A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Posts from the ‘Dolphins & Whales’ category

  • Hugs and Goodbyes

    See you in Alaska! Visiting the Orcas Tuesday: Grandma J2’s Birthday Wednesday: Off to the Island First Sighting Thursday: T is for Transient Luna the Orca Who Wanted to Be…

    The Whale Who Took Down SeaWorld
    How SeaWorld Is Like Scientology
    Navy Dolphins Scout for Mines in Croatia
    Orca Dinner Party

    The Nature of Dolphins

    In this video, we see a group of dolphins helping a confused seal pup find her way through the strong currents buffeting her around a rocky shore and back out to the ocean.

    Last week, we saw a tangled dolphin ask human divers to free her, as well as whales adopting an orphan dolphin, and dolphins nursing a sick family member. How many more such things happen on any given day? Hundreds? Thousands?

    And what does this tell us about the nature of dolphins?

    ‘Blackfish’ Orca Movie Is Talk of Sundance

    Is the new movie “Blackfish” – a powerful damning indictment of SeaWorld, screened at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend – this year’s answer to the 2009 Oscar-winning “The Cove”?

    The critics are giving it rave reviews, calling it “a damning indictment of SeaWorld” and even suggesting that “it stands a good chance of putting the “$2-billion theme park out of business.”

    More Dolphins Bite Tourists

    The tourists in the dolphin pool were told to stand in a line and splash the two dolphins, who would splash back. But one of the dolphins became aggressive and bit Sabina on her leg. Two others were attacked, too, and one of them ended up in hospital.

    Humpback Whale Freed from Fishing Gear

    The whale had probably been dragging this fishing gear around for months. Now he was weakened to the point where he could barely move or lift his tail. Thick rope was wrapped around his body – so tightly that it was clear that he had become entangled when he was younger and smaller, and, over the months, had grown deeply into the ever-tighter synthetic material.

    Who’s Killing the Dolphins?

    At least six dolphins have been brutally murdered along the Gulf Coast in recent months – shot, stabbed, body parts hacked off. Local authorities are encouraging…

    Dolphin Welfare vs. Dolphin Rights

    Is it OK to keep dolphins (including belugas and killer whales) in captivity as long as you follow certain approved standards of care from the zoo or research industries? Or do dolphins have the inherent right not to be held captive by humans in the first place?

    It’s a question that hovered in the background of last weekend’s conference of the American Cetacean Society in San Diego. And at one session, it exploded to the surface.

    Marineland’s Intimidation Tactics

    It’s a tactic that’s typical of corporations whose employees start blowing the whistle: Threaten a giant lawsuit. Marineland, the Canadian zoo that’s been the subject of…