SeaWorld is evolving. Responding to public pressure, SeaWorld is no longer doing big flashy killer whale shows at its San Diego facility. And it has just announced that it will no longer breed killer whales, often called orcas, in captivity. I’m evolving, too. About a decade ago I responded to a friendly invitation from a […]
orcas
Tragedy and Teachings of SeaWorld
When I saw SeaWorld’s announcement that they are going to stop breeding killer whales, I had mixed feelings – all of them positive. I’ll explain. Fresh out of college in 1977, I bought a ticket and found a seat in the bleachers to see my first killer whales. (It would be another 15 years before I […]
SeaWorld Ends Orca Breeding: Experts Weigh In
SeaWorld just announced that they would no longer let their orcas — also known as killer whales — breed. I asked several killer whale and animal behavior experts for their opinions. Barbara J. King, whose books include How Animals Grieve, wrote: Killer whales and other cetaceans suffer so much in captivity, both physically and emotionally, […]
Breach the Snake River Dams
By Kenneth Balcomb, guest essayist Note: In this guest essay, long-time killer whale researcher Ken Balcomb shows how obsolete but still salmon-killing dams are helping cause the decline of killer whales due to food shortage in the Northwest. The dams do feed us one thing: propaganda. As Ken wrote to me, “I was flabbergasted that […]
The glorious moms of elephants and whales
Adapted excerpt from Safina’s upcoming book, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, in stores July 14, 2015. (CNN) Four mother elephants are keeping their rotund babies in the shade of their bodies as they lead them across a sweet-smelling grassland under an already-hot early equatorial sun. Striding with deliberate purpose as though keeping an appointment, […]
Can a killer whale be a slave?
Sign our Avaaz petition: Let’s keep working to #FreeLolita! Originally posted on CNN Opinion, February 4, 2015. (CNN) – “Lolita’s story reminded me of my own,” says African-American actress and singer Robbyne Kaamil. “My own relatives, my family ancestors, were captured and forced into slavery.” Captured in waters off Washington State in 1970, Lolita is an orca […]