Free Morgan: Sunday People and Born Free launch appeal to help scarred and wounded captive killer whale As Morgan the orca leaps through the air under her trainer’s instructions, British tourists cheer the awesome spectacle. None of the holiday families know that this captive creature – performing as loudspeakers pump out Gloria Gaynor’s hit song I Will Survive – was born free in the ocean. The killer whale now performs what environmentalists describe as demeaning circus tricks in a “concrete coffin” up to three times a day. And they fear Morgan’s two-and-a-half-year incarceration at Loro Parque Zoo on the Spanish holiday island Tenerife has taken a heartbreaking toll. Campaigners say the anguished mammal is covered in scars and painful open cuts and bruises after repeatedly bashing her head and body on the side of her enclosure. They describe it as a deliberate and horrifying display of frustration. Four years ago Morgan was sick and malnourished when she was rescued by the Dutch coastguard off the northern coast of the Netherlands under a Government “rehabilitate and release” permit. Experts transported her to the country’s Dolfinarium Harderwijk attraction near Amsterdam. Her health improved and orca experts ruled she was fit enough to be released back into the wild. But the Dolfinarium Harderwijk disagreed and kept Morgan, who weighs one-and-a-half tons, on public view in a tiny tank 23ft by 65ft. She grew too big for the tank and in November 2011 she was shipped to Loro Parque. Two years earlier the zoo was struck by tragedy when an orca called Keto, born at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, attacked and killed trainer Alexis Martinez, 29. Follow the link to read the full article
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 09:17:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015