The Death of Dawn: On the Ethics of Marine Parks

By

Taylor L. Leach

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of

The Wilkes Honors College

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Sciences

With a concentration in Marine Biology

Wilkes Honors College of

Florida Atlantic University

Jupiter, Florida

May 2018

i The Death of Dawn: On the Ethics of Florida Marine Parks

By Taylor L. Leach

This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisor, Dr. Jon Moore, and has been approved by the members of her/his supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of the Honors College and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Supervisory Committee:

Dr. Jon Moore

Dr. Nicholas Baima

Dean Ellen Goldey, Wilkes Honors College

Date

ii

ABSTRACT

Author: Taylor L. Leach

Title: The Death of Dawn: On the Ethics of Florida Marine Parks

Institution: Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jon Moore

Degree: Bachelor of Sciences in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Concentration: Marine Biology

Year: 2018

Over the last 80 years, humans have enjoyed and developed a deep connection to bottlenose (Tursiops truncates) and killer whales (Orcinus orca), starting in 1938 with the opening of the world's first to present- day with the current marine parks in Florida. We have learned an immense amount of information about the intricacies of two of the most charismatic marine mammals in the , and as we learn more about these highly social creatures, the more people are demanding the immediate release of them into the wild. This, however, raises an ethical dilemma: either we release the animals into the wild, in which case they stand a very slim chance of survival, or, we continue to keep them under human care, in which case, they suffer from inadequate habitats.

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Table of Contents Introduction ...... 1 Section one: Background History of the parks...... 2 Section two: Veterinary Care ...... 9 Section Three: The dark side to cetaceans under human care...... 14 Section Four: ’s story ...... 19 Section Five: Conclusions: should they be released or not? ...... 24 References ...... 26

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Introduction

Over the past few years, marine parks, especially SeaWorld, have come under fire for their treatment of their majestic marine mammals. After the release of the

CNN film, Blackfish, there has been an outcry to “free” all the dolphins and killer whales into the wild. Dawn was pulled into the pool by the and drowned on February 24th 2010 (Kirby D. 2013). Dawn’s death sparked a nation wide call to release the animals ‘back’ into the wild.

This idea poses a large number of concerns on its own and raises an ethical dilemma: either we release the animals into the wild, in which case they stand a very slim chance of survival, or, we continue to keep them under human care, in which case, they suffer from inadequate habitats.

The following paper will go through and explore both side of the argument of whither keeping marine mammals under human care is inhumane or if releasing human dependent animals is inhumane. Section one will focus on the history of four major marine parks in Florida from their open dates to today. Section Two will focus on the evolution of veterinary care in parks. Section three focuses on the dark side of cetaceans under human care. Section four will focus on Keiko’s life and release project. Finally section five is the conclusion. Ultimately the issue relies on the fact that we as a society have a standard mind set on animal care, but facilities that do not accommodate to these standards.

1 Section one: Background History of the parks.

A History of Marine parks and the public's love for cetaceans. Throughout history humans have been deeply interested in understanding one of our closest water-bound family members. With the opening of the first oceanarium to the current Florida parks, the love for marine mammals has inspired many young marine biologists. In the past decade a number of studies and documentaries have come out showing the dangers and mistreatment of marine mammals around the world. These studies and films have stirred up activists calling for the immediate rehabilitation and release of all the animals in the parks. Despite the calls many of the marine parks in Florida still have large attendance rates.

History of Marineland Adventure and Facility set up. In the 1930’s this interest was jump started by the opening of a little film studio off the east coast of Florida. This film studio was known as Marine Studios, it opened its doors to the public and filmmakers in the summer of 1938. Marine

Studios hold the title of being the nation’s first oceanarium. During the planning and construction of the original pools for the studio the three owners Douglas Burden,

C.V. Whitney and Ilia Tolstoy faced a number of challenges including how to reinforce the viewing windows. At the same time the pools were being built there was a team of engineers building the filtration system for the studio. The system built for Marine Studios was state of the art; they dug out from under the pools to the ocean that way fresh seawater was pumped into the pools. Once the pools were fully constructed and filled with water the owners hired men to collect a number of

2 animals for them. The goal of the owners was to recreate an environment in the pools that looked as if someone had taken a cut out of the ocean (McGinnis 2017).

