Sudden announcement of Morgan’s Verdict

2014-MORGAN VERDICT- verdict due_resizeThe Dutch High Court has suddenly announced that Morgan’s verdict will now be announced on the 23 April.

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58 thoughts on “Sudden announcement of Morgan’s Verdict”

  1. Morgan will stay where she is . This is the decision of the court.
    As a marine mammals trainer who work with these animals daily , I am really happy about this decision. The winner of this story is not Loro Parque , Sea World or the captive industry itself , but Morgan.
    Activists have failed in their attempts to release Morgan. She is not a good candidate for release. The sad story of Keiko will hopefully not be repeated.
    At the end science and good sense win always.

    1. No. I’m sorry, but there is so much wrong with this.
      I fail to see how this could ever remotely be considered a “win” for Morgan. Being in captivity is clearly degrading her health and wellbeing, as seen by being attacked by the other orcas regularly, her injuries and scarring, showing signs of stress and boredom by chewing the concrete, the terrible damage to the outer edge of her teeth as a result of this, how is all this considered a “win”?
      Getting her rehabilitated and back in the ocean, as she should be, solves ALL these problems. ALL her problems are a direct result of being in a captive environment.
      Being in a marine park is doing her no good. Anyone can see that. It is a win for Morgan when she gets out of there, away from commercial profit and greed, stress, injury, and loud crowds, to the environment she was built to live and thrive in.

      “As a marine mammal trainer” – Just because you work with marine animals, training them, does not give you a leg to stand on. So you teach these animals to do the tricks required to perform to paying crowds at a marine park, does this make you an expert on matters like this?

      Keiko’s story is often butchered by people working with marine parks, they all consider Keiko’s story to be a failure. Of course they would, they never want it to be proved that maybe orcas do improve when not in a captive setting, gosh forbid, lol.
      Keiko’s story was a success. He went from a sickly, underweight orca who floated around in a nasty shallow, too warm pool in Mexico to a robust, healthy orca who experienced the life orcas are meant for and played in the stormy waters of iceland.. His skin legions from the mexican pool he came from cleared up, he gained weight, he started to vocalise and breach more on his own accord. His health and energy improved vastly. When he chose to leave the sea pen, he travelled and socialised with other wild orcas, he hunted prey for himself, he travelled immense distances.
      Yes, his story ended with him dying, but that does NOT make it a failure. To say it was a failure is a slap in the face to all that he achieved. He died of pneumonia, which is a common orca disease. The cause of how and why he caught it, there may be many different reasons, and may not be linked to his rehabilitation, but possibly from his time spent in captivity, such as a weakened immune system. But to state as if that undoes and makes all that progress and improvement INVALID, as if orcas do not improve, is ridiculous. Looking at all the positives of Keiko’s rehabilitation, you cant deny other orcas that because of that disease.
      And that is another good point, Morgan is NOT Keiko. They are not the same individual, and they are not in the exact same circumstances. Morgan has spent a few years in the ocean before being taken, and this time, we actually know the pod this orca came from. If it benefitted him, theres no reason it cant benefit her.

      I also find your “science” comment terribly poor. Loro parque is not for science, they are for profit. They never took Morgan for science, this is not what this is even about. This is not about science winning, it is about what is best for Morgan, which so far has been proved by example, it is not in loro parque that is best for her.
      They took her, for greed, profit, and fresh new wild genes for the already poor captive gene pool. Thats why they refuse to let her go, or for people to know the truth. When she was rescued, it was agreed she would be released when she was better. And her permit for being moved to loro parque, was that she was not to be used for commercial purposed. They have completely broken that, she is being used in shows. Now they lock her in with the male orca, trying desperately to get her pregnant, even though she is FAR too young that is healthy for orcas. It would be a miracle if she doesn’t reject a calf, let alone get through a pregnancy without problems.
      This isn’t science for the marine parks. At all.

      And what about scientists that actually study wild orcas and see what is best for these animals, away from money and being biased.

      Keep up the good work Free Morgan foundation.

      “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”

      1. Thank you for your answer.

        I am sorry but I cannot be agree with you. Your arguments are always the same used by the anti-caps community.
        Let’s start point by point…

        1. Yes , I am an expert in cetaceans management under human care. I have 23 years experience in the field working with several species. Yes , I am an expert in cetaceans behavior , no I am not a stupid clown who train animals to do stupid tricks for money. This limited vision of the question is typical from side of this debate but we don’t care , we are used to it… In addition , I have worked with many stranded animals , sometimes with success sometimes not. This is my background , I don’t know what is your experience with these animals but considering your comments , I imagine it is equal to zero. Watching Blackfish is not enough….

