Europe: Close Dolphinaira Demo

Having spent some time watching wild whales and dolphins in Iceland, our little Morgan headed to Brussels to meet up with World Cetacean Alliance partner The Dolphin’s Voice and to attend the ‘Europe: Close Dolphinaria’ demonstration in Brussels. Held on 28^th June 2014 the event was attended by around 400 people from France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, Germany, UK, Ireland, Greece, Czech Republic to name a few. All coming together to unite for a world free of captive whales and dolphins, and our little Morgan was there. The event was also attended by Ric O’Barry who set up The Dolphin Project and who has been actively educating the public and raising awareness about the captivity issue, and was featured in the award winning film The Cove which exposed the yearly dolphin drive in Taji, Japan.

Currently there are 34 dolphinairums in 15 European Union counties with more than 300 small cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) on display, from Belugas to Orca like Morgan. Everyone at the event, including our little Morgan hoped it would help urge the European Union to ban the import of whales and dolphins and ultimately end captivity.

This years event included lots of motivational speeches, but our little Morgan particularly liked the formation of the words FREE by the crowd and the team from Bite Back.

© Valeria Machado

Annelies Mullens, one of the events organisers, said to Morgan ‘These photos say it all: alone we are small, but together we will make a difference –FREE dolphins! Every single person who came to the demo today helped make this happen. We made a huge and powerful statement to the dolphinaria industry. Working together in a team with people from so many countries will help to end dolphin captivity. Thank you!"

Our little Morgan certainly felt proud to be amongst people who are as passionate as she is about ending captivity of whales and dolphins, and hopes to attend the event next year… and if enough people do you never know we may be able to make the words FREEDOM!

© Sasha Abdolmajid

A huge thank you to Richard O’Barry, Annelies Mullens, Yvon Godefroid, Bite Back and everyone who contributed to the development of this event. A special thank you to The Dolphin’s Voice for taking our little Morgan along!

Empty the Tanks 2014

Saturday 24^th May 2014, marked the 2^nd Empty the Tanks Worldwide event where people in many locations around the world gathered to raise awareness about and gain support for the campaign to end the captivity of cetaceans.

Our little Morgan took part in the event in Leicester Square, London, along with approximately 100 other protestors armed with banners, posters and leaflets. Here they roamed the Leicester Square area trying to engage the public on this issue and pledge to never visit whales and dolphins in captivity; queues meant ‘captive’ people and were a good place to start. Our little Morgan met many people this day, including one young girl who had asked her mum if she could come to the event as part of her special birthday weekend treat in London – lovely to see such passion and commitment in someone so young but at the same time so sad that children are worrying about an industry that should not exist.

Totally inspired by this young lady!

Most people Morgan and her friends came across nodded in agreement when they said that whales and dolphins do not belong in captivity, which was encouraging. Quite a few people agreed that the tanks should be empty but expressed opinions that those animals currently in marine parks would have to stay there as they wouldn’t survive in the wild, highlighting that there is significant misunderstanding about the options for these animals. Some people believe that the alternative to captivity is to release the animals out into the wild and they are rightly concerned that if that were to happen the animals might be unable to fend for themselves and would die. This shows that they are unaware of the rehabilitation plans that would be involved in the retirement of these animals. They would not be subjected to a sudden change from captivity to release, rather the plan for each animal would be carefully tailored for that individual – some might be able to be fully released after a period of rehabilitation and would rejoin their families whereas others might never be able to be fully released and would require some human input for the rest of their lives.

Our little Morgan had quite a day, getting her photo taken with all kinds of people at the protest, and one four legged black and white friend!

Morgan and her little furry friend!

Emptythe Tanks is an annual event and growing, reflecting the increased focus on this issue and the growing movement of people taking a stand against keeping cetaceans in captivity. A huge thank your to WCA Partner Suzanne Rogers for taking out little Morgan along to this great event.

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

Stop the Orca Circus

The World Cetacean Alliance and many other charities and individuals believe that keeping whales and dolphins in captivity for entertainment is morally and ethically wrong. Our little Morgan feels the same. The heartbreak suffered by Morgan who instead of being returned to the waters off Norway where her family is found, was sent to Loro Parque to live her days in what is basically a bath tub, is shared by many other Orca’s. To date 19 of the 53 Orca’s in captivity were wild caught, from Lolita taken from the waters of Puget Sound off Washington State in 1970 to Narnia and six other Orca taken from Russian waters in 2012 and 2013. Then there is Tilikum, taken from Iceland in 1983, involved in the deaths of three people and the focus of the film Blackfish. Since 1961 at least 144 Orca have been taken into captivity from the wild, 87% are dead. Of the 33 Orca’s born in captivity and have since died they survived an average of 4.5 years (source: WDC The Fate of CaptiveOrcas in 2014). And that is just for Orca, not considering the other dolphins kept in captivity and performing to entertain, from belugas to bottlenose dolphins.

There are a number of campaigns, demonstrations and petitions calling on companies like SeaWorld that hold captive whales and dolphins to set them free or to retire them to sea pens. Such campaigns, petitions and movies like Blackfish show the power of people. The more people that stand up and say ‘No, this is wrong’ the more likely organisations like SeaWorld will and have to listen. And it is working. Concerts being cancelled at SeaWorld where revenue is down, a bill proposed to end killer whale shows in California, Sir Richard Branson’s engagement process looking at captive whales and dolphins – to name but a few.

To keep the momentum going The World Cetacean Alliance and Responsible Travel have launched a new campaign called Say No to Orca Circuses. We at Follow Free Morgan have signed the petition and would encourage everyone who believes as we do, that keeping whales and dolphins in captivity for entertainment is wrong, to do the same.

So stand up with our little Morgan, be part of the movement and help make Orca’s and all dolphins performing for public entertainment history.   

Sign the petition and find out more www.responsibletravel.com/stop-orca-circus

Signing the petition! #NoOrcaCircus