, but for some reason persisted in firing 10 shots at the female, killing her. He then towed her to shore, had her weighed, and then had her rendered into dog food. This seems somewhat unbelievable, a pair of orcas fighting to the death to avoid capture, but yet this near-death experience did not deter the aquarium industry.

  In 1964, despite the previous disasters caused by orca captures, the Vancouver Aquarium sent out a sculptor, Samuel Burich, to go and hunt and kill an orca in order to create a life-sized model of it to fill up its new British Columbia hall. Burich then harpooned a 15 foot orca near Saturna Island, British Columbia- however, it did not die instantaneously despite being shot and harpooned, so he and the aquarium director Murray Newman, decided to tow it back to shore by the harpoon-line through its dorsal fin. Amazingly the orca survived this 20 mile dragging, and was then put in a makeshift pen in Vancouver Harbour. He was named Moby Doll, as at first people believed he was a female. Moby Doll was kept alive in the pen for a surprisingly long period- 87 days, yet still died an untimely death due to the harbour water's low salinity, which caused a skin disease. He was seen as docile, considering people were used to the myth and legend of the 'killer' whale, which then led to a new-found fascination with these majestic, somewhat peaceful animals. It could be argued then, that if it wasn't for Moby Doll's docility, the fascination for orcas would instead be fear, which would have prevented the industry of live captures from ever taking off and developing.

Picture of Moby Doll in his makeshift pen. At least it was bigger than some pools seen in aquariums nowadays! (Photo from Google images)

       So, this leads us onto one of the most hated capture of all anti-caps- the capture of Namu in 1965. It could be argued that it was Namu that truly sparked the 'love' for orcas, which has since led to the capture and premature deaths of hundreds, and ultimately the captivity of orcas as an industry. It was in Namu, British Columbia that the young male was caught by accident in a fishing net, and when he was brought to shore the fishermen wanted to sell him to anyone who made a bid. Unfortunately for Namu, this bidder happened to be Ted Griffin, the owner of the Seattle Public Aquarium, who had a dream of befriending a killer whale and who made that dream a reality by purchasing Namu for $8,000 that day. However despite his successful bidding, Griffin still had the problem of getting Namu (who he named after the place of capture, obviously), to Seattle 450 miles away. Griffin thought that the best way to go about this mean feat would be to create a mobile pen, which would be towed through the ocean for 450 miles, until Namu reached Seattle. During the journey, Namu showed great distress and even started emmitting screams. The pen was followed by a pod of 30 to 40 orcas on the 4th day, and they each charged at the pen, as if to try and break Namu free. After a few hours, most of them swam off leaving just a female and two calves, which followed Namu in his pen for 150 miles. It is without a doubt that she was his mother, and it seems to reflect an almost beyond-human family tie- the fact that she would travel that far in order to stay with her beloved son is something most mothers could relate to.

 Namu's floating pen on his arrival at Rich Cove. (Photo from Google images)

    Once he arrived at Seattle on the 28th July, Namu's pen was put in Rich Cove, and on the first Sunday there, Namu attracted more than 5,000 people. Griffin's main ambition was to not only befriend this orca, but to prove to people that these 'killer whales' were not really killers at all, and he wanted to do this by being with Namu in his own environment- in the water. In order to do this, he went about studying and observing Namu's every move, behaviour and characteristic, before the day came that he decided to get in the water and stroke Namu with a long-handled brush. Namu did not flinch, so Griffin felt confident enough to get on him. All this happened within just a month of Namu being at Rich Cove, and yet the pair had already developed a special relationship, with Griffin proclaiming: 'it was as if my every conscious wish became the whales command'.They performed together for eleven months, gathering huge crowds every day. However, Namu soon developed a bacterial infection from the dirty harbour water which affected his nervous system, causing him to crash head-on into the side of his pen and thrash around violently. He then died.

