Free the whales...?
The text in this article was adapted for the video of the same name, and the second-last chapter in the "Shamu" documentary.
I have updated it and it may have some minor edits (and in article format, I can speak at greater length than in a video, where time is more limited). However, the video will be embedded below.
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Without a doubt, the most frequent call to action about zoological cetaceans is to release them all - as soon as possible. Many who want this believe that a release to the wild would work just like it did in the Free Willy film, a whale longing to go back to his family, instantly leaping back into the ocean and swimming off into the sunset with his pod, never looking back.
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Others are more rational and have at least some knowledge about what it takes to release animals with no survival skills, but may think that even if the animals die, it would be for the better. (I don't say this lightly, as it has been on open display with dolphins and gorillas, among others.)
Miles Ritter
I am by no means an expert on this, I am only an amateur and I love to learn and absorb as much information as I can. But I will try to explain whether or not this is a good idea, and what might be the outcome of such an attempt, drawing from the knowledge of animal behavior, previous releases, as well as those of other animals.
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Some killer whales have been released, yes
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In total, there have been twentyone killer whales released back into the wild - ten of these were the Russian whales in 2019.
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The first eleven were Hyak, Florencia, Charlie Chin, K1/Taku (not to be confused with SeaWorld-born Taku, son of Tilikum and Katina), Pender, Flores, three unnamed calves in Iceland, Keiko, and Springer. The ten Russian whales were Leha, Vasilievna, Alexandra, Vitas, Zina, Tihon, Gaika, Zoya, Harja and Forest.
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Only one of these, Keiko, had been in human care for more than twelve months. Many of them, less than a quarter of that. Hyak was never seen again, while Florencia and her grown son Charlie Chin were seen for decades afterwards. Taku left after two months, rejoined his pod and was seen for many years. Flores and her grown son Pender were kept for 55 days before they were released, and were also seen for decades. The three Icelandic whales were kept for three months, then released (all calves, roughly 1½ years old), and were never seen again.
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As for the Russian whales, at least one of them, Alexandra, was soon after release seen following boats and begging for food (she had after all learned that humans meant food, enrichment and safety). Other than that, these whales had very limited time with people, many of them were older and thus had survival skills, and they were released in groups, so it is not surprising that they adapted well to return to the wild.
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Springer was found alone and sick, only two years old and her mother had recently died. She was only kept in human care, in a sea pen, for 30 days. And the most important part - she was never fed by hand, only via a tube through which fish was sent, faces were not shown around her and voices were quiet, so she would have as little human exposure as possible. Over a very short period of 30 days. Then, a relative passed her pen, and she was released.
Now, as for Keiko…
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Keiko was captured in 1979, as a 1-2 year old calf. Likely still nursing from his mother, just at the age when they are weaning. He was a “baby” when he last saw his birth pod and Icelandic waters. He then spent roughly five years at Marineland Ontario, where he was picked on by the other whales.
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In 1985, he was moved to Reino Aventura in Mexico, where he was the only killer whale for his entire stay of eleven years. The only relationships nurtured here were those with humans, and his experiences with whales at Marineland had been negative.
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When the 1993 Free Willy film came out, Keiko was declared "will never be released", since his pod in Iceland was unknown, and campaigns instead focused on animals with a known family, like Corky and Lolita. But things changed, and eventually, Reino Aventura gave him up to animal rights organizations and permits were approved to move him to Iceland.
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In 1996, he was moved to Oregon, to prepare for his release. Here he was subject to questionable training that would not be helpful for his release (including teaching him to push humans off of rafts? Fun game in an aquarium, dangerous for both humans and whale in the wild). Two years later, in September 1998, he was moved to a sea pen in Iceland.
While here, the staff (not experienced with animal behavior or killer whales) kept entering the water with him and giving him full-body rubdowns, encouraging his strong connection with humans. Eventually, a behavior team of four worked there in rotations and did what they could to try to prepare him for a life in the wild. I say “what they could”, because human selfishness, greed and agendas got in the way of the animal’s actual well-being and chance of success.
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They accomplished a lot in 1999, getting Keiko lean and fit, discouraging inactivity and encouraging movement and exercise, stopped feeding him directly in the mouth (only having him take the fish himself in the water), got him used to live fish, and completely stopped in-water interactions with him.