It housed all sorts of marine species but its most popular was its Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) and other cetaceans. During these first years the owners and the divers realized that the dolphins would follow the food wherever it went. This discovery led to the “jump master” feeding show and eventually the hiring of Adolph Frohn to attempt to train a dolphin. Adolph Frohn was an established animal trainer for a number of circuses; he was a large mammal trainer. In the Marineland historical archives there is documentation that Frohn didn’t believe it was possible to train dolphins, that there was a difference between the learning capacity of land mammals and marine mammals. When Frohn arrived, he requested a young female dolphin to work with, but instead was given a young male named Flippy. To train Flippy it took Frohn three years, in the end Flippy knew five or more behaviors (McGinnis 2017)(Marineland 2018).

Over the past 50 years, Marineland Dolphin Adventure (MDA) has grown its veterinarian staff and care routine for its dolphins. At this time the park holds 16 bottlenose dolphins, 8 of which are female and the other 8 are males. MDA is known for having one of the best breeding programs—they are, for instance, the first park to have a successful birth under human care (Marineland 2018).

In 1947 just nine years after opening their doors as Marine Studios, the first dolphin was successfully born under human care. That dolphin’s name was

Spray. Shortly after Sprays birth, Marine Studios was home to one of the most famous dolphins in Florida, in February of 1953 Nellie was born. Nellie holds the

3 record for the longest-lived dolphin born under human care; she passed away on

April 30th 2014 making her 61 years old (McGinnis 2017). According to a number of field guides, the life expectancy of the Atlantic is around 30 to 50 years in the wild (Smith1997). Nellie’s longevity can be a result of the voluntary husbandry behaviors the dolphins are taught as well as the better understanding of bottlenose dolphins in general.

This little wonder of Florida is no longer named Marine Studios but rather

Marineland Dolphin Adventure. From the 1950’s to the 1970’s Marine Studios changed their name to Marineland, during this time the park became one of the leading tourist attractions in the state. The popularity of the park gained so much traction that Marineland became its own city. Marineland had a number of famous guests coming through and spending large amounts of time at a number of the different things at the facility. Including Ernest Hemingway who was a regular at the park’s Moby Dick lounge. In its prime, Marineland had a number of exhibits that were on both sides of A1A, a fire station, police station, restaurants, and hotels all on site. However, after a string of hurricanes in the early 2000’s the facility was in desperate need for repairs. According to the head of the Education department

Terran McGinnis, Marineland wanted to change direction of the facility towards education and close encounters, so in 2004 they shut their doors to remodel the park. Over a two-year period, a number of the old structures were taken down along with old exhibits. In 2006 the park reopened as Marineland’s Dolphin Conservation

Center. Today the park is home to 16 bottlenose dolphins, two sea turtles and 12 sand tiger . The dolphin habitat is a 1.3 million gallon system of eight

4 connected pools. The filtration system has been modified to include heaters, protein skimmers and equipment to filter out potential pathogens making the system a recirculating one. The original water pumps are still used in case a switch is needed from the recirculating system back to the original pump system. The updated facility is made for the behavioral and health needs of the animals (McGinnis 2017)

(Marineland 2018).

Marineland has been a Florida institution for over 80 years and, in that time; they have been the forerunner for best Marine Park when it comes to the care of the animals. The park has a very rich history in the understanding and care of bottlenose dolphins (McGinnis 2017) (Marineland 2018).

History of SeaWorld Orlando and Facility set up In 1973, nearly 40 years after Marineland opened, SeaWorld Orlando opened its doors. The opening of SeaWorld Orlando marked the third park for the company, the first in San Diego, California and the second in Columbus, Ohio. Following the opening of the Orlando Park, SeaWorld opened a fourth park in San Antonio, Texas.

However, the Ohio Park eventually closed, since it didn’t perform as well as the other parks. Currently SeaWorld is owned in partnership with .

After being bought by Busch Gardens, the park was transformed from a dinner show atmosphere to being the premiere location for both viewing marine life and thrilling attractions. Despite the shift towards rides, SeaWorld’s main attraction is the killer whales (Orcinus orca), bottlenose dolphin, and other marine mammal shows. When the park opened in 1973, SeaWorld was allowed to capture their whales from the wild, even though the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA

5 2018) had been in effect for a year. Other marine mammals at the park, like the bottlenose dolphins were a part of an exchange program with multiple parks around the U.S. This exchange program included dolphins obtained from the wild before the act, as well as dolphins that were born under human care. The facility is currently home to six killer whales, and 36 bottlenose dolphins. The six whales are housed in a number of pools connected to Shamu Stadium. The 36 dolphins are housed in four different habitats, the dolphin theatre, dolphin cove, dolphin nursery and the animal care center.

