Protesters disagree with importation of orca to Six Flags Marine World

How does this "advocate" know that the animal can survive in the wild? It would seem to me that after a dozen years of being fed by humans, most of his life, he's not going to have his "instinct." Didn't we learn anything from Keiko?

I'll agree that it was wrong for the whale to have been captured in the first place, but he's in captivity now and that's not a reversible process.

Unfortunately, he probably wouldn't survive too well in the wild if he's been captive for over 10yrs. He'd pull a Keiko & stay close to shore where he'd try to depend on the locals to feed him.

But hey, if Marine World can't have him... how about sending him over to Marineland, Canada. We just lost another orca **sigh** and could use a couple more to help breed again with the others left.

Maybe the whale would rather live in a theme park than the open ocean. I know I would :)

Predators, disease and a random food supply you have to work for but wide open space vs. smaller space, food provided daily and in large quantities, no predators, and encouraged to get it on with other whales ...

... if I was a whale I know which one I'd pick

One of the words in the article "paramour" sent me to the dictionary. It means lover, especially in an adulterous relationship.

Jeff said: "I'll agree that it was wrong for the whale to have been captured in the first place, but he's in captivity now and that's not a reversible process."

I'll go along with that, but a lot of times animals come into captivity because something wasn't working in the wild (e.g., eagles with broken beaks and/or wings, etc.). Almost without a doubt, after THAT long in captivity, Kshamenk being released into the wild would end up dead pretty shortly....MUCH better off staying in captivity at this point.

If the protestors were to have done any good, it would had to have been in 1992, or as soon as the Kshamenk was healthy enough to go back into the open ocean....NOT now!

edit: After reading about "Kool Aid drinkers", I guess I should say HERE that I rarely agree with Jeff too much, but almost always when it comes to the *animals in parks* threads.

*** This post was edited by rollergator 8/3/2004 3:07:34 PM ***

I want to see Shouka have some babies, and the only viable close solution is to have SF and SW do a shared ownership mating...Have SF fly in 8 eligable male orcas, and let Shouka decide which one she wants...who knows, maybe she can convert the one from SW-TX, since it is obviously too attached to its trainer...hehe

They could have a like 'Dating Game' theme on the show at SFMW. Shouka could sit there and ask questions, and the visiting whales from the three Sea Worlds could answer, and she could pick.