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Advocates Dream of Flying Killer Whales to an Ocean Sanctuary, but Experts Clash Over Whether Science Supports the Move

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Advocates Dream of Flying Killer Whales to an Ocean Sanctuary, but Experts Clash Over Whether Science Supports the Move FEATURES Downloaded from An orca encounter http://science.sciencemag.org/ at SeaWorld in San Diego, California. AN OASIS FOR ORCAS on September 18, 2017 Advocates dream of flying killer whales to an ocean sanctuary, but experts clash over whether science supports the move By David Grimm ow do you retire a 5-ton whale? profi t. The group is scouting sanctuary the whale, but for the previously whale- That’s a question some advocates locations along North America’s coasts— free ecosystem, says Shawn Noren, a and scientists have been asking including coves and small groups of islands physiologist at the University of Califor- themselves in the wake of Sea- that could be cordoned of —with fundraising nia (UC), Santa Cruz, who has studied World’s historic decision in March to follow. Other organizations have proposed orca biology at marine parks for nearly to stop breeding the 29 orcas in its similar ideas. 20 years. And the costs are mammoth— care. Although the chain of theme “There’s enough known about how to do perhaps tens or hundreds of millions of parks says it will hold onto the this that we could put up a facility in the dollars. The challenges, she says, “are animals until they die—which for next 3 to 5 years if we had the resources,” mind-boggling.” many could be decades from now—a few says WSP President Lori Marino, a bio- Hgroups want to fl y them to a sanctuary in the psychologist based in Kanab, Utah. “We’re BOTH SIDES OF THE ORCA captivity de- sea, a kind of wildlife refuge for these intel- moving pretty quickly.” bate agree that killer whales are remarkable ligent and far-ranging creatures. The prob- But critics say such plans are prema- animals. They can travel thousands of kilo- lem? No such sanctuary exists. ture—and that they might not actually meters and dive more than 600 meters. But the groups are laying plans. Last help the whales. Placing an orca that has Their large, complex brains, like those of week, about three dozen scientists, vet- spent its entire life in a sterile, concrete chimps, are twice as big as would be ex- erinarians, and engineers announced the tank into an ocean fi lled with creatures pected for their body size. And the orca formation of the Whale Sanctuary Project and conditions it has never encountered neocortex, a brain region linked to self- PHOTO: WOLFGANG KAEHLER WOLFGANG PHOTO: (WSP), a Washington, D.C.–based non- before could be dangerous not just for awareness, communication, and problem- SCIENCE sciencemag.org 6 MAY 2016 • VOL 352 ISSUE 6286 641 Corrected 6 May 2016; see full text. Published by AAAS DA_0506NewsFeaturesR1.indd 641 5/6/16 11:01 AM NEWS | FEATURES solving, is among the most highly developed parks and aquariums. Marino and others have been possible without captive research. in the animal kingdom. Orcas are also social have argued that such enclosures stunt the It has strongly resisted calls to release its creatures that live in tight-knit family units animals’ physical and psychological growth, whales to the wild, noting that they have led by their mothers. They communicate in leading to stress, disease, and aggression spent most of their lives in pools, and would dialects of clicks and whistles that can vary toward other whales and even humans. likely die in the open ocean. Many anti- by region. What’s more, according to a study Tilikum, a SeaWorld orca now in poor health, captivity advocates actually agree. So, instead, published last year, they’re one of only has been implicated in the deaths of three they’re pushing for a middle ground—some- three animals—besides humans and pilot people, inspiring the 2013 documentary thing between a tank and the deep blue sea. whales—known to go through menopause, Blackfi sh, which played a major role in the an adaptation that may free older females company’s decision to stop breeding its killer AN ORCA SANCTUARY has been attempted to care for their extended families. whales and displaying them in shows. once before. In 1998, advocates loaded a All of this, advocates say, makes killer SeaWorld has countered that its orcas are killer whale named Keiko (star of the 1993 whales spectacularly unsuited for the rela- healthy and well cared for, and that much of film Free Willy) onto a giant military cargo tively small, isolated tanks found in theme what we know about the species wouldn’t aircraft and flew him to a remote island cove off the southwest coast of Iceland. In- dividuals working with the Free Willy-Keiko Sanctuary