A Whale Of A Week


Whale watching from our deck (Pacifica, CA) this morning while having a cup of tea. They are viewable via the naked eye but we also have the binoculars and telescope out for a closer, detailed look. Have never been able to see them from our house prior to this season. Absolutely amazing!
Free SeaWorld Orca Who Beached Herself After Show.
Target: Joel Manby, CEO of SeaWorld.
Orca by Rojer
Click to help!
Goal: Free previously wild orca that beached herself after a performance, presumably out of distress.
It is highly unnatural for an orca to beach itself for an extended period of time, but that is exactly what Morgan the orca did. After a performance, Morgan beached herself on the side of the pool for at least 10 minutes, laying motionless while spectators got up to leave. This is a sign that Morgan should not be kept any longer in captivity, and should instead be returned to the ocean from whence she came.
Orcas are known to sometimes beach themselves temporarily while hunting, but never for as long as 10 minutes. It is extremely dangerous for orcas to be out of the water for too long, as they need the water’s buoyancy to help keep their massive weight from crushing their internal organs. Morgan intentionally beaching herself could be seen as a suicidal move, which shows her living conditions to be less than desirable.
Morgan was first taken in by the Harderwijk Dolphinarium after she was found swimming off the Dutch coast, ill and emaciated. The Dolphinarium did this to rehabilitate her, but instead of releasing her back into the ocean, she was shipped to Loro Parque, a theme park owned by SeaWorld in Spain’s Canary Islands. There she lives a miserable life. Beaching herself was only the latest harmful thing to happen to her, with past records of her banging her head repeatedly against a metal grate and other orcas attacking her.
Morgan is not meant to be a performing animal. Unlike many of SeaWorld’s orcas, she was not bred in captivity, but instead knows what it’s like to swim free. Her current living conditions are harming her health, and her beaching herself is a message saying that all of this needs to stop. Sign this petition to demand that Morgan be released back into the ocean, where she belongs.
Dear Mr. Manby,
SeaWorld did the right thing when it announced that it would stop its orca breeding program. However, there is an orca in captivity who needs to be released immediately.
Her name is Morgan, and she used to swim free in the ocean before she was shipped to Loro Parque, a theme park that SeaWorld owns in Spain. She is absolutely miserable, as is proven by her beaching herself for at least 10 minutes after a performance. She also has harmed herself in the past by repeatedly banging her head against a metal grate, and is often attacked by the other orcas. These are surely signs that she should not be held in captivity any longer.
Morgan knows what it is like to swim free, and to continue to keep her in captivity would be just plain cruel. Please release Morgan back into the sea so that she can be happy and free again.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Rojer
Adopt a humpback update June 2016
Two whales swim in open water
Protect whales from offshore oil & gas leasing activities! It's World Oceans Day, an international day of celebration and action to protect our blue planet. Today, you have the opportunity to voice your concerns to federal agencies that impact the future of whales and other marine mammals.
Tell the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to stand firm on the decision to remove the Atlantic Coast from the 2017-2022 offshore oil and gas leasing program. It's not often you can do something so easy and so important for our oceans. We only have until June 16 to make our voices heard, so act now!

In March, the Obama Administration announced that the Atlantic Coast will be closed to offshore drilling for at least the next five years. This is a huge win for whales and other marine life that are affected by the noise and other potential impacts associated with offshore oil and gas activities.

But our job isn’t done yet. Some in the oil and gas industry are pushing back, and we need to say loud and clear that we support the decision to remove the Atlantic from the 2017-2022 offshore oil and gas leasing program and that we want to continue to protect marine mammals. We need more voices supporting this decision in the face of powerful opposition.

The outer continental shelf of the Atlantic provides important habitat for whales and many other marine species. Offshore oil and gas exploration can impact marine mammals by introducing additional noise into the important habitat, increase the risk of ship strikes and major oil spills, and reduce available acoustic habitat needed for vital communication. For highly endangered species like the North Atlantic right whale, industrial development in the Atlantic has been highlighted as a great concern and could prove to be the ‘tipping point’ given the range of threats this highly endangered species already faces.

Submit your comment to BOEM on the 2017-2022 offshore oil and gas leasing program.

I know I can count on you. Let's protect marine mammals this World Oceans Day. Thanks for your support!
Many would not think it possible for anyone outside a water park to make a 30 foot whale do what they like – well meet the man who can.

This amazing footage from the Caribbean shows “whale whisperer” Andrew Armour prompting an enormous sperm whale to spin – and it dutifully follows his commands.