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In early 2000, a net covering the entire bay where his sea pen was, had been constructed, and long, arduous training had taken place just to be able to get him through the gate to the new, huge enclosure - which he wanted nothing to do with.
He wanted to stay in his “home”, as he viewed it, but he was eventually coaxed out to the bay, and was encouraged (trained, conditioned, because he made it clear that he would never do it on his own initiative) to spend more and more time there.
He was trained to swim behind a specially designated walk boat, for miles and miles, round and round the same bay. Eventually, he had to be taken away from the island because of blasting in the harbor, and a permit was granted with the terms that he would not be introduced to wild whales. That is what happened, and after this, more and more time was spent out at sea, “heeling” next to the walk boat (some cases in which he hugged the boat’s hull and stayed in its slipstream - animals prefer being lazy when given the chance, just like us).
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Finally, in June 2000, permit was granted to introduce him to wild whales. What everyone on the behavior team viewed as a very slow, gradual process, where Keiko and the wild whales would simply get to acknowledge each other’s prescence at a distance, becoming more and more positive for both Keiko and wild whales every time, everyone else (the media, the public, the higher-ups behind his release) viewed as a one-off event where he would simply, like his movie counterpart, jump towards his “family” and swim off into the sunset with them. Needless to say, that is not what happened.
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The higher-ups behind the release were so determined to “get the shot”, prove a point to the public and get the documentary of the century, and they were so convinced Keiko “wanted” to be with the wild whales and would instantly forget about 20+ years of human relationships, that they would not listen to the behavior team. The people with actual experience and knowledge of killer whales and animal behavior, and who were largely responsible for the huge progress with Keiko, wanted simply the usual walk boat formation - the walk boat itself, and a second boat to watch at a distance. What happened instead was five boats (including one just for VIPs and rich donors) and a helicopter.
One boat had followed a pod of wild whales for hours, a pod with newborn calves, darting them (for DNA samples) and effectively harassing them. They were driven straight on to the unsuspecting Keiko and in a mess of boats and whales, he bolted in the opposite direction and wasn’t found until roughly twelve hours later, still traumatized to the point of his eyes being red and bugged-out and his breathing erratic. When he was brought back to the bay the next day, the behavior team was instructed to bring him (still traumatized) to another pod immediately. They refused, and after the project leader on site had confirmed they would do exactly the same thing again, everyone on the behavior team left the project.
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Keiko was exposed to wild whales on hundreds of occasions after this, not once did he want anything to do with them. He was often near them during feeding frenzies, not once did he partake or ever catch his own fish. It was on one occasion in the summer of 2002 that bad weather made the walk boat leave him, and he was after this (by the new organization running the release, HSUS) declared “successfully released”. He was abandoned in the ocean.
Human attention and affection was all Keiko ever wanted, and he was denied.
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He followed the current past the Faroe Islands, to Norway. Here he finally got the human attention he so desperately sought, children swimming with him, people throwing fish in his mouth. He was loving it, cuddling with people and swimming from boat to boat with an open mouth. This was soon stopped, however, and he was taken to a Norwegian bay where he had a small part of his team in Iceland looking after him.
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Keiko was never proven to forage for his own food, not even on his three week journey to Norway did stomach content samples prove feeding. He was intentionally fed very sparse meals by his care team in the last couple of years, and almost nothing in Norway, stubbornly holding on to the idea that “once he’s hungry enough, he’ll find food”. He had been sick several winters with pneumonia, and the next winter, in 2003, it finally took his life. He was fed so little that he couldn’t fight off the illness within him, as he had several times before.
To all those who claim “SeaWorld’s whales must perform, or they’ll starve!”: This is the only whale who has been purposely starved by humans, and it indirectly took his life.
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Keiko never integrated with wild whales.
He never hunted his own food.
He never let go of his attachment to humans.
He never stopped seeking attention from boats.
He was never healthy enough to survive without human care.
The only thing he did do, was swim in the ocean.
That is not a successful release. It is the slow killing of an animal, and lying about it to the public, in order to make money and glory for oneself.
Josefine Stenudd
Keiko was never free. He was exploited for an animal-rights agenda, and if actual release protocol
had been followed, he could be alive today.
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There were even requirements in the release plan that if he was not healthy, if he was not eating, if he didn’t integrate with a wild pod, that he had to be taken to a facility and live out his days in human care. Human greed-motivated agendas and the ideology of “better dead than fed” made sure that never happened.
