Bravo, Springer… bravo!
In early 2002, an emaciated, sickly baby orca was spotted in the waters off of Seattle, all alone, without her mother. She was named Springer. After months of observation and growing popularity, she was rescued and rehabilitated by a coalition of animal welfare groups and ultimately released back into the wild with her family. (Born Free Foundation helped raise funds to support and monitor Springer’s ongoing protection after her release.) [teaserbreak]
She is the first and only orca to have been successfully re-integrated back into the wild with her pod after human intervention. Springer could have easily been captured for a life in captivity: a common fate for stranded marine mammals. She could have been nursed back to health, then taught to perform for our entertainment. Instead, for Springer, it was rescue, rehabilitation, release… freedom.
But the feel-good story doesn’t end there. In July 2013, Springer was spotted in her native waters with a new calf! Advocates crossed their fingers for the survival of this miracle baby, because many orca infant deaths occur in the first six months of life. To the delight of fans worldwide, the calf was seen swimming next to its mother one year later. As a celebratory milestone, the calf was given the name Spirit. Against all odds, new mother Springer survived and was successfully integrated back into her family—despite human intervention. This is the essence of compassionate conservation.
Let’s compare this with the situation surrounding Morgan, another orphaned female baby orca, herself found in the waters off of the coast of the Netherlands in 2010. She was rescued and rehabilitated, just like Springer… But, in her case, she was ‘rescued’ by Dolfinarium Harderwijk: a Dutch marine park that holds a ‘rescue, rehabilitation and release’ permit. Dolfinarium Harderwijk invited the public to view Morgan, despite the stipulation on the permit to not expose her to the public. Morgan was on display in a small tank for more than 18 months until the decision was made to relocate her—not back to the open ocean, but to another captive dolphin facility. Despite numerous court cases bought by animal welfare organizations to try to free Morgan from her captivity, Morgan was sent to Loro Parque in Tenerife (a Spanish island off of the coast of Africa): a sea park affiliated with SeaWorld. Four years after her ‘rescue’ from the wild, Morgan still resides at there, suffering endless days of confinement, daily public performances, and reported attacks from her tank companions. Of course, she’s worth more to the park as breeding stock and as a performer than she is back out in the wild. After all, she is still very young, and has decades of performing potential…
Despite sea parks like SeaWorld that claim to be in the forefront of conservation, there has not been a single documented incident of an orca being rehabilitated and released back into the wild by a commercial sea park.
Shame on those who keep cetaceans in captivity… and bravo, Springer! Wild, free, and a new parent.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Adam