Andrew, who runs whale watching tours from Rosaeu in Dominica, says it is “a joy” to be able to work with the graceful creatures.
Stop Walgreens' exploitation of Antarctica!
Stop Walgreens' exploitation of Antarctica!

TARGET: Stefano Pessina, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance - 45,340 of the 50,000 Goal

Overview petition
Antarctica is the one place on Earth set aside by international treaty as a sanctuary for research, nature, and peace. Unfortunately, the Antarctic Treaty left out specific protections for the giant ocean, the garden that feeds the continent, surrounding it. The Southern Ocean now faces growing threats by corporations looking to make a profit from its waters at the expense of penguins, blue whales, and seals.

Big business is focused on harvesting krill, a small shrimp-like crustacean, that is the foundation of the Antarctic food web. Industrial boats equipped with state of the art technology that vacuums every last individual krill in its path have moved in. Once caught, krill are crushed into Omega 3 pills to be sold at lofty prices at a Walgreens Boots Alliance retailer near you.

Yet, to date zero clinical trials have confirmed the marketing and health claims you’ll see on the package.

Recent reports show that krill numbers have decline upwards of 80%. Meanwhile, krill are on the front lines of climate change -- melting sea ice is destroying their habitat, and ocean acidification could further harm them. And at the same time, krill also play a key role in slowing global warming, as they transport carbon dioxide from the surface to the deep water.

The only way these companies will stop is if there's no market for Antarctic wildlife on our shelves. 

That's why we're asking Walgreens Boots Alliance to stop the promotion and selling of Antarctic krill -- if we can get this major retailer to refuse to sell krill-killing supplements, we can stop fishing companies from destroying this marine sanctuary. Click to help!

DUBAI, PLEASE KEEP SEAWORLD OUT! UPDATE: SeaWorld has announced that it will no longer breed orcas. This means that the orcas who have been forcibly bred and confined for years to tanks that are, to them, the size of a bathtub will be the last ones made to endure a miserable life of deprivation at the parks! 

We still need your help to ask the government of Dubai not to allow a SeaWorld park in Dubai where animals such as bottlenose dolphins, beluga whales, seals, and many others, will suffer.

Since the release of the critically acclaimed documentary Blackfish in 2013, SeaWorld's sordid history of animal abuse, inhumane marine-mammal shows, and trainer attacks has been exposed to the public—and SeaWorld has been under a lot of scrutiny. Its attendance has tanked, and corporate partners, including Virgin America, STA Travel, Taco Bell, Southwest Airlines, and Mattel, have severed ties with the company. With business failing in the United States, SeaWorld wants to take its abusement park to Dubai, a tourist destination known for innovative and exciting architecture, luxury shopping, and beautiful beaches, not animal abuse.
Dubai, Please Keep SeaWorld Out!
Former SeaWorld trainer John Hargrove worked with PETA Asia to send the emir of Dubai a letter asking him to keep SeaWorld out of the United Arab Emirates. Hargrove informed His Highness that he was once approached to become SeaWorld Dubai's senior trainer—but he left the company soon after to speak out against its mistreatment of captive orcas in the documentary Blackfish and in his New York Times best-selling book, Beneath the Surface. Click to help!

Every Day is World Oceans Day for Us. Oceans, covering two-thirds of Earth, are so vast and so deep that it’s easy to take their importance for granted. They provide us with oxygen, and they regulate our climate by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — important functions for both humans and wildlife.

Unfortunately, the world’s oceans — home to whales, sea otters, ice-dependent seals, dolphins, manatees, seabirds, sea turtles, sharks and other marine life — are in a sea of trouble. The oceans are overworked; they cannot remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere quickly enough to keep up with how much we create, which is causing ocean acidification. The Arctic Sea is warming at twice the rate than past years, which is reducing sea ice — a growing threat to our marine mammals. Just recently, scientists shared that over a third of the Great Barrier Reef is dead, a permanent fate for the species and a damaging one for species that depend on the reef for shelter and food.


The health of the Earth’s oceans are indicators of our planet’s overall health – when they’re in trouble, so are we. So, it’s important to keep our oceans healthy not just for marine life, but also for the future health of the entire planet.


Several of our teams work tirelessly to protect the diverse sea life in our oceans. This World Oceans Day, we wanted to take the opportunity to give you all a glimpse into the work we have been doing over the past few months to conserve marine life along the West Coast and in Alaska.