Still, COULD they be released?
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So, Keiko is the only long-term zoological killer whale - one that had relationships with humans for years, and very negative experiences with his own kind - that has been released. And he was a very poor candidate to begin with. Aside from his behavior and learning history making the odds stacked against him from the beginning, he was never healthy. He had a contagious papilloma virus which could affect wild whales, and he had pneumonia every winter in Iceland and Norway. But if we had a much better candidate, could they be released?
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My instant (and amateur) opinion is “of course”, if you had the right candidate. We don’t. You’d need a whale brought up, from birth, with as close to zero human contact as possible, never fed directly in the mouth, never having strong, positive relationships with humans, never taught to approach humans or man-made objects, very good with other whales (and certainly not an adult male; the least likely candidate to be accepted by a strange pod), and completely physically healthy, to name a few.
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As so “happens”, the United States have regulations in place (as dictated by the Marine Mammal Protection Act), on how to release marine mammals, and which animals can’t be released.
Release requirements for marine mammals
“Important questions to be addressed include:1.) does the species depend on a social unit for survival or does it exist solitarily in the wild?
2.) has the animal developed the skills necessary to find and capture food in the wild?
3.) has the animal developed the social skills required to successfully integrate into wild societies?
4.) is there knowledge of their home range or migratory routes?5) the animal have skills in predator recognition and avoidance?”
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“To achieve basic behavioral clearance, a cetacean should breathe normally, including rate, pattern, quality, and absence of respiratory noise.” (Keiko was not doing this, he was sick.)
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“…behavioral requirements for release include demonstration of normal breathing, swimming, and diving with absence of aberrant (i.e., abnormal) behavior, auditory (Morgan is hearing impaired), and/or visual dysfunction that may significantly compromise survival in the wild and/or suggest diseases of concern.”
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“Documented dependency on or attraction to humans and human activities in the wild would warrant special consideration as a possible conditional release or non-release decision.” (My bolding: This is the most immediate concern with all cetaceans in human care. You have to undo a lifetime of positive interactions with people. Make them forget all of that.)
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“Introduction of pathogens from rehabilitated animals to free-ranging wild animals is a significant concern for diseases with serious epizootic or zoonotic potential.”
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Releasable:
Developmental Stage/Life History
a) Cetacean has attained sufficient size and age to be nutritionally independent.
b) Cetacean is not a female with calf.
c) Cetacean is not a geriatric animal and not compromised due to age related conditions.d) Cetacean was not exposed to captive or domestic animals during rehabilitation.
Behavioral Clearance
a) Cetacean breathes normally, swims and dives effectively.
b) Cetacean does not exhibit aberrant behavior, auditory, or visual deficits.
c) Cetacean demonstrates appropriate foraging ability.(Then four points about stranding that I will not include here.)
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Unreleasable:
History
a) Cetacean has been in captivity for more than two years or is otherwise too habituated and counter-conditioning techniques have been unsuccessful.
b) Cetacean stranded previously on one or more occasions.c) Cetacean was part of a NMFS permitted research project, potentially being handled more frequently, and circumstances preclude its suitability for release.
Developmental Stage/Life History
a) Cetacean is nutritionally and socially dependent (neonate and young nursing calf without foraging skills).b) Cetacean is geriatric and exhibiting other medical and/or behavioral abnormalities.
Behavioral Clearance
a) Exhibits abnormal breathing, swimming, diving, or other aberrant behavior that may compromise survival in the wild or may be caused by a disease of concern to wild marine mammals. (Keiko, being the only example, never dived as deep as the wild whales.)
b) Exhibits auditory or visual dysfunction that would compromise survival in the wild or may be caused by an ongoing disease process of concern to wild marine mammals.
c) Unable to capture and consume live prey.d) Demonstrated inability to avoid predators.
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“For animals deemed “Non-releasable,” and with the concurrence from the NMFS Regional Administrator, the animal can be permanently placed in a public display or research facility or euthanized.“
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This is what rescued marine mammals are judged against, whether they will have a chance out there or should live out their lives in human care. It’s what Tilikum was judged against, when he was moved from Sealand to SeaWorld, there was a discussion on whether he could be released (if he was deemed releasable, SeaWorld would have been forced to do so), but it was decided not to. (More about that on my Tilikum-page above.)