        2. Morgan is suffering because of captivity… This conclusion is coming from this report written by Mrs Visser. I am sorry but this report is not correct. This report is based on few hours observations from the public area of Loro Parque. It is not enough to reach these conclusions. I would like also to say that Mrs Visser has zero experience in Killer whales management under human care , Sea World has more than 40 experience… I don’t have to add anything else… I have personally see Morgan in the last period and she is doing great like the other whales .

        3. Yes , we can talk about science if you want. When Morgan arrived on the Dutch coast, who took care of her ? The makers of Blackfish ? Mrs Visser ? You ? No , the captive industry took care and SAVED her , this is a fact , end of the story ! From the other side , just bla bla , from our side , facts and actions that saved her life. Yes we can talk about science. What did Morgan need during her rehab process ? I tell you what she needed : Vet care. This is a science available in Marine Park with our long experience. Taking pictures of orcas dorsal fin from a boat in the wild is important but this will not make a vet expert to cure a cetacean. Even Keiko had a vet coming from the captive industry , so stop laughing about our science , you just know nothing about it. Yes we make money and this money was a huge advantage for Morgan’s needs. Do you have an idea of the cost of maintenance of a killer whale ? I don’t think so…

        3. Keiko… Yes it was a failure. How can you think to reintroduce a big male in the wild after more than 20 years under human care ? Yes I was happy that he left that horrible situation in Mexico , but the release plan was a total failure. At the end he swam from Iceland to Norway , alone. When he arrived in Norway , he went to a harbor begging for food because unable to feed himself. Calling this a success is a shame , and we know the end of the story. Your side wanted to see him swimming in the ocean , he did but he never been reintroduced to the wild. The plan was just a need that emotional people, like you ,had . and Keiko paid the bill

        4. Morgan ‘s pod has been identified ? This is a big big lie , there are just some doubts about it. The releasing plan does not give enough guaranties for the well being of Morgan. The Dutch court understood this very well. There are no place for emotions in Court but just for evidence. Now , I am even laughing , on the web , I already read that the Dutch court was corrupted by Sea World , I prefer not making a comment …. it is too ridiculous and an insult for the Dutch justice system.

        Yes , Morgan won . Not a live as a wild killer whale , the nature sentenced her to death. The Marine Park industry saved her and offer her an alternative life with the best care available on this planet.

        Keep talking , it will not change anythings

        Have a nice day

        1. Totally diagree with you bob Malden firstly as you say mrs Vassen it’s Dr Vassen and isn’t just given the title for nothing.

          When Morgan arrived in holland probably nobody else was given the chance to look after Morgan as it was all a curupt money making scheme .

          There’s really all the science and factual facts that Morgan needs to be freed and taken back to Norway it’s stands to reason would you like to be cooped in a tank day after day
          Knowing you might never live your normal life again really you think that’s normal !!!!

          there’s all the proof there this is all a money making scheme out of a highly intelligent mamal.

          All these people fighting for Morgan are very highly intelligent people fighting for freedom for Morgan.

          Why on earth are you on this page we want helpful people fighting for freedom for Morgan I’m sorry you haven’t a clue sounds like your brainwashed to your job in an aquarium.

          Sorry but truth hurts sometimes

      2. Thank YOU, J Armstrong. for what you said. After I read Bob Mladen’s blabber above I was so angry. A “marine mammals trainer”, I think you’d be a bit nervous about the whales being released back to the wild, as you’d be out of a career, let alone a job. This creatures should not be EVER in captivity for any reason. If they need medical help, and it can be provided in the wild, great. If it can’t, let nature take it’s course. But to snatch the whales from the wild with the ruse of “oh, we took such good care of them” is just crap. Here in the Pacific North West, a new calf was just born this month to the Endangered Southern Resident Orcas. Newborn calves do not have a high survival rate during their first year. Do you want to come take that babe away from its ever-present mom and aunt, who have not left its side since birth, to make sure it gets help to survive? Then keep it in a tub for the next 35+ years because to release it back into the wild would not be a “win” for the calf? If it is meant to survive, it will. It has so many people watching out for it, but from afar, with no intervention. If it does not come back up here next summer, so be it. But at least there IS a new calf in the wild. And the Southern Residents are up one more as of today. Hopefully soon Lolita will be back home with them too.
        Seriously – if you are that passionate about the creatures, how can you even bare to see them such as they are? Would you want to be confined in a cell every single second of your life, relying on others for your daily meals, with no family at all, the only companionship another non similar being to you, put there to breed with you. How awesome a life that would be. There is no excuse to keep these mammals in captivity anymore. We have learned a ton from them, parks have made a ton from them, let’s let them be. The ones that can be returned – Morgan and Lolita – return them. If they survive, fabulous. if they don’t, they at least have the freedom of the days they will survive. There are enough real scientists and specialists who can assist with the rehabbing and releasing and make sure it’s done correctly. It’s just all pure selfishness of the parks and all that own and work there. Sure you’ve made connections with the orcas, but so have we with the wild ones. No different than a dog trainer sending their class home end of the day – it’s not their dog to keep. Enough already – leave the whales alone.

