If it weren't for seeing an orca in captivity, I probably never would have gotten the interest in them that I have. That first time of seeing an orca so close is absolutely captivating. Some people say you can get the same results through books and diagrams, even robotics. I've been to a display of robotic cetaceans, and while it was interesting, I don't really think the random person really got a whole lot out of it. (It was at a mall and most people walking by didn't seem to care.) It's kind of like... you can read about horses, know all about riding, have a trillion pictures of horses - but there's nothing like being on the back of a horse and letting that horse run with you. I love going to Sea World and just sitting there and watching. It's amazing to see how different each orca is, all their different personalities, and how they interact with one another. But at the same time, it makes me sad to see the bare pools, and so many in such a small space. Every time I go it seems to get smaller and smaller. And it hurts when they get moved, to know that they're taken away from friends and family. I would love to see Keet and Keto get to be with Kalina again, and yet I have the feeling they never will be.
I don't like the idea of any more being captured either, but I don't think they all should be released. Personally, I'm glad Keiko got out of Mexico - he most certainly would have died if nobody intervened - but it makes me sad to think that he's going to be alone now too. Lolita, I think is a good case. She's healthy, her family pod is well known, and I dunno, she just seems like a good idea. Corky, on the other hand, isn't. Even though her family is known, how many family members does she really know? She doesn't know her siblings, her mother's dead, she herself is blind in one eye, and she doesn't have any teeth in her lower jaw. So, in the end I don't know. Shows need to be more educational, yes. Pools need to be more naturalistic. Zoos do this - I've seen some AWESOME exhibits - and yet they don't really do this for cetaceans. Just something kind of silly. Every time I go to Sea World, I cry a little. It's not sadness, it's not really anything. I think it's just being fortunate enough to be that close to such an amazing being.
And just a side note. John Ford said that "An aquarium is its own worst enemy, because as children, people fall in love with the orcas, but as they become adults, they want to release them. They say there's nothing more to be learned. And then he says that's fine for the adults to say, but the kids that come along in the next generation aren't growing up with the animals and getting the same experience the previous generation did." And I think he's right about that.
kasatka@whale-web.com |