in the sea Foundation hoped to eventually return the 20-year-old whale to the open ocean. But Advocates hope to create an ocean refuge for captive orcas, to offer them a more natural life while protecting them from the open sea. Here’s what it might look like compared with their current digs. first they had to build him a sea home. It did not go smoothly. Workers fashioned Downloaded from Buoy a sea pen out of foam-fi lled plastic pipe. En- Containment nets circled by a deep net, it was about two-thirds Nets made of Dyneema, a the size of a football fi eld, anchored to the foating material as strong as ocean bottom with more than 100 tons of steel, could stretch hundreds of meters across coves or chain. About a year and a half later, the foun- between islands, keeping orcas dation opened up Keiko’s sea cage and gave http://science.sciencemag.org/ contained but allowing currents him access to the entire cove, which had been and fsh to pass through. Sea foor cordoned of with a 300-meter-long net. But fi erce weather and heavy currents regularly struck the cove, fraying the net and ripping bolts from the sea fl oor. Then there was the herculean task of car- Facilities on land Bay sites Could include a visitor center, Advocates envision cordoning of ing for the whale. At its peak, the facility a food preparation center, and Site 1 one or several bays, giving killer employed more than 20 people, including housing for veterinarians, trainers, whales a larger, more naturalistic veterinarians, security of cers, and trainers and a maintenance crew. environment than they have in Site 2 who taught Keiko to hunt for himself and on September 18, 2017 theme parks and aquariums. Access took him on “walks” in which he accompa- Site 3 channel nied a boat in the open ocean, says Michael 0 300 Net Parks, who was chief of marine operations for the project and is now with WSP. The cove meters Pool to scale was inaccessible by road, so everything had at SeaWorld in to be done by boat, including shipping in Orlando, Florida frozen herring by the ton to satisfy the orca’s 300-fi sh-per-day appetite. Yearly costs were estimated at $3 million, and Keiko was there Some typical theme park tanks for nearly 4 years. But Parks says that while in the cove, Keiko got of the medications he 0 40 had been on and grew more muscle. SCIENCE Miami Seaquarium meters In 2002, Keiko was given more access to in Florida the open ocean, and he soon joined up with a wild pod of orcas and left the cove for good. Satellite tracking showed that he made his Six Flags California way to Norway, but continued to seek human contact, and never fully integrated with his wild kin. He died of pneumonia in late 2003. No orca sanctuary has been attempted since. MARINO’S GROUP HOPES to change that. And it’s not being modest with its plans. 6-m orca Marino, whose academic research helped show that dolphins are capable of self- awareness, became an anticaptivity advo- cate about 10 years ago (Science, 29 April SeaWorld in SeaWorld in Marineland Canada Orlando, Florida San Diego, California 2011, p. 526). She envisions multiple sanc- CUADRA/ A. BY ADAPTED (ILLUSTRATION) GOOGLE EARTH; (DATA) CREDITS: 642 6 MAY 2016 • VOL 352 ISSUE 6286 sciencemag.org SCIENCE Corrected 6 May 2016; see full text. Published by AAAS DA_0506NewsFeaturesR1.indd 642 5/6/16 11:01 AM Keiko’s temporary sea home, Klettsvik Bay off Iceland’s Heimaey island, with his sea pen in the distance. Downloaded from tuaries that could hold up to several orcas, sessments and has vastly underestimated science.” Still, Connor says that such sanctu- created by drawing a net between islands costs. But critics say both groups have over- aries might open up new research opportuni- or cordoning off a cove like Keiko’s, but in simplifi ed things. ties. “We’ve just scratched the surface of what a calmer location. The enclosure would be we know about these animals.” “as open and naturalistic as possible,” she “WE ALL LIKE THE IDEA of retirement,” John Ford, a marine mammal scientist at says. “It will never be ideal, but it will be says SeaWorld’s chief zoological officer, Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Vancouver, http://science.sciencemag.org/ enormously different than a theme park.” Christopher Dold, a marine veterinarian in agrees. Studying orca vocalizations and feed- A sanctuary won’t be able to replicate orca Orlando, Florida, who has worked with orcas ing patterns is more accurate in an ocean social life, Marino admits, but at least the for more than 20 years. But he says the park’s setting, says Ford, who has researched killer whales could communicate acoustically whales already live comfortable, stimulating whales in their natural environment for more with wild orcas, as Keiko did.
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