    2. I disagree completely. Morgan is absolutely a good candidate for release. She is young, and her release plan is reasonable.
      The sad story of Keiko? Really? That was no sad story. Keiko’s release was a success to the extent that it could be. Keiko was a role model of freedom for all cetaceans in captivity. Also, you can’t compare Keiko’s release with Morgans – they have two very different stories.
      We have not failed, we will not stop fighting until the tanks are empty.
      “at the end science and good sense win always.” Yes, that is true. That’s why we will win.

      Thank you J Armstrong for your very great detailed response.

      1. Thank you so very much : )

        And for lending your voice as well.

        I wrote points back but because of the length it’s waiting for moderation. xD

      2. What is your acknowledge on cetacean management ? So for you , the young age of Morgan is enough to make her a good candidate ? The release plan is not reasonable because Morgan’s pod has not be identified for sure. Not enough guaranties. This is why the Dutch Court didn’t follow that plan but our science , not your emotional feelings. Morgan need serious people not Blackfish watchers to take care of her.
        Hopefully you don’t have Morgan in your hands and you will never have her. Because if for you Keiko ‘story was a success, it is no points to talk with you.

        Just leave the animals in the hands of competent people and leave them in peace.

        Our tanks will never be empty as your brain is.

        Cheers

        1. “The release plan is not reasonable because Morgan’s pod has not be identified for sure. Not enough guaranties. This is why the Dutch Court didn’t follow that plan but our science , not your emotional feelings. Hopefully you don’t have Morgan in your hands and you will never have her. Because if for you Keiko ‘story was a success, it is no points to talk with you.”

          You seem to be only thinking of Keiko and completely ignoring other cetacean releases. Springer was an orca that was successfully rehabilitated and released. She is still sighted today. Springers case is actually MUCH closer to Morgans than Keikos. And in the end she did not even need her original pod and family, she joined another group of orca and was integrated in. You cannot base ALL possible orca rehabilitations one ONE, meaning Keiko.

          And to say people fighting for Morgan only have emotional feelings, and not science, is again completely choosing to ignore the scientists that have all this time, been speaking at the court cases in favour of her release and backing it up. Again, you may have scientists, but marine parks = mostly profit, not science.

          “Just leave the animals in the hands of competent people and leave them in peace.”

          You say this, yet the park Morgan is currently in is NOT competent at all. They are highly irresponsible with their orcas, such as inbreeding, baby orca calves not living to over a year old, such as Vicky, dysfunctional orcas attacking each other more often than is normal, breeding their orcas WAY too young, as Morgan is planned to, and other issues. Loro parque is definitely not the most competent and not the best example of care that Morgan could have.

          “Our tanks will never be empty as your brain is.”
          It takes intelligence, thinking, and a lot more to see why cetaceans don’t belong in captivity, and to see through what certain parks motives are, than to just go along with it and not see the problem, or choose not to see it. And again that comment completely disregards all the wild cetacean experts.

          Debunked again.

          1. and I will add, Springer is now a healthy happy MOM!! She was a sickly young orca, but with the help of REAL specialists, and someone with money, she was taken up to her waters, kept just for a few days before wanting to go join up with the others. It can be done. Enough is known about these mammals that it can be done.

        2. Competent people ? What keeping an animal in a tank are that’s what you call competent!! Her pod has been identified it’s in her natural waters were she’s from of course she’s been identified to her pod if you knew anything about orcas you would know that they have matched mamal markings , etc these people don’t study at university’s for nothing and gain qualifications!
          And yes we will get Morgan back in our hands we will fight against cruel people like you.
          Justice will be done !
          Competent people you say what’s that ? Leaving Morgan to rot in a grotty tank what competent person would do that ?

