A Whale Of A Week!

New Calves Born To Endangered Orca Population

The endangered orca population living off the coast of Oregon and Washington has already welcomed five new calves this year – and now more could be on the way!  
orca and calf, © NOAA
The latest aerial surveys of the population released this week show that these orcas are doing well. Experts say they look healthy and some of the females may even be pregnant. These aerial surveys are an important tool that scientists use to monitor the status of this population, particularly in years when salmon runs are low. They also provide some great photos we know you’ll love.

Keep the Humpback Whale Protected Under Endangered Species Act.
Keep the Humpback Whale Protected Under Endangered Species Act
The Humpback whale is a gorgeous beauty of the deep blue sea that is known for its special distinctive sound and animated aerial displays out of the water.  The love to “perform” in their own way, leaping in and out of the water, pounding their flippers and tails on the water’s surface.  They capture the hearts of many a whale watcher who love to watch these gentle giants in action.

Although they are not totally in danger of extinction, there is concern that their numbers can decrease.  This animal was once listed as an endangered species and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are actually considering stripping this species of its protection under the Endangered Species Act.  This is something we want to ensure does not occur. 

The humpback whales face threats just like any other whale, including entanglement with fishing gear, climate change issues, and increased underwater noise as well as, often times a collision with a large vessel.  We want to ensure that this animal does not lose its protective status.

Our efforts in this petition is to ensure that the NMFS does not strip this animal of the protection it needs and deserves under the Endangered Species Act.  You can help us in our efforts by signing and sharing this petition.  The last thing we want is to see this gentle giant disappear due to lack of protection. Sign the Petition Here!

Mother and baby whale swim with mother and baby dolphin. Adorable drone footage shows humpback whales swimming with dolphins off the east coast of AustraliaThe moment a mother and baby whale and a mother and baby dolphin meet has been caught on camera off the east coast of Australia.


The amazing footage was captured using a camera which had been mounted to a drone.
In the clip, which was filmed in early October, two humpback whales can be seen swimming near the surface behind the two dolphins.
The whales seem fascinated by the smaller mammals, but the dolphins do not appear phased by their new company.
Japan rejects international court jurisidiction over whaling.

Under a new whaling plan, Japan intends to kill nearly 4000 minke whales over the next 12 years.
Under a new whaling plan, Japan intends to kill nearly 4000 minke whales over the next 12 years. Photo: Tim Watters, Sea Shepherd

Japan has moved suddenly to fence itself off from any future challenge to its Antarctic whaling in the International Court of Justice.

After its last whaling program was ruled illegal by the court in a case brought by Australia, its latest plan to restart whaling within weeks has come under strong scientific attack.

Now the Japanese government has told United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in a special declaration that it will take a sweeping exception to the court's jurisdiction.

It says the court's jurisdiction "does not apply to ... any dispute arising out of, concerning, or relating to research on, or conservation, management or exploitation of, living resources of the sea".

The declaration was made by Japan's ambassador to the UN, Motohide Yoshikawa​, earlier this month, and disclosed in Australian political circles on Sunday night.

Under the latest whaling plan, called NEWREP-A, Japan intends to kill nearly 4000 minke whales over the next 12 years, beginning with 330 this summer.

"It would appear that Japan has taken some pre-emptive steps to ensure NEWREP-A cannot be challenged before the ICJ," Don Rothwell, a professor of international law at Australian National University, said.

"This is surprising, if only because Japan has previously indicated a strong commitment for the international rule of law," he said.

"It now limits Australia's options to challenge NEWREP-A."

The court's 2014 decision found that Japan's previous program, JARPA II, was not scientific research, as defined under International Whaling Commission rules.

The court ruled by 12 votes to four against Japan, and ordered it to revoke scientific permits issued under the program.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to resume research whaling, but over the past 18 months, Japan faced trouble trying to fit NEWREP-A within the terms of the international court's ruling.

A special panel of whaling commission experts said in January Japan had failed to demonstrate the need for killing whales in order to achieve the plan's objectives.

The plan also failed to gain the support of the commission's full scientific committee in May.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said Australia had met with the Japanese Government to discuss Japan's "attempt" to exclude itself from the court over whaling.

"We are taking legal advice on the implications of Japan's actions," Mr Hunt said.

"We are disappointed by Japan's decision, and we hope that Japan does not undertake so-called 'scientific' whaling this summer in the Southern Ocean."

Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said Japan had promised to abide by the court's decision and uphold the rule of law, but it had backed away from this position.

"This is a crucial test for the prime minister," Senator Whish-Wilson said. "All Australians, right across the political spectrum feel very strongly about this issue."

Japan's IWC Commissioner, Joji Morishita, declined to comment on the move.

"Actually, that is a question for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so you need to ask them,"  Mr Morishita said.

