‘Blackfish’ Morgan Is Pregnant – Another Orca May Be Condemned to Life in Captivity

Posted by Dan on December 15, 2017 | Permalink

Morgan, the young orca who was betrayed by the people who were meant to help her and is languishing in captivity at the cruel Loro Parque marine park, is now pregnant.

Her story is heartbreaking. In 2010, she was found emaciated in the Wadden Sea off the coast of the Netherlands. A Dutch dolphinarium captured her with a specific permit to help her recover and rehabilitate so she could return to the ocean. But instead of being reunited with her pod in the Norwegian Sea or cared for in a protected seaside sanctuary, she was shipped off to Tenerife, Spain, where she has been held captive at Loro Parque and forced to perform ever since.

The pregnancy is a further injustice for Morgan. According to the Free Morgan Foundation, she is a protected wild orca under European Union law and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and according to the certificate issued for her transfer, there is a legal prohibition on using her for breeding purposes. Her offspring now likely faces a lifetime of being exploited for profit in captivity, never knowing the freedom and joy that orcas experience in the open ocean.

Morgan has suffered in captivity. She has been bullied and attacked by incompatible orcas, and in her desperation, she has smashed her head into a gate over and over again and even beached herself beside the tank in which she is forced to perform. Her behaviour shows that she is desperate for relief – which she would have in her ocean home and with her family, whom she no doubt remembers.

The news of Morgan’s pregnancy comes only weeks before a 23 January court hearing in which an appeal against the Dutch Secretary of State’s decision not to intervene in her situation will be heard.

You Can Help

Speak out for Morgan! Send a message to the Spanish government to let it know that you want to see Morgan transferred to a coastal sanctuary for potential reintroduction into her home waters and reunion with her family.

And if you can get to Utrecht in the Netherlands on 23 January, show your support in court by attending the Free Morgan Foundation’s legal challenge to the interpretation of Morgan’s permit and the conditions in which she has been held at Loro Parque.