          Please don’t waste our time leave it to the professionals we will free Morgan

        3. Morgan and all the other orcas and dolphins in captivity are Gods creatures and should be treated with the upmost respect. Why can’t Morgan and all the other orcas and dolphins be transferred to open ocean pens in the respective countries they live in until they are ready to be released? If they cannot be released than they should spend their lives in open ocean pens rather than forced to perform tricks for food. There are enough volunteers to watch over the dolphins and orcas while they are in the open ocean pens to care for them and guard them. There are enough wealthy wildlife donors in the world to provide for the cost of care to these animals so the sea parks won’t have to. There are enough free bays and coves in the world to serve as open ocean pens ? God will take care of his creations most of all and he works through the many men and women who take care of these marine animals. Bob Mladen please stop insulting others on this page and seek God for you will be judged for your actions in harming his creations by endorsing their perpetual lives being in captivity.

        4. You science is to stuck animals in pools way too small for them, feeding them dead fish, making them go crazy from the lack of space and enrichment by entertainment, keeping them in water with chemicals, and pretending everything is all right.

          Yes, you can provide SOME medical help to these whales, didn’t keep Taima from dying while delivering her stillborn fourth calf, although she was on 20. As a Marine biologist of extraordinary knowledge, you must know why that bothers me right?
          It was a complete lack of respect and care from the park medical team to make her reproduce this fast and this young, and she died for it.

          Stop making it sound like they care about anything else than their pockets, because they don’t. They just want to keep these animals alive enough to make a profit. That’s it.

  2. Dear Bob,

    I am not part of the anti- cap community,but after reading your e-mail exchanges with J. Amstrong, it appears that your arguments are rather lights and unfortunately devoid of truly scientific facts.

    Rather than debate unnecessarily, because everyone remains on its own position, would it not be better to create a constructive debate on the welfare of Morgan and orcas being in captivity?

    It would be interesting to have in the future a real synergy & interaction between scientists working in aquatic parks and scientists observing wildlife in order to really improve the quality of life of the cetacean living in captivity!!!

  3. The only. ne who can say for certain if Morgan is happier in a tank than the ocean is Morgan. Unfortunately for all of us she can’t tell us what she wants…I just wonder what she would tell us if she could. I know that if I were in her place I would want to go home. To Bob as for facts, Regardless of who you are or what experience you have, you can’t read an animal’s mind.

    P.S Bob personally you sound like a bully to me

  4. .. And she’s already pregnant. This is not normal – this is abuse. Loro Parque is absolutely NOT doing her any good at all.

    1. Morgan is pregnant? Oh no, she’s too young to be bred. This was the marine parks goal all along, to get a hybrid baby from her to keep in their show. Now it will be much harder for her to be released if she is pregnant and after she gives birth to the calf. Morgan needs to be relocated to an open ocen pen in the Netherlands NOW! To save both her and her baby. God will punish the greed of the marine park owners.

  5. You would get RSPCC on your door if someone report to them that you are using a dog for breeding. Then WHY??? Is there not a single law or regulation to say this is just out of order? This needs to be stopped??
    Poor Morgan.

  6. Do not listen to Bob Mladen. A marine mammal trainer will always support that marine mammals live in captivity. Trainers have very limited capacity and it must be frustrating. Sit, roll and swing the tail are things that any idiot can teach, either for a dog, an elephant or an orca. If they are concerned about the animals, they would teach to hunt seals and to ambush fish. When Bob become a unemployed marine mammal trainer, he might change his mind.

  7. Here in Brazil we have a federal law that prohibits the use of live animals in shows of commercial nature. It was the end of the shows with elephants and lions in circuses. Many abuse happened in these circuses, the same as the orcas and dolphins Sea World / Loro Park. Unfortunately rodeos are still allowed. Parks like Sea World / Loro Park would not be allowed to open here.

    1. ok you don’t have marine park anymore and you seems to be proud of it. But I have to remind you that in YOUR country , YOUR people kill at least 1000 river dolphins every year , what are you doing for this ?

    1. Yes, she joined a pod of Orcas (Not her original family but another group) she is still spotted alive and well in the wild today. =)

    2. and is now a MOM!!! Springer is sighted all the time up here in BC, Canada and we were so so happy when she turned up with a calf.

  8. BULLSHIT Bob Mladen, you’re so full of crap! Keiko was ill he wasn’t going to survive anyway. He was suffuring loads of disease due to the Mexican where he was living… The new pool did make him feel a little bit better but he was in bad health condition and was going to die, it was better for him to live in the wild and end his life in the wild.