History of and Facility set up According to the Miami Seaquarium website, the facility was built in 1954, thanks to Fred D. Coppock. A year later, the park officially opened its doors to the public. At the time of opening their doors, Miami Seaquarium had three major habitats: the Top Deck Dolphin pool, Reef Tank facility and the Channel. In

1968, the park received their first killer whale named Hugo, unfortunately Hugo passed away on March 4th 1980 due to a ruptured aneurysm. He was roughly 15 years old at the time of his death; his necropsy report states that in the months before his death Hugo had a radical change in his behavior from usually docile to thrashing about the habitat (Miami Seaquarium 2018).

Lolita was brought to the park in 1970 and is one of the last killer whales that were captured off the coast of Washington. and Hugo shared the habitat for only 10 years. At this time Lolita’s exact age is unknown but it is believed she is 51 years old and currently still living in her habitat. Currently there is no reliable information on this facility other than it has 9 habitats on site: three habitats for

6 dolphins, one habitat for Lolita, two habitats for seal/sea lion, the shark channel and an area that houses reptiles(Miami Seaquarium 2018). The park is home to a number of different animal species including both bottlenose dolphins and a single killer whale. This facility has been said to have to most outdated habitat for their lone killer whale as well as their dolphin habitats.

Miami Seaquarium has few claims to fame compared to SeaWorld. Their largest claim to fame is a TV show named Flipper (which aired 1964-1967), according to their website the show was filmed on site; though a single dolphin is never addressed as being Flipper. Another claim to fame for Miami Seaquarium following the TV show is in the 1960’s one of the dolphins from the park was used as the official mascot for the Miami dolphins football team. The dolphin had its own tank at the field for games (this inspired the film makers of Ace Ventura Pet

Detective)(Miami Seaquarium 2018).

History of and Facility set up

The Dolphin Research Center has a very interesting beginning. In the 1940’s

Milton Santini was an experienced commercial fisherman, who used to collect marine mammals for a number of parks, as well as for private sales. According to the parks website, Santini was responsible for creating the deep lagoons in the Gulf of

Mexico. Once he finished excavating the lagoons he built the Santini’s Porpoise

Training School. Based on the photos from the Dolphin Research Centers website the habitats were basically just nets circling the docks. This allowed for natural seawater from the gulf to flow into the lagoons.

7 At this point in his life, Milton had no background in . Over the years he gained experience in training and opened the school. A number of Milton’s dolphins were used in the making of the movie Flipper in 1963. Two of those dolphins surviving kin sill live at the Dolphin Research Center (DRC 2018) today. In

1972 Milton’s favorite dolphin Mitizi passed away causing Milton to sell the facility to Wometco Corporation. The WC changed the facilities name to Flipper’s Sea School during this change a couple was hired on to train the dolphins, this couple was Jayne and Mandy. The DRC website explains that the growth of the DRC was slow and gradual this could have been a product of the fact that the facility focused on taking in animals who needed continual medical treatment.

The mission statement according to the DRC’s website is “To promote peaceful coexistence, cooperation and communication between marine mammals, humans and the environment we share through research and education. The health and well being of Dolphin Research Center’s dolphins holds absolute precedence over all other interests. DRC will undertake no program or activity that compromises this basic commitment”(DCR 2018).

All of the parks mentioned above are a part of the Alliance of Marine Mammal

Parks and . When the AMMPA was created, the goal was to create “an international association representing marine life parks, aquariums, , research facilities, and professional organizations dedicated to the highest standards of care for marine mammals and to their conservation in the wild through public education, scientific study, and wildlife presentations”(AMMPA 2018)

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Section two: Veterinary Care The evolution of marine mammal veterinary care In the beginning of the marine park revolution, the public and scientists knew very little information about the cetaceans they were collecting. According to a first-hand account written by Sam Ridgway, Marineland was the front-runner in the quest to learn and understand the cetaceans that were collected. “In the 1960s, mortality and morbidity of marine mammals maintained in oceanaria, aquaria, and laboratories was high overall. I have been fortunate to witness tremendous progress in the veterinary care of marine mammals” (Ridgway 2008). Ridgway points out a number of different people who were involved in the beginning of Marineland’s research and development center. In the 1960’s, B.F. Skinner had brought science directly to the animal training program and led the trainers in proper training techniques. “McBride's invaluable efforts included bringing in a number of scientists to study the dolphins. These scientists published a wealth of entirely new information about the living dolphin. Among the early publications that were highly useful to me were those of DuBois, Fetcher & Fetcher, Eichelberger and Geiling”

(Ridgway, 2008). It was at Marineland that McBride discovered that dolphins could echolocate using clicks and whistles underwater. After McBride’s death in 1949, other scientists stepped in to continue the work on echolocation of Marineland dolphins. In 1969 Ridgway and four others “formed the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine (IAAAM), IAAAM has grown into the primary veterinary medical organization for those working with aquaria and zoos that keep

9 aquatic animals” (Ridgway 2008). It was in these early days that they also discovered major complications with anesthesia for dolphins. It was truly a trial and error methodology to understanding these animals, and this unfortunately lead to many deaths.

