Morgan
By
ale Orca
Fem
The Story of a Young
Years ago I spent a few nights in a hotel in a
village called Harderwijk where the Dolfinarium
of The Netherlands is situated. In the quiet
night of my hotel room I could hear noises
coming from the mammals inside.
It made me anxious. A feeling of loneliness
overwhelmed me. I lay awake for a long time
before I would finally fall asleep.
The next morning when I told my boyfriend, he
told me about an Orca that was found and taken
to the Dolfinarium. Her family was waiting for her
at sea. I remember this outstanding rescue, and
the joy I felt that the animal was still alive, being
fed and getting better. I was very grateful that a
judge in The Netherlands had said that the animal
in no way was to be exposed for us, the people.
It felt good to me that this animal was being
released into the waters to be reunited with her
family. That family knew where she was. And they
were waiting.
I felt so touched by the idea. All was going to
be well in the end. She would recover. In the
meantime the Dolfinarium was not allowed to
make some sort of toy out of her. That was good
enough for me. It was 2010.
I couldn’t have been more fooled. Where I
thought this case was closed…with a happy
es
e Mo
tt
Nicole
ending…something else was going on. (Now I am
the naïve type, mind you, and it is hard for me to
believe that the wellbeing of any creature is less
important than how much you can gain from it…
no matter what.) I heard this rumour that the little
Orca, who was named Morgan, was going to be
sold to a Park in Tenerife, Spain. I was furious.
How could this beautiful living being be sold into
captivity?
Several organisations and experts had been busy
considering this young killer whale’s fate. Some
of them in favour of the Dolfinarium. We soon
learned, that the Dolfinarium had paid their
experts.
In Tenerife the outcome was published: The Orca
was deaf so she would not be able to hunt nor
would she be accepted by her family. She would
be alone to die. Conclusion: Morgan was better
off in captivity.
Dr Ingrid Visser, who is an expert on Orcas, and
Richard O’Barry, (best known for training Flipper)
who is an expert in training and releasing dolphins
back into the wild, joined hands in court.
The Free Morgan Foundation asked the judges
to re-evaluate the decision made by the Dutch
authorities, to give the permit for her transport to
Lloro Park in Tenerife, Spain.