    I am against stupid seaworld and all amusement park, I think that orcas shouldn’t breed in that kid of park. This orca is sad, you don’t need to be einstein to know that. And your “I’am an expert in ..” I don’t buy it, if you were you wouldn’t work for that kind of company! BECAUSE you would know that orcas are suffuring in small aquarium, you would know that seaworld makes money out of Orca’s babies YES you would freaking know that they separate the moms from their babies.. You would know that the moms are CRYING yes CRYING for their babies. So mister know it all I’m going to put u in a cage like in a zoo for the rest of your life tell me if you like it? With people laghing a ya face!

    And if you dare say that my english is not good, I DONT CARE I should add some of my native language stupiiid assss

    AND Science, let’s say smth about science. If you knew a little bit about science you wouldn’t say that she has to stay in this horrible place and you know what? BECAUSE She hasn”t been there for as long as other orcas like Tilikum! Oh yeah right tilikum the whales who has killed 3 people but nobody freaking care abour his mental situation.

    And if you’re as stupid as the girl we see in Blackfish who tells tochildren that orcas in the have a less longer life span than in seaworld.. FREAKING inform u, there’s a mama orca who reached 103 year old!!!!!!!

    GOOOOOOOD BYE IDIOT

    1. Well,if you think that you help Morgan by insulting people , it is up to you.
      Hopefully Morgan is in our hands and not yours. At the end , this is the important thing. We are the professional and you are nothing .

      Gooooooood bye IGNORANT

      1. I find it hilarious how you say insulting people will go nowhere, yet you then do the same and call them ignorant.

        The main ignorant person around here seems to be you who ignores everything told to you about Morgans situation.

        1. So what ? She has the right to call me ” idiot ” and I should not reply ? Yes she has no education and she is ignorant. Again , I am working with marine mammals for more than 20 years ,killers whales included and I know what I am talking about. All your lies about Morgan are not reaching me and hopefully not even the Dutch Court. Keep talking , dreaming and insulting , meanwhile we keep Morgan.

          1. Wow, how can you possibly even dare to suggest all these issues about Morgans welfare are LIES?

            They are based on things SEEN and OBSERVED over YEARS. They are NOT being made up as fiction.

            Considering the fact of how much various marine parks lie to their guests, twist their info, have lied time and time again, that is just ridiculous.

            You have clearly shown throughout all this you are very close minded and very quick to be defensive and point fingers without even considering what Morgan is going through.

            good day.

          2. Bob, please stop misusing punctuation. You claim to be so intelligent and that others have no education yet you can’t figure out that a comma is not followed by a space.

            As others have said above it’s doesn’t take a genius to figure out that any creature; human, whale, lion, elephant etc. should be confined to a small cell.

            If it’s such an ideal situation to live in how about we stick you in a bedroom for life? We will bring you food, and once a day we will even let you out into the living room so you can jump up and down and do tricks for a crowd of strangers. And best of all we will crank up the AC/DC while you do these tricks.

            Doesn’t that just sound like an awesome life?

  9. So Morgan is pregnant? How very sad! So for all the “proffesionals” out there that said they wanted to help her it was all lies! It really is only about profit with you people. Focing an under age orca to get pregnant is tantamount to rape and perhaps later if she or her baby does not make it… Murder! Well done to you all! I will keep on fighting captivity of Orcas and there eventual release!

  10. Some very interesting points.

    Either way these animals should not be kept in tanks. There really is no evidence to suggest this benefits them.

    I see keiko as a success story. Would he have been lonely and sad if he remained in his tank and died there….probably. Did he end his life with freedom and the ability to make his own choices. Absolutely.

    These whales are not ours. I can only see financial gain in holding them. Why must they perform? If it was about rehabilitation and care their tanks would be bigger and not made to perform for food.

    Would love to see any person go to hospital and then be told they could never leave and go home. But it must be good for them to stay in hospital with the care their receive….no?

  11. Any animal taken from the place Gods made for that animal to be please it just like keeping your child in a room with nothing you can understand people just want to help this animal
    thats why we are upset please help its suffered ling enough

  12. Bob Mladen, you are so immature for someone to claim they’ve worked with Mammals for over 20 years. You are not a professional, you are a joke. Saying something like “Keep talking , dreaming and insulting , meanwhile we keep Morgan”, how do you sleep at night? It’s like your a taunting child and claiming an object for your own. I will point this out as you don’t seem to understand, Morgan is NOT an object you can claim, she is a living thing and she deserves to be free from people like you. You are so blind to the truth it’s quite sad. Can’t you see the damage that’s been done to Morgan? She doesn’t belong in captivity, NO animal deserves to be locked up. If you REALLY understood animal behaviours and have studied Cetaceans as you claimed before, you wouldn’t be supporting Loro Parque.