“Characteristically, Woody cautioned me that the task of devising a

safe anesthetic procedure for dolphins would not be easy. He reminded me

that he had been curator of in 1955 at the time of the

so-called ‘Johns Hopkins Expedition.’ The problem, Woody explained, was

that bottlenose dolphins, and apparently all whales, do not breath as land

mammals do. Instead of inhaling and exhaling every few seconds in a

rhythmic fashion, dolphins have adjusted their breathing pattern to life in the

water; they inhale in a fraction of a second, hold the air in their lungs for 15

to 60 seconds, and exhale to begin the next respiratory cycle. Before

surgically examining the first dolphin's brain, the Johns Hopkins' group

anesthetized the dolphin with an injection of barbiturate in the abdomen.

This was standard practice with laboratory animals such as rats and guinea

pigs at the time. Some time after the injection, the animal relaxed, lost the air

in its lungs, and never breathed again. In their subsequent attempts to map

the brain, the neurosurgeons used a simple respirator to keep the animal

breathing during anesthesia, but the machine proved inadequate. After

several more dolphins died, the experimenters abandoned the surgical

approach as a means of studying the dolphin brain” (Ridgway 2008).

10 As the years passed, Ridgway was tasked with understanding and developing a safe means for surgical anesthesia for dolphins. “Working night and day for a week at Gulfport, with the help of their manager, Don Jacobs, we anesthetized all the dolphins, thoroughly checking each anesthetized dolphin's reflexes to be sure they were insensitive to pain. We found that halothane, the anesthetic gas most commonly used in human surgery, also was effective for dolphins. We knew that we still had a great deal to learn about dolphin anesthesia- in fact, it would take two more years of careful work before Dr. James G. McCormick (then of Princeton

University, Figure 19) and I finally perfected and documented the technique

(Ridgway & McCormick, 1967, 1971)” (Ridgway 2008). Thanks to Ridgway and his partners, parks now have a protocol and partnership with a marine mammal veterinarian to aid in surgical procedures that can save dolphins lives.

In his account, Ridgway talks about a number of different discoveries about marine mammals around the United States in parks like MDA and even the Miami

Seaquarium. “Honored as a Life Member of IAAAM, Dr. Jesse White, now deceased, worked at the Miami Seaquarium. There, Dr. White made numerous contributions to general marine mammal care, especially in dolphin nutrition and in manatee

(Trichechus manatus) medicine, husbandry, reproduction, and conservation (White,

1970; White et al., 1990). He also made significant contributions to legal standards for the protection of marine mammals” (Ridgway 2008). In 1973 the Marine

Mammal Protection Act went into effect, this lead some of the scientist and especially parks to stop collecting wild animals. The only marine mammals that were collected after the act went into place were orcas for parks like SeaWorld.

11 However, Dr. White’s contributions in husbandry care have allowed for an array of different behaviors to be taught to dolphins and orcas that help in husbandry care.

These include procedures that can be invasive or noninvasive, “Dr. Johnson also was the first person ever to train a dolphin for medical behaviors. He trained his bottlenose dolphin "Salty" to present his tail fluke so we could take blood; to present his open mouth so I could examine his teeth, throat, and tongue; and to present any other part of his body for examination… Now, with progress in training methods and the realization that these husbandry behaviors save time and are safer for the animals and humans, we can get the dolphin's cooperation for all kinds of exams”

(Ridgway 2008). Dolphins and orcas at all the facilities in Florida today participate in their own medical care through these husbandry behaviors. These behaviors can help staff with a number of procedures, for example, “we can endoscope them; we can ultrasound them; and we can collect blood, urine, sperm, feces, aspirations from the blow hole, and so on” (Ridgway 2008). This becomes extremely useful when family lines present with major diseases, at MDA any dolphin that shares a line with

Chubby is likely to get cancer in their mouth, these dolphins are routinely checked for spots and if one is found it is tested immediately.

Ridgway points out a number of different procedures that can be done and who is associated with finding these discoveries. “Endoscopes can be used to examine the stomach for disease, tumors, injury, parasites, or foreign objects.