Photos of Namu performing in his pen in Rich Cove, and of Ted swimming with him. (Photos Google images)

   During Namu's short captive life, Ted decided upon getting him a pool companion in order to keep him company. This led to the capture of Shamu, a young female orca from Washington, in the October of 1965. During the capture, her and her mother were harpooned, but managed to evade capture. A few days later though, they were seen again and caught, yet by this time the mother had drowned herself by closing her blow hole, due to the harpoon injuries that had punctured her lung and pushed her to suicide. The little female calf was then taken and put in with Namu, and named Shamu, which is basically She + Namu = Shamu. However, due to the fact they were from totally different family groups, Namu and Shamu didn't get on which led to Ted selling her to SeaWorld San Diego for a hefty sum of $75,000. Apparently, she was also aggressive towards both Ted and Namu, which is probably what pushed him to sell her on so quickly. SeaWorld had only just opened and saw Shamu as a perfect opportunity to create a whole new show and play on the success that Namu had. They then trained Shamu to perform with people in the water, which of course was a huge success, and also a surprise considering her brutal and traumatic capture at such a young age. However, her aggression was still a problem, and there is a rather shocking video of her with her trainer, in which she takes off around the pool at high speed and then grabs onto the trainers leg. It is a wonder she didn't bite it off or worse, drag her under, as it is clear to see how angry and frustrated she is. This is no surprise when looking at the size of the tank, I can honestly say I have been in bigger children's pools. In fact, I don't know what is more shocking, the frustration she shows (which is later shaken off as 'highjinks') or the size of the bath tub.

      Despite all this, Shamu lived in captivity till 1971, when she died of septicemia and pyometra, an infection of the uterus. It was quite an achievement to have kept her alive in a pool that long, especially back in the 60s, but ultimately she still died at an incredibly young age- she was only 9. But her legacy lived on and sparked the 'Shamu' phenomenon throughout the globe which is still alive today- SeaWorld still uses the name Shamu as a show name for their performing orcas, despite the fact that at the time they never told the public the real Shamu had died.

 The 'Shamu' Show at SeaWorld. (Photo from Google images)

      Despite Ted's friendship with Namu and positive attitude to orcas, he still went on to form an alliance which is responsible for some of the most barbaric orca captures of all time. After Namu's death- and somewhat disillusioned and driven by fame and fortune- he began a partnership with Don Goldsberry, a fellow whale capturer. It was together that they developed a new method of capturing orcas- following them into a cove or shallow inlet, then ambushing them and trapping them in with nets. The youngest can then be selected, usually by coralling them with other nets. It was common practice to use explosives called seal bombs to drive the pod into the cove. Another method was also developed- following herring fishing boats or dumping herring in front of a large pod in order to distract them, then setting a seine net around them, slowly drawing it tighter and tighter, until they float on the surface accepting their fate. It is then that the younger juveniles can be picked out. During this partnership, from November 1965 and August 1977, Don and Ted were responsible for the capture of around 200 orcas, most of which were juveniles and sent to SeaWorld. A year after Namu's death, Ted and Don went out to try their new methods, and ended up capturing 5 young orcas, but 3 of them drowned during the traumatic capturing process. It was in the February of 1968 that Hugo was captured, along with another orca. As he was only 3 at the time he was a prime candidate for the performing orca business, and was transferred to Miami Seaquarium and put into what is now the manatee tank. Which, may I add, was no bigger than a child's swimming pool.

     It was on the 8th August 1970, in the Puget Sound waters of Penn Cove, Washington, that the most notorious capture took place. The capture that was known as 'Namu, Inc' and was responsible for the death of 5 orcas (4 being only calves), and the capture of Tokitae, who is now known as Lolita. She was one of 80 orcas from the Southern Resident community trapped in the cove that fateful day, 7 of which were sent to marine parks around the world. Lolita of course, ended up at the Miami Seaquarium, where she remains today. The capturers wanted no one to know of the barbarism that took place that day, so in the evening the hunters slit the bellies of the drowned, filled them with rocks, chains and anchors, and dropped them to the bottom of the sea. Despite their best efforts to hide the bodies, they were washed to shore on Whidbey Island on November 18th. This footage can be seen in the film Lolita- Slave to Entertainment, which can be found in parts on youtube.

