I saw her when I was a kid. She's made them money. Buckets full of cash since day 1. And we were there. But we've grown, we know better now. I think she's earned her freedom.
Thank you for this video. Corky - and ALL other captive orcas - should be moved to sea pens, in which they could feel the natural rhythms of their ocean homes and reconnect with their families. I have shared this video on Swim Wild Canada's Facebook page. I invite you to check us out! We are a small (in size) but big (in heart) advocacy group who fights for the wellness and freedom of whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
The best thing they could do is let the whole sea world pod go together. They would survive and become great ambassadors between man and whale I think. Probably spawn a whole new era in ocean exploration and discovery.
Does anyone know where the footage of corky shaking came from? Any idea of the media outlet? I can't seem to find any footage beyond this video. Any help would be great
those waters are contaminated and there have been some baby orca deaths in the last few years, which I guess is unusual, possibly attributed to the polluted waters. Not to mention there are fewer salmon to feed on. And the fact that even if she acclimated in a pen and can be taught to fish, would she recognize her pod and would they accept her? She's been with so many whales from various pods around the world, each with their own vocalizations. It would be conceivable that the whales in captivity had to assimilate to some degree and she's been gone 50 years. Is that too long to relearn your own familial sounds and ways? How long did it take her and the others she's been in captivity with to assimilate? Would it take that same amount of time exposed to her family? She's not the whale she once was. She's much older, what role would she play in the pod? Can a female orca of considerable age with no offspring of her own affect whether or not she's accepted? There are so many what-ifs and I'm completely open to a scientific dialog and findings, but there are risks, so we must ask, do those risks warrant trying to move her? At what expense are we willing to take with her life? Both sides have an agenda. Both sides do not want to risk her health or life. Is she the specimen we should be using to answer these questions? I completely agree it's tragic she was stolen from the wild and has lived a long life in captivity. I can see that there's a modicum of righting a wrong by choosing her to send back to the wild, since time is running out, but I don't know that her advanced age provides her any protections back in the wild. A younger orca may be better suited to the task until protocols can be established. Putting her in a wild pen is just taking her from one test bed to another. Let's face it. Keiko is not going to be the last whale we learn from at the expense of the whale when trying to transition them from captivity to the wild. One other question comes to mind...did Corky have any children in captivity? If so, what becomes of them? It would be cruel to send a captive-bred organism to the wild. And finally, what will the captive orca be introducing into the wild? Can wild orca survive any parasites or bacteria the captive, especially captive-bred, orca introduce into the wild? I don't have any answers and it would be a dream to study these questions; I just know I have asked myself these things a million times over the last couple of decades. As have people on both sides of the coin. As much as my heart says let her and the others go, the scientist in me feels that at this point we don't have enough information to try. At some point maybe we will have an opportunity to study the reentry but I don't think a 50 year old whale is necessarily the place to start. Sadly, captive orca programs, have put us in a holding pattern. The dirty deed has been done, but the steps to freedom are with great uncertainty and risk. Seaworld, for example, won't let Corky go, citing everything I posed above, but in reality is probably more about money. The scientists want to take her, citing she deserves to be returned to her family, although that may be more about a feather in the scientific cap, but even if it's not and she dies, she becomes a martyr and the scientists won't get blamed because people like to hate faceless corporations. OK one final point for real this time....when Corky was caputured in the late '60s by Marineland, she was one of only a handful in the world to survive captivity. From her the Shamu show was created which made SeaWorld a star. From her captivity, the scientific community has learned about ceteceans. From her the public was made to adore them and overtime to protect their wild counterparts. Over the decades it has been the orca program that brings the biggest draw. And while many may not know this or choose to believe it, this money afforded the scientific research to grow. When Corky was taken, we were on the tail end of whaling, so there were no whale watching cruises every 15 minutes for laypeople to learn from in the wild like our children do today. Captivity was the way we were exposed to and studied animals. From captivity we learned the size of their brains and the compassion they have. So for how horrible stealing whales from the wild was/is, without her captivity we would not have learned these things and the love for wild populations may never been realized. If you don't have the objectivity to see both sides that's fine, you don't have to. If you still believe she should be released, then make some noise. Without Blackfish and the public outcry, Sea World would never have agreed to stop breeding. They would never have agreed to change the nature of the orca show or agree to enlarge the pens. When a corporation's bottom line is attacked they tend to bend to the ones who hold them hostage, the public. So if collectively you feel Corky needs to be released, I'm sure your voice is loud enough to make it happen. You just have to find the right method. I just hope it doesn't backfire. OK I'm done. Let the bashing begin.
samiamisme not just her! And there were ALOT more than just a handful! Do some research .I get all of your points but they should at least let them do some studies to see if she knows her family's calls. Her mom is still alive! I don't think any of her babies lived. I know she had some but they all died sadly!