Along the California Coast – California Representative Joshua Hanthorn

Sea otters, © Michael Peters
From whales and sea otters to pelicans, seals and sea turtles, a myriad of wildlife calls the California coast home. Defenders fights the good fight to protect critical and endangered species along this 840-mile coastline. Even for a state that has made significant strides to protect its natural landscape and wildlife, one of the greatest and most persistent threats marine wildlife encounters on these golden shores is oil spills, which can be very dangerous to natural communities. Defenders has supported a number of bills in the California state legislature that would help prevent and mitigate future oil spills along the coast. The proposed Coast Oil Well Cleanup Act, for instance, creates a path forward for the State Lands Commission to clean up legacy oil wells that are leaking oil into California’s ocean and coastal waters.

We recently weighed in on proposals to discharge raw sewage and graywater into marine habitats critical to the Pacific Ocean’s ecosystem. And of course, we are working diligently to protect the charismatic and endangered Southern sea otter. A quick note to Californians: If you haven’t filed your California Tax Returns yet, don’t forget to donate to the Sea Otter Tax Check-Off!


In the Pacific Northwest – Northwest Representative Elizabeth Ruther

orca and calf, © NOAA

In Washington, the health of Puget Sound and the entire Salish Sea is a top priority. Southern resident orcas and other marine life that call it home are impacted by toxic pollutants that enter the ocean from storm water runoff, abandoned vessels, and other sources. We are working to raise awareness about the chemicals that come from these sources and how they impact orcas and salmon in our waters. Reducing the use of chemicals that bio-accumulate in ocean wildlife is an important step toward recovering these species.


We are also supporting federal legislation called the PUGET SOS Act (HR 3630), which aims to increase coordination between federal agencies to quicken the pace of Puget Sound recovery. We are researching ways to remove barriers for county participation in programs that decrease the likelihood of vessels becoming marine debris and releasing harmful chemicals. Defenders is also working to protect marine mammals from vessel impacts like approaching too closely, vessel noise, and increasing vessel traffic. And we are working to increase permanent funding for on-water enforcement so that boats keep a safe distance from marine mammals.


On our Alaskan Shoreline – Alaska Program Director Karla Dutton

Pacific walrus, © USFWS
Alaska has 6,640 miles of coastline. Including its beautiful islands, it has 33,904 miles of shoreline bordering not only the Pacific Ocean but the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea. Countless animals call these waters home, such as sea otters, sperm whales, Cook Inlet belugas, North Pacific Right Whales, Bowhead whales, five species of ice seals, polar bears, Pacific walrus, Dahl porpoise, salmon sharks and orcas.

Our work in Alaska focuses on working with communities to reduce conflicts between humans and marine wildlife. For example, we work with local residents to put practical measures in place that help keep polar bears safely uninterested in their community. We also work with Arctic coastal communities on oil spill preparedness and response in the Bering Strait — the region with the largest marine mammal migratory path, and increasing threats from shipping due to sea ice loss. We work with scientists to improve data collection to help recover the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale. We also provide remote cameras that document the causes of walrus stampedes, so those threats can be minimized or eliminated. And we sponsor young Alaska Native scientists working on polar bear conservation research.


While we keep working day in and day out to protect oceans and marine life from climate change, pollution, ocean acidification, overfishing and other problems, the really great news is that every single day, every single one of us can do something to protect the ocean, the wildlife that rely on it, and our own health. Here are some great ways you can honor World Oceans Day every day >



Immediate Habitat Protection Sought for West Coast Orcas
OrcaThe Center for Biological Diversity joined allied conservation groups and more than 100,000 people on Monday in calling on the Obama administration to immediately expand protected critical habitat for Southern Resident killer whales along the West Coast. The population remains critically endangered, with just 83 individuals left.

The National Marine Fisheries Service last year announced plans to expand orcas' habitat protections to 9,000 miles along the West Coast (some 2,500 miles in Washington's Puget Sound and Salish Sea are already protected). The new habitat designation would protect key foraging and migration areas for the whales off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California. But the agency said it wouldn't make that decision until the end of 2017, without final implementation until at least 2018.

