Bjossa moved to Sea World, another point of view

Dear Seattle Times Editor,

Re: Bjossa moved to Sea World

As a nation we have learned three things in the past decade. Cigarettes are deadly for people, dams are deadly for salmon, and captivity is deadly for orcas. The Times may have caught up with the first two realizations, but

still seems blissfully unaware that captivity kills orcas. Your front-page story "Whale of a show ends" believed and repeated the marine park industry point of view, resulting in a variety of errors.

"It's the best thing for her," said John Nightingale, president of the aquarium. In fact orcas die in captivity at less than one half their normal lifespan in the wild. According to a scientific paper in Marine Mammal Science: "Survival of the wild population...was significantly higher than our estimates for non-calf captive killer whales."

Contrary to the Times' assertion that: "The number (died in captivity) has stabilized in the 1990s, and no orca has been captured since the early 1990s," fifteen orcas have died in tanks worldwide in just the past eight years, including two infant orcas that died after the most recent capture in Japan in 1997. If "many of those died because of a lack of knowledge about whale health and nutrition," then that lack of knowledge continues

today. Another paper in Marine Mammal Science states "...over the 5-yr period between 1988 and 1992 compared with estimates based on data through 1987...Survival in captivity for killer whales...remained the same." This study plus more recent data indicate that survival in captivity for orcas has not improved in recent years.

Twelve of the fifteen deceased captive orcas since 1993 had not even reached one half their normal life expectancy if they had not been captured and put on display. Finna died as he approached maturity at age 19, compared to average life expectancy of 30 years for males and over 50 years maximum lifespan. The overall number in captivity has "stabilized," because since 1993 sixteen unfortunate orcas have been born in sterile concrete tanks to a life devoid of normal family life or natural surroundings. None of them are likely to reach normal longevity.

Bjossa is an excellent candidate for reintroduction to her native waters. She could indeed resume her life as a member of an extended family of orcas that freely roam the North Atlantic. The Times reports the predictable industry-speak by aquarium director Nightingale that it's "highly questionable" whether a whale that has been in captivity for two decades

would survive in the wild. In a last gasp effort to deny that orcas are far more highly developed and capable than the marine park industry ever imagined, Nightingale states: "the Keiko experiment has not yet proven successful." Ocean Futures, soon to embark on the last leg of Keiko's myth-shattering journey from near death in captivity to renewed life at sea, reports: "Five hundred miles of open ocean walks during last summer, the first ever ocean walks for a captive orca, taught us a great deal. We know Keiko is comfortable in the open sea. After fifteen encounters with

his own species, we know that he approaches them. In human terms, he appears curious. What we have learned is that Keiko can do just fine in the open ocean. This field season we're putting Keiko in charge."

Relevant to this story for readers here in the Pacific Northwest is the plight of the last surviving captured member of Puget Sound's resident orca community, the Southern Resident orcas. Her stage name is Lolita, and she remains on display in Miami in the smallest orca tank in North America. She too is an excellent candidate for return to her native waters.

Howard Garrett 
Orca Conservancy 
2403 So. North Bluff Rd. 
Greenbank WA 98253 
(360) 678-3451 
tokitae@pugetsound.net 
www.rockisland.com/~tokitae
Coming soon.... www.orcaconservancy.org