Comment was sought from the ministry through the Japanese Embassy in Canberra.

The Whale Who Took Down SeaWorld.
A footnote to my earlier post about the quandary now facing SeaWorld. Much credit for what's happening in the marine circus world goes to the movie Blackfish, which took millions of people behind the scenes at these facilities. Credit also goes to the former killer whale trainers who now campaign vigorously against keeping these animals in captivity, and to the animal protection world just generally.

But there's one key figure in what's been happening who isn’t acknowledged for starting the whole process. That would be Tilikum, the killer whale who set all of this in motion when he killed his trainer in 2010.

That's because while hundreds of people are now driving the movement to bring an end to killer whale shows, it was one whale who, by his actions, galvanized the movement and has driven it forward for the last five years.

Yet the animal protection world tends to portray Tilikum as a victim – a depressed, traumatized whale who just snapped. It wasn't his fault, we say. He couldn't help it.

Journalist Jason Hribal, author of the book Fear of the Animal Planet: the Hidden History of Animal Resistance, vigorously opposes that view. Hribal has documented hundreds of cases of animals in zoos, circuses and other kinds of captivity who make a calculated decision to resist their captors and fight back.

He argues in Counterpunch that Tilikum's attack on his trainer, Dawn Brancheau, is a clear case in point. Far from being a tragic accident where "the trainer made a mistake and the orca went crazy," this was a clear case of deliberation and agency:

Tilikum knew his job. He had done [the show] routine hundreds of times, probably more. He knew the rewards and punishments. But he and the other orcas, on that day five years ago, were not cooperating.

They were skipping parts of the shows and refusing to acknowledge commands. Sometime later, Tilikum grabbed his trainer and drowned her. This was a purposeful act.
Nor has he been alone in carrying out such violent actions. Call the orcas criminals. Call them heroes. Call them assholes. But don’t say they are victims who didn’t understand what they were doing. This was, on Tilikum’s part, a knowing act of opposition versus his trainers and imposed captivity at Sea World. It was an act of resistance, and one that has shifted the trajectory of history.

Tilikum deserves recognition for this. He is the main character in the story about the downfall of Sea World.

Hribal says that seeing Tilikum as a victim, while well-meant on the part of animal protection groups, plays right into the general perception of nonhuman animals as "passive objects" who lack intentionality. And in his book, he shows unarguably just how wrong this perception is.

Take the story of Tatiana, a Siberian tiger at the San Francisco Zoo, who, on December 26th, 2007, decided she was fed up with being harassed by a group of ill-mannered visitors:

Tatiana managed to scale the twelve-foot high wall of her enclosure and escape. There had been these teenagers. They were yelling obscenities, waving their arms, and possibly throwing stuff at her. One visitor described how these young men had been doing the same exact thing with the nearby lions, and that the lions were pissed off. The woman gathered up her family and promptly left the area. Angry lions are scary, even when they are tucked behind bars. Tigers can be even more frightening.

Tatiana went directly after the men who had been taunting her and ripped one of them to pieces. The other two ran. For twenty minutes, Tatiana roamed the zoo grounds. She was presented with many opportunities to attack park employees and emergency responders. She could easily have gone after other visitors. But Tatiana was singular in her purpose. She wanted to find those two remaining teenagers, and she would do just that at the Terrace Cafe.

With a dismembering taking place, police encircled the spot and shined their lights onto the tiger. Tatiana turned and approached. They shot her dead.

Tatiana's story is by no means unique. Nor was Tilikum's revenge-killing of his trainer. Just for starters, he'd already killed two other people. In 1991, when he was at Sealand of the Pacific in Canada, he and his fellow captives, Nootka and Haida, grabbed their trainer and took turns in dragging her around the pool. Other trainers tried to catch her on a pole with a hook, but the orcas would not let them get near her. Even after they'd drowned her, they wouldn't let anyone near her for another two hours. It was chillingly deliberate behavior.

Nor is Tilikum the only killer whale to have taught his captors a lesson. Only two months before he killed Dawn Brancheau, another trainer was killed by a 14-year-old orca called Keto during a training session at Loro Parque on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Even after they'd drowned her, they wouldn't let anyone near her for another two hours. It was chillingly deliberate behavior.Two years before that, another trainer at the same park was hit by an orca who broke her arm, injured her lung, and dragged her down to the bottom of the pool. She was rescued and survived.

A year before that, at SeaWorld San Diego, 28-year-old Kasatka grabbed her trainer by the foot and dragged him to the bottom of the pool, then let him surface, and then dragged him back down again for another minute before releasing him, alive but injured. (You can read dozens more such reports of orca resistance here.)

Hribal's book describes numerous other cases of animals of all kinds going on strike, going on rampages, going on the lam. There is a long history, stretching back centuries, he says, to the struggle between the captives and their captors. "Zoos and circuses live in fear of it and the historical changes that it can bring."

