(The Northern Advocate, New Zealand)
Dismay after orca decision
Peter de Graaf | Saturday, November 26, 2011 9:15
BATTLE OVER: A young North Sea orca will not now be freed.
A court decision this week has doomed a young orca to a short and miserable life in a barren concrete tank, according to the group fighting to return the marine mammal to the wild.
The ruling has devastated Tutukaka orca expert Ingrid Visser, who has spent months battling to free Morgan, as the orca has become known, and travelling between Northland, the Netherlands and Norway for the Free Morgan Foundation.
The group notched up a legal victory in an Amsterdam court in August, when at the 11th hour they stopped Morgan's transfer from the Netherlands to a theme park in Spain's Canary Islands.
That, however, was only a temporary reprieve, with the judge releasing her final decision this week allowing the transfer to go ahead. The group earlier said that once the orca is in Spain its chances of being freed are minimal.
Dr Visser said Morgan was now destined for a life of captivity in a barren concrete tank.
"Realistically, this is nothing short of a death sentence for Morgan. Orca in captivity only live an average of 8.5 years, compared to more than 50 years in the wild," she said.
It was disgraceful that a country such as the Netherlands, which was known for its humanitarianism and regard for animal welfare, had allowed it to happen.
It was clear money and entertainment had taken precedent over Morgan's well-being, Dr Visser said.
However, the wider battle was far from over. Morgan would become the poster-child in the continuing fight against a "barbaric and antiquated form of entertainment," she said.
Eventually places like the Dolfinarium Harderwijk, the dolphin theme park east of Amsterdam where Morgan had spent the past 17 months, would be regarded in the same way dancing bears are now.
"Our long-term goal of establishing laws to prevent an animal in need being turned into an animal used for profit and personal gain, will not stop with Morgan's incarceration."
Dr Visser was devastated that, after months of fighting, reason and science had lost out to money and ulterior motives.
"It's sad to see that non-profit organisations are bullied and overridden by corporate greed and unjust laws," she said.
Only days earlier Dr Visser had returned to Tutukaka from a trip to Norway to identify sites for Morgan's release had the foundation won the legal battle. Together with Dutch orca expert Jan van Twillert, she chose Sto Harbour in northern Norway as an ideal place for a sea pen where Morgan could re-adjust to life in the sea before release.
The plan had firm backing from the district's mayor, fishermen and business community and it's thought Morgan originally came from a pod off the Norwegian coast.
The young female orca was alone and emaciated when rescued in the North Sea in June 2010, and brought to the Dutch dolphin park to be nursed back to health.
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