Physical Report

In 2012 Dr Ingrid Visser published a report about the physical status of Morgan.  The physical report found, amongst many other aspects, some extremely concerning facts;

  1. Since her arrival at Loro Parque, Morgan has been inflicted with more than 320 puncture and bite marks (all documented by photographs).
  2. This does not include the damage she has self-inflicted from abnormal and repetitive behaviours such as banging her head on the concrete tanks.
  3. Visser observed Morgan for 77 hours and 16 minutes, over eight days (spread over a 24 day period). During that time-fame, an unprecedented 91 aggression events were documented, all involving Morgan.
  4. Additionally, Morgan is wearing her teeth down from chewing on the concrete. Teeth wear in captive orca often leads to infections. These abnormal behaviours are a direct result of boredom from being held in a featureless environment in which she is provided little if any stimulation.
  5. There is a clear lack of empathy for this animal from the trainers, who ignore her calls for attention and her cries for help and disregard aggressive attacks on her by the other animals, even when they are within meters of these events when they occur.

The full Physical Report (34 pages) can be downloaded as a pdf, however, extracts of some of the photographs (with their original captions) are below.

Photos Extracted from Visser (2012) – Captions Are Directly from the Report

Figure 6. Morgan (head out of water, on right) as she is rammed and pushed backwards by the two female orca, Skyla and Kohana. Note the amount of water being displaced as Morgan is forced backwards.

Focus on Mistreatment of Morgan

Our evidence focuses on how mistreated Morgan is at Loro Parque and how detrimental this is to her health. We include photographs showing her being rammed, bitten and attacked (see some examples below).

Our reports are based on more than 77 hours of observations on Morgan. Although Loro Parque will claim that these attacks are ‘normal’, you can read in the supporting letters from orca scientists, that this is not the case, particularly in the wlid.

In a comparative study, of captive orca, who were observed for 78 days (not hours!), only eight events involving aggression were recorded. This is in comparison to the 91 attacks observed which involved Morgan.

Trainers Ignore Morgan’s Attacks

 

Figure 7. The full-frame photograph of Figure 6. Note the trainers standing to the right. During all the attacks recorded by the author the trainers were present, yet ignored them.

Reports from External Scientists

Additionally, we present here reports by external scientists about the orca from Norway (where Morgan is from), letters of concern from orca scientists and correspondence between Dr Visser and Loro Parque and Dr Visser and Dr Ridgway.

Morgan Rammed and Attacked

Figure 8. Skyla (female orca, left, obscured by gate) rams Morgan (right) and partially lifts her out of the water. NOTE: Morgan’s lower caudal peduncle is concave from force of ramming (at impact site). Water is displaced at impact site & on Morgan’s left (right of frame). Morgan weighs 1364 kg, requiring her be to hit with a substantial force, in order for her to be lifted out of the water this high.

Trainers Do Nothing to Prevent Attacks & Keep Morgan with Dysfunctional Orca

Figure 11. During a training session, Morgan (partially obscured behind rail), rises out of the water in an attempt to avoid a bite from one of the two orca in the tank with her (Skyla and Kohana). This photo is one of a sequence of images, showing the open mouth and teeth progressed along Morgan’s body as she rose up and then slid down, to try to avoid the conflict.

Stereotypic Behavior Results in Morgan Damaging Herself

Figure 23. Morgan exhibits a hypertrophic scar on her lower jaws, most likely a result of repeatedly banging her chin on the concrete walls. Such stereotypic behaviour can become self mutilating to the point where the subcutaneous injury can become painful and itchy. Further damage to Morgan’s rostrum through stereotypic behaviour inflicted on (2 July 2012). The trainers (on the day she inflicted these wounds and after they were inflicted) commanded her to push a ball repeatedly on the end of rostrum, in order to receive her allocated fish. Also note that the tips of Morgan’s teeth are being worn off from chewing on the concrete (also see Figure 24).

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