  13. My heart sunk reading all of these comments. I try to understand what you trainers don’t get.

    -Have you ever seen orcas in the wild?
    -Have you learned how closely knit and sophisticated their family structure is?
    -Have you ever experienced so close and affectionate bonds orcas have to their family members? (How would you feel being kidnapped and kept in a closet for the rest of your life – not knowing anything about your loved ones?)
    -Have you ever compared what’s the difference swimming 20-30-40 miles a day or 500 laps in the 20 meters concrete pool? (You can stretch and flex your feet in the closet. Does it make up for a Marathon?)
    -Have ever thought about even physiologically ho much they miss diving?
    -Can you imagine that they are highly intelligent creatures totally capable of understanding their environment and making independent decisions – which are also taken away from them in captivity?
    Or are you only try to silence your empathy and conscience?

    Keiko? Failure? Living years in freedom, gaining weight, healing wounds, showing more active and natural behavior is failure? He did not joined a group – he didn’t find his family? No wonder after that many years of being cut off from them.Yes, that was tragically missing from a super social animal’s life.

    In the same time it taught us to be even more prudent in rehabilitation.
    However as I see Morgan has her family. She can be reintroduced to her pod.

    If I want to give authority to this opinion I can tell you that I am Ethologist and Psychologist. Now you can bring up arguments why I am not an expert, but let me quote one of your fellow trainer, Ric O’Barry:

    “Captivity is hard on cetaceans for many reasons. Concrete pools are too small and too enervating for cetaceans to thrive, especially given that wild dolphin travel many miles each day in their natural environment. These social animals are often put in tanks with unfamiliar individuals, which can cause considerable stress and difficulties. It has been proven that many species of cetaceans die early in captivity compared to the wild.

    Furthermore, captivity also does a disservice to people, especially children. Seeing these magnificent animals perform circus tricks for dead fish, with little context about how these animals live in the wild, is a form of bad education and should stop.

    We can do better…”

  14. Bob
    If you were sincere and true in your feeling towards whales, then you should raise your money through charities for their rehabilitation. After rehabilitation the whales etc., should be returned to the wild if at all possible. Your are keeping Morgan for nothing but more profit. One day there will be no demand for your parks and that will be that. Then it will be True End and only rehabilitation centres will be open.
    Even my more or less brain less cats cannot bear to be kept inside so what must it be like for a whale.
    I have read your comments in full, they are if you look at them all about you and your organisation.
    Dawn Thomas – not an activist – just a human who has respect and love for everything on this planet.

  15. I have not seen any up dates on Morgan’s welfare since the verdict back in April. Any one know how she is doing. although it’s not hard to guess stuck in a concrete pool so sad.

  16. Sooooo if captivity is best for Morgan… According to you, the scars, attacks, bullying and fresh wounds are totally normal and healthy? You’re kidding right? Even the various groups of wild orca that swim with icebergs. Or hunt sharks and seals, natural prey that is fighting for its life and is VERY capable of doing significant damage to their orca attackers. Even those orca don’t have as much damage as little Morgan. I’m not seeing any possible explanation by captivity supporters as how this damage is normal, or good for her in any way shape or form. If someone has an argument for how attacks, bullying, scars, self-mutilation, and being apart from her family are good for her, I’d be genuinely interested.

  17. Eaven the ocean waves are cryin´
    I can feel their screams for freedom
    deep inside my heart
    I dont care about a veredicts decision.
    They have studied their laws.
    I´ve studied my heart

    What do we know about feelings
    …these deep hearts of orcas…
    born in the magnificent ocean
    what if their hearts could
    whisper to us… Feel it.
    Just feel.

    1. That book’s author is far from clean, trustworthy or non biased. Look up the book more on tumblr anti cap blogs, that book and their author is very sketchy.
      You cant just link that book, which is full of rubbish, and ignore everything else people are saying.

      And again, this issue is about MORGAN. NOT Keiko.

      They are not the same whale and they are NOT in the same circumstances.