"It's clear these killer whales need more protection to avoid spiraling toward extinction," said the Center's Miyoko Sakashita. "The Fisheries Service has the data it needs to make this decision now -- and it should." Read more in our press release.
Urge President Obama to Protect New England's Ocean Treasures
Urge President Obama to Protect New England's Ocean Treasures
TARGET: President Barack Obama - 21,572 of the 25,000 Goal
Overview petition
Help us create the first marine national monument in the U.S. Atlantic Ocean. 
In the U.S. waters of the Pacific Ocean, more than 600,000 square miles of marine habitat are protected from commercial and industrial activity. But in the Atlantic, that figure is zero. You have an opportunity right now to help change that. 
New science shows that some special places off New England's coast are great candidates for permanent protection. The Coral Canyons and Seamounts host enormous numbers of whales and dolphins and contain unique deep-sea habitats where rare and vulnerable species are still being discovered, including ancient, fragile corals that can live for more than 1,000 years and grow to 10 feet tall. Cashes Ledge in the Gulf of Maine contains the largest continuous kelp forest in the U.S. Atlantic, providing a home for the iconic cod, and serving as a critical feeding ground for migratory whales, tunas, and seabirds. 
These places have special scientific and cultural value – and are sensitive to disturbance, slow to recover, and threatened by extractive activities. They deserve the permanent protection we afford to the most important places in our country. 
Photo Illustrates the Lesson We Should Have Learned About Orca Captivity in the 1980s
Orcas (sometimes referred to as killer whales) are one of the most incredible species on our planet. These animals, who are renowned for their great intelligence and sensitivity. They naturally live in closely bonded matriarchal pods and stay with their immediate family members all their lives. They are one of the most widely ranging mammals on the planet, traveling up to 100 miles a day. The typical life expectancy of a wild orca is thirty years for males, and fifty years for females … though they can be significantly older than that. “Granny,” the matriarch of J-Pod, was believed to be 103 years of age after being spotted off the coast of Canada in 2014!
The brain of an orca is over four times larger than that of a human, while the brain lobes that deal with the processing of complex emotions are also a great deal more sizeable. Orcas have been evolving for millions of years, while modern-day humans only emerged about 200,000 years ago. When you take that into account, doesn’t it seem absurd that we could ever imagine that we have the right to imprison these animals in small tanks and force them to perform tricks for our entertainment?
Sadly, this is exactly what we have done to one of the most complex, cognitively sophisticated creatures on this planet. An entire industry has been built around the enforced confinement of orcas and other marine animals … all for the sake of human amusement. Marine parks such as SeaWorld and Miami Seaquarium in the U.S., as well as Loro Parque in Spain (to name a few), have come under fire in recent years for their treatment of captive orcas. This outrage has largely been fuelled by the 2013 documentary “Blackfish,” which explored the death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau at the hands of an orca named Tilikum. With audience numbers and profit margins rapidly dropping, there are signs that the orca captivity model could be falling apart at the seams, but the industry is by no means giving up without a fight just yet.
Facebook user Joel Simka recently drew attention to the ongoing plight of captive orcas by posting a picture of former Miami Seaquarium orca Hugo, who died in 1980.
Picture of Hugo the Captive Orca at Miami Seaquarium Shows Us EXACTLY Why These Animals Don’t Belong in Captivity
The image shows a man who had become trapped in Hugo’s pool being helped out by a couple of trainers, including Scott Amsel (the man on the right). Simka said, “Scott (and his wife Kathy, who was a dolphin trainer) left Miami Seaquarium shortly after this incident, realizing quickly that the relationships between these captives and their human oppressors is not all happiness and roses.” Sadly, Hugo had become so traumatized by his time in captivity that he was attempting to pull the man to the bottom of the pool … just as the famed SeaWorld orca Tilikum did to his trainer Dawn Brancheau many years later, on Feb. 24, 2010.
Simka explained, “This is the true nature of my childhood friend, Hugo the killer whale. What I did not know about Hugo, at the time, was that he was at one point a wild animal (a gentle southern resident), captured, taken from the Salish sea and coincidentally, turned psychotic.”
Mental health issues are rife among captive orca populations, as are unusual bacterial and fungal infections, unpredictable bouts of aggression, dental problems, collapsed dorsal fins (in males), and a significantly shorter life expectancy than they could expect to have in the wild.
Sadly, Hugo’s story came to a tragic end in 1980, when he committed suicide by ramming his head repeatedly into the wall of his tank. Since then, his old tank mate Lolita has been held in solitary confinement in the smallest orca tank in North America. Astoundingly, however, she still remembers the calls and vocalizations that were made by her family, referred to as L25 subpod by whale watchers. Animal rights activists have long argued that Lolita should be permitted to return to the ocean and reunite with her family members, and have even prepared a detailed retirement plan that would enable her to become re-acquainted with life in the wild. However, Miami Seaquarium is unwilling to consider releasing its “star performer.”
The tide has been turning against the orca captivity business for quite some time now, but it is vital that this momentum is maintained until all the tanks have been emptied at last, and we can rest assured that no other orca will ever have to suffer a fate as tragic as Hugo’s. To learn more about the truth behind orca captivity – and why you should never buy a ticket to a facility that presents these animals as a form of entertainment – read the articles below.
Image Source: Joel Simka/Facebook