The capture. Notice in the last photo, the ropes round their flukes, dragging them in. (Photos from Google images)

    It was in 1976 that they pushed it too far- Don Goldsberry captured 6 orcas for SeaWolrd in Budd Inlet, Puget Sound. He was seen using explosives and even aircraft to herd the orcas into the inlet, enraging the residents of the area, and indeed the whole State of Washington. He was then sued for violating the terms of his capturing permit, and forced to let the 6 orcas free. It is hard to believe that even now the vision of SeaWorld is of an organisation that cares for its animals, that puts conservation, education and care first, and that indeed has the best interests of its orcas at heart. It seems almost funny that people can believe that, despite knowing that just 30 years ago they used force and brutality to get their commodities where they wanted them. They are the same organisation that used explosives, bombs and harpoons to catch their orcas all those years ago. The way they obtain orcas may have changed over the years, but their aims and interests remain the same- they are a profit-driven company, a business, nothing more. However, Washington dropped the charges as Don and SeaWorld promised to never capture in Puget Sound again. It was around this time that any captures in the Washington/ British Columbia area were highly opposed to. For instance, in 1982 Bob Wright of Sealand, British Columbia had a permit to obtain more orcas from the area. However he was harassed so badly at sea and on land by local residents and activists that he left and went to get his 3 orcas from a place which was less stressful and not surrounded by red-tape- Iceland.

    Before this Icelandic orca revolution, SeaWorld first looked at getting orcas from Alaska. They had a permit to get 100 orcas from Alaskan waters, 90 of which would be for temporary research purposes, and the other 10 for actual use in the SeaWorld parks. However, there was so much uproar from the Alaskan community and activists that SeaWorld was forced to leave without any captures. A 3-year court battle followed, with SeaWorld trying to get the permit to be upheld. However, there was too much controversy and opposition surrounding the case and the capture of the orcas, so the permit was lost.

   This then led on to the Icelandic orca captures, as it was so easy for marine parks to get the permission of Iceland to take the orcas, which was because it was seen to be a good way of generating money and keeping the fisherman and captors happy. During the years between 1955 and 1972, over 300 orcas were taken from the Icelandic waters for marine park establishments. However, it soon deemed too difficult for the USA establishments such as SeaWorld to obtain permits for the transfer and purchase of the orcas, which led to many orcas being kept in warehouses for long periods while they waited for their fate to be decided, some even died during their stay in the holding tanks.

     For the first of the captures in Icelandic waters, SeaWorld did not want to be directly linked to Don Goldsberry, especially after the Puget Sound incident. So he agreed to work along with both the zoological director of the Dolfinarium Harderwijk in Holland, and also the director of Saedyrasafnid, an aquarium in Reykjavic. They worked together and captured two young orcas in the herring season of 1976, who were both shipped to Holland. One ended up being transferred to SeaWorld after 6 months. The three men then went on to capture another 6 orcas the following year, and in 1978 Don and the director of Saedyrasafnid caught another 5. About 21 orcas were captured during those 3 years, 9 of which ended up in SeaWorld.

Some famous orcas that were captured in these waters include Keiko, who was lucky enough to return home and spend the last years of his life in his home waters. In 1983, a 2 year-old Tilikum was captured and sent to Sealand Pacific, which closed soon after the incident involving him and his two female tank-mates which resulted in the death of a female trainer (this, along with more on Keiko and Tilly, will be discussed in more detail in later posts). He was then moved to SeaWorld Orlando in 1992. In 1989 the last capture occurred in the waters of Iceland, resulting in the capture of 4 orcas, due to pressure on the government from various organisations, including Britain's very own WDCS.