Although he now languishes in a tank, mostly in solitary confinement, Tilikum's act of resistance has borne fruit. He may not know the details of what he set in motion that day five years ago. But we do.

So, rather than saying that he was depressed and suffering from PTSD or whatever, we need to honor the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing and wanted us all to know that he simply wasn’t going to take it anymore.
Update: SeaWorld has just been barred from breeding whales in captivity by the California Coastal Commission! This is a huge loss for SeaWorld, and a massive win for the whales.

Now we need to make sure the California state legislature acts too. The legislature has delayed the so-called Blackfish bill -- a law that would ban SeaWorld from inhumanely keeping orcas in captivity. Let’s make sure they pass the bill soon.

Already, over 1.6 million SumOfUs members have signed the petition against SeaWorld. With the company in the news again, we can build on this momentum and call on California to end orca cruelty once and for all. Here's what you can do:
Email  Forward the email below to at least five of your friends.
Click here to share this campaign with your friends on Facebook.Share on Facebook
Original Message:
Great news for whales, and bad news for SeaWorld -- the company has been barred from breeding whales in captivity by the California Coastal Commission.

Earlier this year, the California state legislature deferred the “Blackfish bill” -- a law that would ban SeaWorld from torturing orcas once and for all. I just signed this petition calling on California to pass the bill. Will you? http://action.sumofus.org/a/seaworld-orcas-captivity-california-ban-blackfish/24/2/

Mr. & Mrs. Orca Go To Seaworld, What They Found Will Shock You.

John Hargrove and Dr. Ingrid Visser know killer whales better than anyone --- they've both been swimming with them for decades. They're also both outspoken advocates for orca welfare and conservation. We went to SeaWorld with them, saw some harrowing things, and caused a bit of a scene.

This video is part of an ongoing documentary project called SUPERPOD. It's about an endangered wild population of salmon-eating killer whales, and how their decline is a warning that the Pacific Northwest ecosystem is on the brink of collapse.

To learn more about our project, hit us up and follow our journey on social media. 
https://twitter.com/Superpod_Doc
https://www.facebook.com/SuperpodDoc?...
https://instagram.com/superpod_doc

Created by Tessa Rapaczynski and Emily Rutan
Produced by Annabelle Grusq
Edited by Robert Murphy, Tessa Rapaczynski and Emily Rutan
Music by Theodore De Gunzburg

Special thanks to: 
Ingrid Visser 
John Hargrove
Golnar Fahkrai
Dylan Acio
Sansho Scott
Gabriela D'Addario
David Sternbach
Kathy Cohen

Additional footage provided by Dr. Ingrid Visser, John Hargrove, & GoPro.

NOTE: 
This video is a critique of practices at SeaWorld that have been the subject of considerable public debate and controversy, and is a commentary on cetacean behavior in captivity. This video includes content copyrighted by others which is used by permission, or pursuant to the fair use provisions of Section 107 of the US Copyright Act, for the purposes of commentary, criticism, and education.

From bruising by over-nursing to stereotypically destructive behaviors, orca experts Dr. Ingrid Visser and veteran ex-orca trainer John Hargrove visit Seaworld and weigh in on the conditions.

The video shows desperately hungry and bored babies and their stressed mothers not thriving.
Here is the followup video showing time-lapse footage of a listless floating orca before the show. Dr Ingrid Visser an be seen pointing to the orca in the foreground as she discusses the condition.
Dodo writes:
SeaWorld maintains that floating behavior like this is normal for an orca. In one August PR video, a trainer says of Tilikum: "[Audiences at SeaWorld] might see him at rest, because, you see, like all animals, killer whales do rest."

However, The Dodo spoke with two marine mammal experts at the time, both of whom confirmed that floating like this is virtually unheard of in healthy wild orcas.
"It's very unique to captivity; it's very, very uncommon in the wild," Dr. Heather Rally, a veterinarian who works with PETA, told The Dodo about the constant floating. "It's believed to be the result of chronic stress, boredom and inhibition of natural behaviors that occurs as a result of inadequate living conditions at places like SeaWorld."

And while SeaWorld calls it "resting" and says it's normal, Naomi Rose, Ph.D., a marine mammal scientist who works with the Animal Welfare Institute, told The Dodo that wild orcas remain in motion even while sleeping. It's "extremely rare" for wild orcas to stay still for more than two minutes, she said, though SeaWorld's orcas have been spotted floating for up to three hours.
In the wild, orcas can swim up to 100 miles per day; not only does this floating behavior put whales at risk for sunburn and insect bites, but the lack of activity also makes them much less fit than their wild counterparts. And at the end of the day, it's just one more example of why SeaWorld can't provide a suitable home for captive orcas.

"They're doing something that's not natural," Rose said.