Endoscopes of various sizes are now used to examine the lungs (bronchoscopy), nasal system, and lower intestine of marine mammals. Dr. Jim McBain and other Sea

World veterinarians have used 3-m endoscopes on killer whales for diagnostics and

12 treatment” (Ridgway 2008). The discoveries were limitless in the beginning. Once breeding programs began to take off, “We also learned that female dolphins, even those that had never had an offspring, would lactate to nurse an orphan calf”

(Ridgway et al., 1995). Both of these advances were helpful because at times a female will not nurse her own calf. “Milking obtains the early colostrum (first milk or immune milk) that contains the protective immunoglobulin, rich nutrients, and other substances essential for protecting the offspring in early life. Feeding this essential milk supports the orphan until another female begins lactating to nurse the calf” (Ridgway 2008). Due to the collection of wild dolphins for marine parks in the early 1940’s, there has been an overwhelming increase in public understanding of these animals as well as an increase in the scientific knowledge gathered.

The introduction of environmental enrichment devices When parks like MDA first opened they house all the animals collected in the same tanks, this was due to the owners wanting to recreate the ocean for filming purposes. Interestingly enough they found the dolphins to be extremely curious and playful animals. According to the history lesson provided to summer interns at MDA the dolphins would crowd the divers carrying food or chase food at the surface.

Interns were also told of how the dolphins would go about playing with each other as well as flipping sea turtles and grabbing pelicans by their feet. This behavior is what ultimately led the owners to think the dolphins would be trained as well as showed them that the dolphins needed interaction to release their energy. Today marine mammals are kept separate from other species; at MDA the sixteen dolphins live in an interconnected eight-pool habitat. This allows them to communicate with

13 each other using clicks and whistles. It also allows for the dolphins to be moved around from pool to pool with ease. Which in turn allows the training staff to socialize the dolphins.

This socialization would seem to be enough to release the dolphins’ energy, however, activists claim that no matter the amount of socialization, enclosure will cause depression and the dulling of the animal’s senses (Blackfish 2013). Over the years facilities have developed a way for the animals to interact with each other and their environment at the same time. Trainers use positive reinforcement (This is a form of conditioning that B.F. Skinner scientifically described) as a means to teach the animals their behaviors; this can be done with extra food (which is most often used) or with an environmental enrichment device (EED). EED’s can be any item from footballs to buoys one would find on a boat to highly personalized devices to aid in rehabilitation. They are typically given to the animals after training sessions as a reward or a means to expel extra energy the training session did not release.

Section Three: The dark side to cetaceans under human care. Blackfish and the call to release all marine mammals On November 12, 2013 Gabriela Cowperthwaite (2013) and CNN released the documentary, Blackfish. This movie focuses predominantly on the life of a single killer whale named Tilikum, however its main idea seems to push that SeaWorld as a company is the reason for the attacks by Tilikum and a number of other whales.

Cowperthwaite interviews a number of former SeaWorld animal trainers on the events of Tilikum and others. The documentary aims to show that facilities like

14 SeaWorld should release the whales or relocated them to sea pens. Tilikum was roughly two years old when he was taken from his pod in 1983 off the Icelandic coast. He was taken to Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, BC to live with two other young female whales. While he was there, he was placed in a small holding pool, which was just a net with a floating dock in a small marina. During the night the whales were stored in a small 20x30 ft metal shed like structure to prevent people from cutting the net and releasing the whales. During his time at Sealand of the

Pacific, Tilikum was subjected to negative training styles as well as social abuse from the two female whales. On February 20, 1991 female trainer Keltie Byrne fell into the pool with the three whales, Tilikum, Haida II and Nootka IV. Based on park visitors from that day, Tilikum instigated the grabbing and drowning of Keltie.

According to previous Sealand trainers, this event was highly stimulating for all three of the whales that participated in the drowning. After the incident the three whales were sold to SeaWorld and moved to Orlando (Cowperthwaite 2013).

Tilikum’s social life in Orlando was strikingly similar to that at Sealand. Many of the larger female whales acted aggressively towards him causing SeaWorld to keep him on his own most of the time. In the film, a number of the Orlando trainers mention that the general attitude about Tilikum coming from cooperate conflicted with the story of Keltie’s death. Cooperate treated Tilikum as if he was a dangerous killer while telling all of the trainers that he had nothing to due with the Sea land trainers death. Despite the similarities in his socialization at the two parks, a major difference between the two was the training and facility size. In the years following

15 being moved to SeaWorld Orlando, Tilikum was used for breeding despite the fact he had obvious aggressive tendencies towards the trainers (Cowperthwaite 2013).