      After the end of Icelandic orca captures, the live-capture industry was beginning to thin out, due to public pressure and people getting more involved in the conservation of orcas. This was highlighted in the uproar from the public regarding film-footage that was taken by a man called Hardy Jones which exposed the barbarism that was the Japan drive-fishing business. This public pressure then helped to end the drive-hunts for a while, but did nothing to stop the live-capture industry from booming in Japan, which came to peak in the mid-80s. In 1993 however, Marine World Africa USA caused controversy over their purchasing of live false killer whales from the hunts. Their permit was refused by the National Marine Fisheries Service as they had violated the terms of their permit, which was due to the fact that under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, it was required they had proof that the cetaceans were caught humanely and that during the capture an associate of the park was present. They of course had no proof, and could not have ever got any either, as the drive-hunt was not a humane capture. This didn't stop the Japanese industry from taking off though, as in 1996 in Futo fishing port, fishermen rounded up about 200 bottlenose dolphins and 50 false killer whales and began selling them off to aquariums and also butchering them there and then and selling them for meat. However, soon after the sale of of the cetaceans, some of the establishments were forced to release or resell them due to the fact they had no official permit for them. 

    It was in 1997 though, that this industry had finally moved on to the live-captures of orcas, using the drive-hunt method. In February, a pod of orcas were herded into the cove in Taiji, 5 of which were taken to marine parks across Japan. After the youngest and most attractive were chosen and captured, the remaining family members would not leave the cove without them, so had to be forced out, one of whom reportedly had an injury. Each of the orcas were sold for around $250,000. Two of the orcas died within months, and the other three all died within 7 to 9 years. 

An orca during the capture of the Taiji 5- notice how the water has a bloody tinge to it. (Photo from orcahome.de)

    In July of 2002, Russia let out a statement that it was granting permission for marine parks to capture 10 orcas from its waters, who would possibly be sold to Japan, Canada or the USA. They would reach up to $1 million each. The news article can be found here. A disturbing video of a capture of some Russian orcas can be found on youtube here.

   

    So, on to the last segment of the post, which is a relief as my hands are aching now. In June of this year, a young female orca was captured in the Dutch waters of the Wadden Sea. She was apparently struggling and looked weak, so staff from the Dolfinarium Harderwijk helped to catch her and transport her to their facilities. She was apparently fighting for her life and in a very bad way. However it seems so odd that she was on her own at such a young age, where were her family? No attempt was made to find her pod at the time, instead they took it upon themselves to act as God and take her from her own waters and her own habitat, rather than treating her there or setting up a temporary sea pen. The director of the Dolfinarium stated that they wanted to keep her there for around 6 months, for observation and for her to gain about 100kg in weight. However, she is still there and this has caused lots of concern over her future due to the fact that SeaWorld are reportedly interested. A statement by the Dolfinarium has explained that 'all possiblilities' will be considered, depending on what they think is best for her. This all seems a little too non-committal, they should get her healthy and let her go, as they first promised. Or this could turn into an illegal live-capture, under the guise of a 'rescue'. A good article on the story can be found here.

Morgan in her tank in Holland. There are many petitions to sign that will help ensure her release and her freedom, so please sign people! (Photo from Google images)

    Well, that's it for today, as its been a long one and to be honest I ran out of steam towards the end. It will hopefully act as a good all-round history to the development and downfall of the orca live-capture industry. Until next time, thanks for reading. :)

Dolphin (including Orca) intelligence

Today I will be talking about dolphin, and orca, intelligence. But first, BREAKING NEWS.

Ric has been over in Taiji waiting to attend a conference with the Taiji Mayor, to openly discuss the dolphin hunt and the threat of mercury poisoning to the Japanese people due to the sale of the dolphin meat. The conference was meant to be a open and free place to discuss concerns on both sides, and was also meant to have free media. However, the questions that were due to be asked to the Mayor ended up having to be submitted and certified a week in advance, and there were also very rigorous restrictions on the press and media coverage. The meeting was due to take place on the 3rd Nov, but Ric released a statement late on the 2nd explaining the corruption and cover-ups within the conference, so he instead boycotted the meeting and went back to the Cove to make a stand against the Mayor and indeed all those involved. You can see the statement at his blog.

