Morgan (orca)
Morgan is a female killer whale of the coastal and fish-eating population off Norway. She was rescued from the Wadden Sea off the Netherlands in 2010 .
Salvage
About a week before the killer whale was rescued, some people reported seeing a "big whale". The coast guard asked the Dolfinarium Harderwijk to work out a rescue plan for the animal. In a complex rescue operation, the animal was finally brought to the dolphinarium . The killer whale was 3.57 m long and weighed only 430 kg, which according to experts is at least 230 kg too little for an animal of this length. She also suffered from pneumonia and was dehydrated . Its age has been estimated to be 1 to 3 years
rehabilitation
Due to the severe underweight, weight gain was a top priority. The killer whale showed great appetite and reached a weight of over 700 kg within 3 months. He was soon in excellent health, although many experts had believed he would die in the first few weeks.
Release plans
It quickly became clear that one had to bring the animal back into its family group - partly because of its young age - otherwise it would not survive. A group of international scientists was therefore contacted who had set themselves the goal of cataloging all orcas in the North Atlantic and making them easily identifiable through photos. The scientists started their work in September 2010, taking photos of the skin pattern and the dorsal fin and taking DNA samples. But one could not find the associated family group.
A council of seven independent scientists agreed that Morgan could not be released into the wild. She is not able to hunt independently and she would not be taken in by a strange orca family. The Dutch authorities therefore made a final decision not to return Morgan to the sea.
After several lawsuits from various animal rights organizations, scientists firmly confirmed that the only alternative to keeping Morgan in human care would be to euthanize her.
Relocation
The Dolfinarium Harderwijk applied for permission to bring Morgan to Loro Parque to be reintegrated into a family with enough space.
The Orca Coalition called for the scenario of a release to be re-examined and sharply criticized Loro Parque and its orca attitude. The experts assumed that, with the help of a detailed sound analysis, it might be possible to find Morgan's group after all, but that reintegration at the stage is very unlikely.
On November 29, 2011, Morgan was finally taken to Loro Parque . In the course of two months it was presented to all animals in the group and in March 2012 the integration process was declared officially complete.
Since she did not react to acoustic signals, an audiogram was performed in December 2012, which proved that Morgan is almost completely deaf and this not only explains her hunting difficulties and her stranding, but also clearly makes a successful release impossible.
pregnancy
At the end of 2017, the vets discovered the whale's pregnancy during a routine ultrasound examination . As it turned out, Morgan was already in the 5th of about 18 months of gestation at this point.
As early as 2015, the Free Morgan Foundation demanded that Morgan should be separated from the males in their group, as they considered reproduction to be illegal. However, the Spanish competent authority stated that there were no restrictions in this regard, and Loro Parque stated that reproduction was a fundamental right for animals, but that it would not be artificially assisted.
Morgan gave birth to her first calf on September 22, 2018 . The little female was named Ula. Due to the low milk production, Ula had to be raised by hand by the keepers, although Morgan behaved in an exemplary manner. Nevertheless, according to Loro Parque , both have a close relationship and swim a lot together. The Loro Parque announced that the calf to his first birthday - is in good health - after overcoming a minor skin infection.
Individual evidence
- ↑ People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: Call on Loro Parque to release Morgan. Retrieved October 28, 2019 .
- ^ Helmut Hetzel: Whale lady "Morgan" stays in Holland. August 3, 2011, accessed October 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Orca Morgan takes care of offspring in Loro Parque. September 25, 2018, accessed on October 28, 2019 (German).