      1. The author is far from clean ? He was the director of animal husbandry during Keiko’s rehab project, he has been choosen by the people who wanted to release him.
        His book explain the true about what happened really. This guy was not behind a computer like you do reading anti-caps pages ( that’s the real rubbish ) but he was with Keiko daily.
        Keiko has been killed by emotional people like you,hopefully the same mistake will not be repeated with Morgan.
        And , again , the author is a professional , I am a professional , you are just ….nothing.

        1. You are an absolute joke and very rude by calling people “nothing”

          You call yourself a professional but if you were you would understand why her treatment and sentence is so wrong.

          Do your damn research, everyone here is tired of arguing with you, especially when you don’t actually RESPOND to their points, all you do is continue to say the same thing or just ignore it and post things like that link.

          “Death is seldom a happy ending for any animal, captive or free. Everything dies. No one in the Keiko project ever argued that freedom for Keiko would confer immortality on the whale. And the fact is nothing shortens the life of killer whales like captivity.”

          Keiko’s release was a success to the extent it could be, NO ONE said he would live forever or guaranteed to love any certain amount of years, but his last years in the wild were spent active, healthy, much more enriched and stimulated, making his own choices, travelling and socialising. Better living a life full of what is good for you than a longer life filled with misery.

          1. Your are just another idiot , Keiko was happy in his last years of life ? You are not only idiot but as well ignorant . He was alone , without company , begging for food in Norwegian harbor , yes he died of pneumonia. Do you know that the imune system of cetaceans are much more weaker under stress ? Stupid little idiot ?
            I don’t even know why I continue to spend my time with stupid extremists like you. Anyways , this website is dead , since they lost in court , they all disappeared…. hahahahha where are the experts now ?
            Don’t spend energy to reply , I will not open this page anymore , too many idiots and ignorants here.
            Good bye loosers !

  18. It is too easy to call people extremists, but i am not.

    I don’t want whales released who arent suitable, but Morgan is still suitable at this time.

    You are rude, arrogant, condescending and acting completely ignorant to all the info people have tried to supply to you here.

    If you still want to call it a failure, then it’s clear you cant be reasoned with. I could understand someone thinking it was a failed attempt, but to call it a TOTAL failure, is completely illogical. Keiko did it, he became wild again. Yes he fell victim to an orca disease, but when he was rehabilitated, did he completely go downhill? Did he not make any improvements? No, he didn’t. He completely improved and transformed into a much better orca. And I believe Keiko begging for food because he could not feed himself is not true. I’m stating this below from the Orca network, who has a detailed year by year report of just what Keiko did, he never lost any weight during his time travelling:

    “Keiko’s veterinarian since 1996, examines Keiko and finds that, after 60 days at sea and travelling more than one thousand miles, Keiko is strong and his weight has not changed whatsoever. There can no longer be any doubt that Keiko has foraged successfully. After Keiko wandered into a Norwegian harbour and found some folks to play with, his veterinarian measured his waistline and found he has not lost an inch, Some norwegians tossed him some fish and he ate them. He was not begging, just interacting.”

    So he was clearly NOT begging because of being hungry, he has not lost any wait and the vets confirmed this several times.

  19. The only decent point Bob Mladen has made up to now is this website seems to have died a death. There have been no updates on Morgan’s welfare what so ever.
    For these majestic creatures captivity is cruel it has no resemblance to their day to day behaviour in the wild where they travel for miles , forage for their food, rest and socialize. Instead they are stuck in a concrete tank , no where to swim, fed dead fish packed with pills and the only socializing is aggression towards one another. so so SAD. PLEASE UP DATE THIS WEBSITE AND LET US KNOW ABOUT MORGANS WELFARE.

  20. I have been following Morgan’s story for a while and would love to know what is happening now, since the adverse decision in April. Is there any kind of continuing campaign? Are Loro Parque still meant to be keeping Morgan purly for “research” or is she now allowed to perform? It would be really good to get an update on poor Morgan if anybody has any information.

    1. I’ve not heard any news from the Free Morgan.org campaign since the hearing in April. I’ve been following her story too for years. =( I don’t know if the campaign is able to do much right now however another attempt may be made in future.

      On the subject of morgan performing, she has already been performing for a long time, ever since being moved to Loro parque she’s been witnessed doing shows. Even though her permit to move said she would not be used for anything commercial. 🙁

      It’s clear she was never intended to be for research in the first place, ever since she was rescued they never made any attempts to rehabilitate her either.

      1. Thanks for replying. Yes I knew she had been performing but I thought it was more in the practice pool rather than during shows. I just wondered from a legal point of view where Loro Parque would stand having secured a permit based on research. Surely they can’t legally be allowed to make profit from her considering she should have only been there for “rehabilitation and rescue”. Surely there must be some action that can be taken in this regard. It seems more than dodgy to me that they are able to use her in performances and make money from her “behaviours” without having a legal permit to do so??