My best wishes to Ric and Linc, and indeed all those who are over there trying to make a difference for dolphins, the people of Taiji and the people of Japan, good luck to you all at this difficult time.

     So, onto todays' topic- dolphin intelligence. This is quite a large topic again, but I am only going to go over it briefly, as quite frankly I am no scientist. To begin with then, how smart are dolphins? And why are they so smart? Well, this is the part of the argument that deals with the 'sciency' bit, so I shall get it out the way first. In February of this year, there was a conference held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in which a couple of dolphin experts spoke on behalf of dolphin intelligence. One of these experts was Dr. Lori Marino, from Emory University, who put forward the argument that dolphins are on par with primates, both in brain size and capacity. She explained how she had performed MRI scans on dolphins and found that their brain size was second in mass to the human brain, when regarding the body size/brain size ration. In other words, the dolphin's brain is five times larger than is expected for their body size, whereas a humans is only two more than that, at seven times bigger. This is quite a revelation, as the fact is that many still refer to dolphins as 'cute' and 'smiley', when in reality they are so much more intelligent than anyone has ever imagined. Dr. Marino also discussed how dolphins have a larger neocortical volume than humans, and an abundance of 'spindle cell' nerves, meaning that their emotional and intellectual connections are hugely similar to primates and indeed humans. They are highly self-aware and sophisticated, and also form intricate and complex bonds within their family group, and their own kind. Dr. Marino explained the results of her 2001 study, which showed that dolphins can recognise themselves in a mirror, proving that they have self-awareness just like we humans do. 

       This awareness of themselves and their surroundings makes it hard to believe how much they feel and understand when they are watching and listening to their family and friends getting slaughtered in their own habitat. They must understand, apprehend and dread their impending death, something which is truly horrible to comprehend. The argument of self-awareness is one that is verified by Ric O'Barry, who explains that Cathy used to watch herself on TV, and even recognise when it was another dolphin being shown. Another speaker was Dr. Diana Reiss, who is from the Hunter College, City University of New York. She showed some videos of dolphins seeing themselves in a mirror, as well as using symbols on a large board to receive specific objects that they wanted. She also explained that baby dolphins could recognise themselves form one year, whereas our beloved domestic dogs and cats cannot. Dr. Marino also went on to explain just how dolphins got to be so intelligent and intellectually developed, the first reason occurring 39 million years ago, when odontocete's (cetaceans) brains began to develop in size. Then 15 million years ago, another change, which occurred due to the need for survival- the dolphins' communications capacity developed further, due to change in their social ecology. So, it seems as though their species has advanced and intellectually developed just as much as our own. Which begs the question, why do we still insist on keeping them in captivity?

Dolphin brain size. (Picture from Google images)

A good video about dolphin intelligence can also be found here.

     Captivity has about a million arguments against it, both ethically, morally and scientifically. Yet for some reason they are never enough. So here I will be discussing a mere selection of the arguments against the captivity of cetaceans, on the basis of their advanced intelligence. The captivity of cetaceans is widely questioned, yet more recently it has not just been about the guilty conscience or the moral difficulty that it puts upon us humans, but the actual scientific implications and consequences of captivity that has sparked the most controversy. It was argued at the AAAS conference by Dr. Marino that the mental strains put upon dolphins in captivity is 'potentially psychologically harmful' and that the captivity itself 'presents a misinformed picture of their natural intellectual capacities', in other words, even the best captive conditions in the world are still nothing like their natural habitat and that going to see a dolphin show does not do their immense natural intelligence justice. The boring, confined and lonely conditions are one of the main problems with keeping cetaceans alive in captivity, as they can often develop stress-induced disorders which can lead to death. An example of this would be Hugo the orca, who ended up killing himself by banging his head against the pool wall, and also Poncho the dolphin, who got so bored and distressed he would eat footballs whole and pop them in his mouth to swallow them. When he passed away suddenly they examined his stomach and found several balls, amongst a whole plethora of other objects. This vice could only have been picked up out of stress and boredom, proving that the habitat Poncho was forced to live in did not provide him with enough intellectual, emotional and physical stimulation. There are a whole selection of cases like this, as the emotional starvation and lack of psychological stimuli takes its toll on these sensitive creatures. 

