Jean-Michel Cousteau Joins Expert Board of the Free Morgan Foundation

We are happy to announce that Jean-Michel Cousteau accepted our invitation and joins the Expert Board of the Free Morgan Group!!

He wrote his reasons why he joins the Free Morgan Group in a letter which you can download here.

Some phrases of the letter are published below:

“I, in association with my not-for-profit organization, Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society and our organizations Marine Biologist and Field Producer, Holly Lohuis, am delighted to accept the invitation of your members to join the Expert Board of the Free Morgan Group.

I have been following the case of the young orca, Morgan, with particular interest as in the past we have had close contact with two individual orca and been involved with their rescue, rehabilitation and release.”

…..

“Until recently, I had no reason to believe that other orcas who have spent their lives in captivity could be successfully reintroduced to their pod or to a wild oceanic environment, even if the vast funds necessary were available to rehabilitate them for the wild.

I had been led to believe that only if we knew the location and pods from which individuals were captured, should we consider their release. However, now I realize that orca society is not always as structured as we first believed and that there is hope for individuals like Morgan, where the approximate location of her origin is known, even if her natal group cannot be identified by us mere humans.”

……

“Once Morgan has begun the rehabilitation process it would be logical that a safe enclosure for her could be installed in the area where orcas have been observed this summer off Norway. Once there, Morgan and the wild orcas could communicate acoustically and their reactions be monitored. Given the comments posted by our Ocean Futures Society members, I think there would be tremendous public support for a humane, experimental program like this which would give Morgan a chance at freedom.”

…….

“Furthermore I find it hard to imagine that it could even be considered to export Morgan to a facility which imprisons other orca, no matter the number of orca, the size of the facility or the apparent justifications for such a move, when clearly the best option for Morgan is release back into the wild through a well managed plan such as that prepared by the Free Morgan Expert Board.”

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Neeltje Jans Signs Agreement with Free Morgan

Letter of Intent between DeltaPark Neeltje Jans and the Free Morgan Group. Delta Park Neeltje Jans wishes to commend the Free Morgan Group for their attempts to secure Morgan the young orca rescued on the 23 June 2010, for rehabilitation and release back into her native population of orca in Norway. As DeltaPark Neeltje Jans has been involved in the rehabilitation and release of cetaceans (harbor porpoise) in the past, we realize the immense value such a program can have, both for the animals and for educating the public.

Download the letter.

Some phrases of the letter are published below:

We here at DeltaPark Neeltje Jans would like to offer our help and support in the following ways;

1. We can provide ‘facilities’ in the form of a semi-natural area of the DeltaPark Neeltje Jans complex. The area we are proposing is illustrated in Figure 1.
2. We can provide ‘facilities’ in the form of storage space for equipment, supplies and vehicles, including parking for the Free Morgan Group staff members .
3. We can provide ‘facilities’ in the form of an office sp2ce which would incorporate internet connections and power. In addition we would provide access to our staff rooms etc.
4. We can provide an area where it would be feasible to. place freezers should you require frozen fish to be available for Morgan.
5. We can provide holding tanks for the short-term containment of live fish to enable Morgan to reestablish her skills in hunting fish.
6. We can provide security during normal business hours, for the area where Morgan will be held.
7. We can provide an auditorium for presentations, furidraisers or workshops. This facility has the ability to project onto three large screens above a tank live of native fish.
8. We intend to offer financial support for the care of Morgan. This amount will be agreed upon at a later date.
9. We intend to provide educational displays at our expense (but with the assistance of the Free Morgan Group, please see details below). We would like to clearly outline that Delta Park Neeltje Jans in no way wishes to lay anytype of claim for the ownership or rights of or for Morgan. We are fully aware that this ‘hosting’ of Morgan is intended to be of a short-term riature (which may range from six months or thereabouts, to multiple years).
We only wish to facilitate her rehabilitation and release in whatever way we can.

Additionally we wish to make it transparent that we are not asking for Morgan to appear in ‘shows’ of the nature often associated with theme parks. However, we would like to be able for the public to view Morgan as we believe this is a perfect opportunity to educate the public, not only about orca, but also the of rehabilitation and release programs for all species.

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