In the summer of 1999, a 27 year-year-old-man named Daniel P. Dukes was found draped over the back of Tilikum dead. On July 5th, Dukes visited the park and stayed after the park had closed for the night. According to the film and the police reports, Dukes was not under the influence of any drugs, but insinuated that he may have been mentally unstable. Dukes avoided the night security and jumped into the back pool where Tilikum was being housed. The next morning July 6th, his body was found lying across the back of the whale with a number of injuries to his body. This was the second death caused by Tilikum in less than 10 years. SeaWorld continued to use him as the primary breeding male for all parks (Cowperthwaite 2013)

(Hargrove & Chua-Eoan 2015).

After introducing the second death allegedly caused by Tilikum,

Cowperthwaite switches the narrative to show a number of incidents where other killer whales have caused injury or death to trainers. In 2006 at SeaWorld San Diego

Kasatka, the dominant female, grabbed trainer, Kenneth Peters’ foot. The incident occurred during a live show, grabbed Peters’ foot and dove to the bottom of the pool. She dove down several times before letting go of Peters. In the film there is live footage of the incident, in which one can see throughout the whole ordeal Peters remained calm petting Kasatka each time she resurfaced. After the third or fourth time resurfacing, she released Peters’ foot, fellow trainers can be seen running a floating net between the two so Peters could get out of the pool and receive medical attention. The incident here between Peters and Kasatka can be taken a number of

16 ways. The former trainers interviewed believe that this was an act of aggression by

Kasatka, unfortunately Peters was not interviewed so his perspective on the whole ordeal is unknown. Based on the video of the incident, neither Kasatka nor Peters are frantic in their movements; they are actually rather slow and calm. It is possible the act was out of play or curiosity from Kasatka, in the film a neuroscientist is interviewed to speak on the evidence of the highly social and emotional capabilities of killer whales. This incident involving Kasatka the dominant female whale at

SeaWorld San Diego and trainer Ken Peters is deemed a success of SeaWorld’s training and relationship establishment procedures the trainers undergo. Based on the video evidence, it would seem more likely that Peters’ did have a relationship with Kasatka and her actions could be that of curiosity rather than aggression

(Cowperthwaite 2013) (Orca home 2010).

After discussing this potential success story, the film moves on to an incident that took place at a park in the Canary Islands. Loro Parque is a marine park that, according to the film, has a rather bad reputation. Since the ban on capturing wild orcas went into effect, breeding programs became rather lucrative for large parks like SeaWorld. This boom in the orca breeding program lead to a similar program as the dolphin breeding exchange program, in which parks will transfer animals to each other if needed. SeaWorld sent four young killer whales to Loro Parque as part of this exchange program. According to SeaWorld executives this facility is not owned or affiliated with SeaWorld in any way, yet prior to the sending of four young killer whales SeaWorld brought over a number of Loro Parque trainers for a course in behavioral training. According to the film, SeaWorld also kept full ownership of

17 the whales during the exchange. During a show, Loro Parque’s best trainer, Alexis

Martinez, was killed. The film does not discuss specifics of Alexis Martinez’s death but rather glosses over it by claiming it was a violent attack of aggression by the whale Keto. This would mean that Alexis’ death counts against SeaWorld due to the actual ownership of the animals (Cowperthwaite 2013).

At this point in the film it is clear that the director is pushing to show that

SeaWorld has a fundamental problem with aggressive whales and makes the claim that all whales under human care are aggressive. Former SeaWorld trainer and author of Killing Keiko, Mark Simmons, were interviewed for the film. He is the only trainer who fights against this claim that all whales under human care are crazed aggressive beings. Both Tilikum and another whale share a very similar history with only slight deviations. After the death of Alexis Martinez, the film begins to talk about Tilikum’s final kill. In February 2010 trainer Dawn Brancheau was working with Tilikum during a Dine with Shamu show, during the end of session Dawn got in the water to do a relaxing session with Tilikum. Usually these sessions are to build the relationship between trainer and the animal. At this point in the session something changed in Tilikum’s behavior and he grabbed Dawn’s arm and pulled her into the water where she was killed by a number of very violent forces

(Cowperthwaite 2013).

In the months following Dawn’s death, OSHA sued SeaWorld for the endangerment of trainer lives. OSHA was fighting to keep the trainers out of the water with the orcas, because their behavior could not be predicted no matter the bond between the animal and the trainer working them. In late 2010 to early 2011

18 OSHA won the case, mandating that all SeaWorld trainers must be behind a barrier at all times when interacting with the whales (Cowperthwaite 2013).

