After just three months of life, the Orca calf named Kyara died this week. According to a spokesperson at SeaWorld in San Antonio, she had some “very serious and progressive health issues over the last week.” It was in March, 2016, that SeaWorld announced that it was ending its breeding program for orcas, meaning that […]
Tag: Killer Whale
Should dolphins and orcas be kept in captivity?
Animal advocates have been arguing for years that Lolita, the lone orca at the Miami Seaquarium, has spent decades living in a tank that’s far too small for her. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has historically maintained it’s legal, it looks like the agency might be changing its tune. Lolita was once a […]
5 Ways to Celebrate Orca Awareness Month
June is Orca Awareness Month, and orca fans and advocates are using it as an opportunity to raise awareness about the ways we can protect this amazing species — specifically an endangered population living in the Pacific Northwest. These orcas, otherwise known as the southern resident killer whales, live in three distinct pods (J, K […]
POLL: Should Orcas be bred and displayed in Chinese marine parks?
SeaWorld announced a year ago that it would end orca breeding at its parks in the U.S. One year later and nearly 8,000 miles away in China, another such program is just getting started. The Chimelong Group, one of the country’s biggest amusement park operators, revealed that it opened a breeding center for orcas on […]
POLL: Should orca entertainment shows be universally banned?
Orcas will flip through the air and perform high-energy tricks for an audience for the last time in California on Sunday, when SeaWorld puts on its final killer whale entertainment show in San Diego. After years of pressure from animal advocates and fallout from the documentary Blackfish, SeaWorld had announced the closing of the shows […]
POLL: Should this Canadian pipeline project be scrapped to save killer whales?
On one shore there are snow-capped mountains. On the other side loom towering skyscrapers. These churning waters off the coast of Vancouver are marked by a constant flow of ferries and containers ships – but they are also home to 80 or so orcas. Known as the southern resident killer whales the group has long […]
World’s largest protected marine area to shelter millions of penguins
As the only continent not permanently inhabited by humans, Antarctica is home to some of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet. Attracted by its fish-rich waters, some 46 species of birds, from skuas to storm petrels, have spread their wings to this largely barren, but far from lifeless, icy continent. But even on this […]
World on track to lose two-thirds of wild animals by 2020
The number of wild animals living on Earth is set to fall by two-thirds by 2020, according to a new report, part of a mass extinction that is destroying the natural world upon which humanity depends. The analysis, the most comprehensive to date, indicates that animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with […]