        

       As I have previously quoted in the Captivity topic, Randall L. Eaton argues: 'For the most curious, exploratory, mobile, playful creature on the planet, an aquarium must be very boring indeed.' From the same book, The Animal Ethics Reader, another academic Mark Simmonds explains that the bottlenose dolphin may in fact be one of the 'most sophisticated non-human imitator, suggesting that their ability to remember certain verbal and non-verbal characteristics and imitate them is a 'seemingly unique combination of abilities among non-human animals'. In other words, it is impressive enough that they can imitate each other's behaviour, let alone a humans. He also explains that dolphins have a talent of manipulating objects, despite obviously having no fingers or thumbs. An example of this are the dolphins of Sharky Bay in Australia, who are often seen carrying sponges in their mouths when looking for food on the sea bed, in order to protect themselves from the spines of sea urchins. This type of behaviour is not only extremely logical, but also very resourceful, further proving the immense intelligence of these clever creatures. Another more famous example of this manipulation would be the bubble-blowing that is seen underwater. The dolphin needs to use self-monitoring techniques in order to manipulate and produce the desired type of bubble, which shows that they are capable of forward-planning, and thus reasoning.

 A dolphin playing with bubble rings, often a type of play and escapism. (Photo from Google images)

    However, the most important argument Simmonds addresses is that of the cetaceans emotional intelligence- that even though it would be easier for certain people to believe they 'can't have feelings', they are in fact just like us, and feel pain, stress, love and sadness. He points out that they feel, and show, parental love, altruism and grief, probably the most 'human' feelings that could be felt, by animal or human. The fact that orcas, and indeed dolphins, stay in their family groups throughout their lives is not unknown, and  the case of the two male orcas who swam to the spots they used to frequent with their older female companion (thought to be their mother), in order to grieve really hits home, as it is such a common way of dealing with grief in the 'human world'. He also explains that they are capable of showing parental love and joy, as exhibited by orcas and proven by N. A. Rose, an experienced field scientist. Another quite beautiful finding was that of the false killer whales in 1977, who rallied round their injured group companion in order to protect him from a shark that was swimming nearby. Every time the shark approached, they would 'flail their tails' to warn it off, and despite the risk of sun exposure and stranding, they kept that way for three whole days until he passed away. Another key instance of this protective behaviour is the capturing of the orcas of Puget Sound in 1970, the capture in which Lolita was taken. 

    There have been many reports on the drowning of mothers who were thrashing about so much in order to protect their babies from captures that they drowned themselves. These acts of kindness and devotion are surely what every person can relate to. To sum up and indeed strengthen all these findings, Simmonds warns of the 'interspecies communication problems', i.e. the fact that cetaceans in captivity are so ignored and misunderstood, that their displays of stress, anxiety and aggression are totally pointless and go unheard. An example of this would be the case of the dolphins who display 'humping' behaviour, which I discussed in the Captivity post earlier. This thought that cetaceans are 'self-aware' is the argument for their right to life, as discussed by Paola Cavalieri in the Animal Ethics Reader. In her essay, Whales as Persons, she describes how their self-awareness and self-consciousness should grant them a right to life as they can understand and dread their 'discontinuance' on this earth.

A pod of orcas, baby in tow. (Photo from Google images)

    The differences between a captive life and a free life are too many to even list, and there is no denying how detrimental captivity is to cetaceans. And now we understand their ability to feel, to love and to hurt, surely it should mean the end of captivity? Of whaling? Of capturing them from their homes, away from their families?

No. As usual, human interests come first. That is profit to me and you. They mask it under 'research', 'education', 'pest control', but these animals are smart enough and sensitive enough to suffer at the repercussions of those interests. And what gives us humans the monopoly over other animals? They feel as we feel, and that means they should be shown the same compassion, mercy and sensitivity that we wish to be shown.