How many times do we have to say it? Captivity kills.
Morgan, an orca owned by SeaWorld, was filmed this week deliberately beaching herself after a show at Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain.
According to witnesses, Morgan—who is imprisoned at Loro Parque along with five other SeaWorld-owned orcas—launched herself onto a concrete slab and lay motionless for more than 10 minutes.
Morgan on concrete slide-out, Loro Parque, 05/16 from Dolphin Project on Vimeo.
This performance wasn’t the first time Morgan beached herself. Another video has surfaced from February, 2016, showing the same behavior.
“Morgan was captured from the sea six years ago and has been fighting hard against the trials of her captivity ever since,” says PETA Foundation Director of Animal Law Jared Goodman. This abnormal behavior shows that she needs to be sent back to the ocean home that she remembers and misses.
Orcas are intelligent animals who swim up to 100 miles a day in the wild with their families, but at aquatic parks like Loro Parque and SeaWorld, they’re confined to tanks that allow them to swim only a tiny fraction of that distance, usually without the company of any family members. Marine animals kept in captivity suffer from severe emotional distress and chronic infections.
“At Loro Parque, where Morgan is on loan from SeaWorld, she is treated as a possession and used for profit,” Goodman says. “She has been attacked by incompatible orcas dozens of times a day, has smashed her head into a gate over and over again, and has now beached herself. SeaWorld needs to release this suffering orca and the others it holds captive to a seaside sanctuary now.”
What You Can Do
Morgan is still living in a small concrete tank, alongside other orcas on loan from SeaWorld. These intelligent animals are denied everything that is important to them and forced to perform for tourists. Sign the petition to the Spanish government and let it know that you want to see the orcas imprisoned by SeaWorld and Loro Parque transferred to a coastal sanctuary.