Section Four: Keiko’s story Just like Tilikum, Keiko was taken from his pod in the North Atlantic when he was roughly two years old. Keiko began his life under human care in an Icelandic . Just three years after being in the aquarium, he was moved to Marineland in Niagara Falls. Just like Tilikum, Keiko suffered from bullying by the older whales, it is unknown if this was caused by negative reinforcement, as in Tilikum’s case. Due to this bullying and a string of skin lesions, Keiko was sold to , a small park in . At this point, Keiko was roughly eight-years-old and 10 ft long. Upon arrival to his new home, he was placed in a habitat designed for bottlenose dolphins rather than killer whales. Over the course of his time at the park in Mexico City he became overweight, lethargic and developed a severe case of the papilloma around his mouth and pectoral fins. The habitat he was placed in was filled with city tap water; to increase the salinity of this chlorinated water the park dumped bags of salt into the habitat. Another major issue with the habitat was the lack of chillers. “Killer whales live in habitats where the average water temperature ranges from 40-50○ F, Keiko’s modified dolphin habitat in Mexico City’s water was at a constant 70-80○ F” (Demarset 2010). By any standard, this is an unacceptable habitat combined with lackluster care by his trainers.

In 1991, Warner Brothers studios was sending out movie scouts to find a killer whale for the up in coming film . Keiko was found floating in his pool by the movie scouts and it was decided he would be Willy in the film. Once it was

19 decided that Keiko would be the film’s star, a number of changes took place to prepare him for the role. According to the film, Keiko the Untold Story of Free Willy,

Warner Brothers consulted a marine mammal vet to address Keiko’s obvious health issues (Demarset 2010). They were directed to change his diet to a more nutrient rich diet, they were also told to put in a chiller for the habitat to cool the water. A number of the cast members who were interviewed for the film mention how these changes seemed to energize Keiko. After filming was complete, the studio decided to move Keiko to a facility better suited for killer whales in . Through a number of fundraisers, Keiko was moved to his new home. Following his move, a number of young fans made inquiries about Keiko and his free life. At this time, Warner

Brothers realized that they should once again step in and raise the money necessary to free Keiko. They used this Oregon facility to begin the rehabilitation process, this included: a water system which pulled in fresh filtered seawater, increased high energy behaviors, better quality fish and antibiotics to treat his respiratory infection.

At this point in the film documentary, Keiko the Untold Story of Free Willy, the director and cast members ‘chosen’ to be interviewed boast about the good that came out of this rehabilitation and release program (Demarset 2010). However,

Mark Simmons, project leader for the behavioral training staff paints a much different picture of Keiko’s return to the wild. In his book Killing Keiko the true story of Free Willy’s return to the wild, Simmons points out a number of difficulties the team faced in the rehabilitation process (Simmons 2014). Simmons lays out the

20 events of the project from start until his leaving in 2000 when the project managers changed, the book reads much like a scientific logbook during an expedition.

“There are those who would have you believe that killer whales at marine parks are somehow different than their wild brethren; that the whales in zoological settings are crazed by years in ‘prison’” (Simmons 2014). This quote opens the book and sets a very specific tone about his feelings about animals under human care

(Simmons 2014). It is clear that Simmons comes from the side of the business that deals closely with animals under human care, at the time of publishing this book he has over 27 years experience in behavioral training. As the book progresses past the introduction and facility description, Simmons begins his discussion on Keiko’s rehabilitation project. Simmons’ breaks the project down into two main phases, the first being the release plan. Phase two took place in Klettsvik Bay and centered on trying to reintroduce Keiko to wild pods.

From the beginning, Keiko’s release project was littered with internal management disagreements and what Simmons believed were hidden political agendas. “At that time, the managers in charge of the project did not believe that any reshaping or modification of Keiko’s learning history was necessary. They believed that nature would take its course if they simply got him to Iceland”(Simmons 2014).

Simmons and the other members of the behavioral training team seemed to be fighting an uphill battle the entire time they worked on the project. As the team began working Keiko and teaching him how to be more like his wild conspecifics, the more they realized that he may actually have a shot at assimilating into a pod and surviving in the wild. After 16 months working with Keiko and reshaping his

21 learning history, it was finally time for an attempt to introduce him to a pod of wild whales. This introduction according to protocols set in place by management and the behavioral team agreed that the right pod must be found and that the introduction would be slow and on the animals’ terms not the humans. This first introduction would be a determining factor in Keiko’s ability to be released.

“Charles and the FWKF board firmly believed that this was it; that Keiko’s first introduction was a one-way ticket and he would not be returning to the

Klettsvik with the Draupnir.” It seems pretty clear that management and those working hands on with Keiko believed two very different outcomes were to occur after the introduction. Simmons recounts an argument between his partner Robin and management about the introduction in later paragraphs, in which management has agreed to allow the ‘harassment’ of the wild whales before Keiko is to meet them. According to Simmons there were members of the team that were being advised by Baird to take DNA samples from the wild pod for his research just before meeting Keiko. For Simmons and Robin, the idea of taking samples and agitating the wild pod just before meeting Keiko was unthinkable and frankly would set him up for failure.