        Poor Morgan, it’s very sad. It would be good for the campaign to at least give up dates on her condition even if there is no legal action being taken currently. It just looks to the outside world as if the campaign has given up and is beaten which is such a shame.

        Thanks again.

        1. “I just wondered from a legal point of view where Loro Parque would stand having secured a permit based on research. Surely they can’t legally be allowed to make profit from her considering she should have only been there for “rehabilitation and rescue”. Surely there must be some action that can be taken in this regard.”

          Yeah, that was the grounds on which one of the last court hearings was done on. They fought for Morgan on that issue, about how her permit rule has been broken and is being used commercially, but somehow, they managed to weasel out of that. I cant find the details on what they said in the hearing about this but I think they managed to somehow get away with it…. It’s outrageous.

          1. Oh that’s horrendous and depressing. I’ll try to find the judgment myself if possible, would be interesting to see how they manged to swing that one! Thanks so much for the information, you’ve been very helpful. Unfortunately, more often than not it seems, the law is an ass. 🙁

  21. Dear Bob,

    I understand you totally. You poor guy. Everybody is aiming for you and bullying you and the only thing you are doing is to show your good behaviour. I understand your frustration. You just want to have a reward for your good behaviour and your tricks. Probably you live in a nice and safe home and you are feeling well and you have an awesome life doing all those fun things and hanging out with you family.

    Let’s say we are taking away your nice and safe home and putting you in a concrete basement with 5 other people. People you don’t understand because they all speak a different dialect. The atmosphere is pretty tense because everybody misses his family, there safe and warm homes and all the fun stuff they used to do. It’s dark and you don’t feel comfortable, you are scared. No let me re-phrase myself, you are scared shitless. People start biting and scratching each other and before you you have the feeling you are in a war zone where you always have to look after for yourself and you have to follow “the rule of the jungle” where only the strongest will survive. The only problem, you are a kid and the rest is already a grown up.
    Then the owner of the basement wants to Learn you tricks so he can start exploiting you. And to make it a little bit worse, you are raped in such a dramatic way ( you are still a kid of course) and now you are carrying somebody else his baby, a cruel version of “MTV” teen mom.

    Everybody around you keep telling how awesome you are but deep inside you feel so incredibly miserable. You are there in this unwanted environment, with these strange unwanted people you can’t understand, you are bruised and scared, you have to do these unwanted dump tricks over and over again, your vagina hurt and you are carrying this unwanted baby.

    You start dreaming about the past, how happy you where. Playing and having fun with family in this nice and warm and safe environment.

    You start to change in this depressed and violent “person” and before you know you are not fun to hang out anymore. The people that first worked with you to change you in this awesome person don’t trust you anymore, you get less rewards for the dumb tricks you are doing and piece by piece you start to change in this emotional time bomb and before you know your instincts are taking over and you do something that later on you will regret.

    And do you know why you did it? Why you did this act that you regret?
    You only did it because you wanted to go home and missed your family

    (For the people with common sense, sorry for my spelling mistakes. English is not my native language)

  22. Gosh I wish I saw this sooner, I’m from newzealand and I’m glad the only kind of aquatic parks we have only houses fish and sharks. Its so sad to hear that SeaWorld and other corporates similar to SeaWorld love to take wild animals from their natural habitat all for financial gain. When thinking about this poor baby orca being forced to breed just so theres new blood in their gene pool of captives horrifes me, reading that Morgan might be deaf could be why she got lost from her pod maybe she strayed to far from her mother being a bit too curious at some stage, still doesn’t mean she needed to be condemned to entertainment and breeding purposes. Her being still a baby and already having a baby is shocking on any level. I would love to see morgan free or at least these corporations stop breeding programs and put the remaining whales in a sea pen just so they can experience what it would be like to live free. Here’s hoping that the next people that takes over makes the right decision and puts an end to this monster case of animal abuse

  23. Great to see people are still leaving comments, I last left a comment in September and it was pretty quiet. I have just read on the Free Morgan Foundation/Face Book, work is still being done to help Morgan’s release from Loro Parque . The Foundation are keeping a low profile with the progress they are making (and yes there is progress)they say, but they are being monitored by the cetacean industry, this is why there has been no news about Morgan. Let us hope there will be GOOD NEWS for all ORCAS and DOLPHINS in 2015

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