According to Simmons, Keiko’s first meeting with his wild conspecifics was highly traumatic and caused Keiko to swim off in confusion. Due to an aerial spotter it was confirmed that Keiko did not go off with the wild pod but rather had traveled north and was swimming in fast sprints and then slowing to circle. This behavior indicated to both Simmons and Robin that Keiko was confused and disoriented. This first introduction was the breaking point for the established behavior team, when

22 management refused to change the assemblage of boats during introductions the team put forth an ultimatum. It was either change the plan to fewer boats offering more control of the situation or the team would walk. On July 20th 2000, Simmons,

Robin, Tom, and Kelly left the project due to fundamental differences in what it means for something to be in Keiko’s best interest.

Over the next three years from 2000-2003, a number of introductions were attempted. It was proven time and time again that the first introduction’s failure caused a negative association to wild whales for Keiko (and visa versa). Keiko never showed a vested interest to the wild pods he witnessed foraging or traveling. In

2002 the project began losing the majority of its funding, at this time, the crew members who were interviewed for the film Keiko the untold story of Free Willy were hired on (Demarset 2010). These crewmembers were Colin Baird, Mark

Berman, Tobba and Naomi Rose. Following an introduction, Keiko once again fled the scene and was found 300 miles away off the coast of . It was speculated that he originally followed the wild pod for some time, but, at some point, he went off on his own. There is no proof of him ever rejoining a pod on his journey to

Norway or if he was alone the entire time.

This is where Keiko spent his final days. Simmons includes an email excerpt from members of the original team inquiring about Keiko’s health and progress, the email shows that the data available to them showed Keiko was failing to not only assimilate into a wild pod but he was also not foraging on his own.

When looking at these two works about the same project and release, there seems to be clear differences as to what it meant for it to be successful. Keiko was

23 put under a rigorous rehabilitation plan with the aim of giving him the best chance to survive on his own. That rehabilitation was squandered by the lack of knowledge or care by management from OFS and FWKF. Keiko may have lived four years in the ocean after being under human care for 16 years, but he was never on his own. By all measures of the release standards, Keiko’s release was a failure due to his dependency on human care and company.

Section Five: Conclusions: should they be released or not?

Marine parks have recently come under fire. After the death of a SeaWorld trainer, animal advocates argue that parks should release all of their marine mammals, no matter if they came from the wild over 30 years ago or if they were born under human care. According to a study done two years after the trainer’s death, it was found that dolphin shows and interaction programs were actually highly educational for the public on basic information of the species as well as conservation efforts. Marine parks provide a unique environment for average people to get up close and personal to these majestic animals (Lück M & Jiang Y.

2007)(Jiang Y et.al 2007). In the film Blackfish, a few of the trainers explained that they decided to become trainers after visiting sea parks. There is a connection one gets after visiting and seeing these animals up close in a mostly controlled environment. Dolphins and orcas in the wild pop up rarely for majority of the population, this is one of the main reasons marine parks became so popular. The people wanted to see these creatures and wanted to learn about them, and like the

24 documentary Blackfish and others claim, “without these parks it’s hard to imagine a society so dedicated to the protection of marine mammals”(Cowperthwaite 2013)

(Parsons 2012).

However, with the death of Dawn, the SeaWorld trainer, the call to release marine animals has been strong and unceasing, despite not knowing if it would be better or worse for the animals to be released. Over the years a number of scientists have made the claim that animals under human care are crazed highly aggressive animals due to their confinement. Both the film Black fish makes this claim as well as Anderson et.al 2016. Trainers like Mark Simmons disagree with these blanket statements due to working with two killer whales, Tilikum and Keiko. Both the whales had similar beginnings in parks and yet only one killed people.

The call to release these animals has a negative side that is rarely taken into account by those looking to “free” them. Due to their prolonged exposure to humans, these animals’ chances of survival are drastically cut. Based on the information above and the advances in marine mammal care in parks, the best possible solution to this issue is to update facilities and keep them in . If facilities were updated to mimic the natural environment, the overall health of these marine mammals would greatly improve. Ultimately the issue lies on the fact that we as a society have a standard mindset on animal care, but facilities currently do not accommodate to these standards. There is a severe 1950’s facility set up with a proactive 21st century conservation mindset about these animals.

25 References

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