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So there it is. If they have been in human care for more than two years, if they have documented dependency or attraction to humans, they cannot be released.
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Had Keiko's release happened in the United States, the people responsible would have been prosecuted for animal abuse, and for breaking the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
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And what would happen with Orkid, Keet, Tuar, Kalia, Malia, Makani and Kamea, Keto, Tekoa and Adán?
They are all crosses between ecotypes, they are “invasive species” everywhere. They don’t belong anywhere, and would never be allowed to be put into the sea. Several of them would be separated from their “pure” mothers and siblings.
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What would happen to Corky? The only Canadian whale left. Would you take her away from the pod where she has had a stable position for almost 30 years, the only true family she’s ever known, to put her in a sea pen for a lonely existence in a foreign environment?
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Lolita, the same. She's the only Southern resident in human care, she does not know her pod, if she could even integrate with other killer whales at all (more on her in her own article).
Why release them?
I’ve never really gotten an answer to this. Why release them in the first place? What’s the actual benefit to the animals? Completely disregarding the positive effect these animals have on people, society and science, let’s only talk about the plus and minus for the animals now.
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As I’ve proven again and again in my posts, articles and common claims-page, all the myths about cetaceans automatically suffering in "captivity" are just that - myths. Things like shortened lifespan, higher infant mortality, unsuccessful breedings, bad teeth, “insanity” and other mental conditions, causes of dorsal collapse, and so on. The only thing we are left with is the personal feelings of some people, the “I just don’t like seeing whales in tanks”, or “they simply BELONG in the sea”, which is not an argument at all.
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No zoo animal belongs in a zoo, a hamster belongs in the Syrian desert and not running in an addiction-inducing wheel in an acrylic cage, a dog belongs with a pack, hunting and scavenging, not walking in leashes and eating kibble from a plastic bowl, and a horse belongs with a herd running across the open plains, not in saddles and bridles. And humans certainly don’t belong in modern society, using clothes, cars, utensils, computers, and medicine. The “belonging-argument”, is not an argument at all.
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Or to quote Melissa Smith (author of the blog Captive Animal Logic and countless articles on hubpages):
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"Without evidence that the animal is experiencing poor welfare, your animals-only-belong-in-the-wild religion will be fully ignored."
Kari Haley
Some say the animals “want” to be free. As if they asked them. Keiko, as I demonstrated, didn’t want anything but human contact. The bottlenose dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center can easily jump over the fences of their sea pens (and they used to take them out to roam free at sea, always choosing to come home) - but they don’t.
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The US Navy's dolphins live in very small pens, that they can jump out of. They are taken out to sea regularly, swimming in complete power to take off and never return. But they don't.
And why would they? That place is not a prison to them, if we want to be anthropomorphic, it’s more like a free lifetime hotel, with constant care, food, and fun interactions with weird two-legged land animals.
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What I have then heard people say, when they realize their argument was beaten, is that “the animals have been so damaged by captivity that they don’t KNOW what they want!”
You just can’t win with some people. They want to be right because they want to be right. Unfortunately, when someone did not reach their worldview through reason and evidence, it is impossible to use reason and evidence to convince them otherwise.
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I have nothing to say to that statement, except this: show me that cetaceans are in any way “mentally destroyed” by being behind walls (while simultaneously showing every sign of being completely normally healthy). Because ultimately, the only difference between "captivity" and “freedom” is to be behind walls, and having constant human care and interactions. Show me how that, in any way, damages their minds to the point that they can’t know their own minds, and I’ll believe you, and take this site down.
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Until then, this is just the opinion of some humans, who don’t know the animal’s minds. Neither do I or the people working with them, but if you know animal behavior and know an animal very well, you can tell pretty well how they are feeling.
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I argue that freedom is a human construct, an abstract human concept. Freedom matters to humans because we want to be able to decide our destinies. Whether to move, to work and with what, whether or not to have children, whether or not to pick up a hobby and what', and to live our lives without anyone else telling us what we can and can’t do.
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Non-human animals don’t do any of that. What do wild whales do? They swim, they eat, they interact with each other, they play, they eat some more, they rest, they interact some more, mate, and swim some more. The only thing cetaceans in artificial pools and pens can’t do, is swim in straight lines for unlimited stretches, and that has no bearing on their well-being.
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This is why I believe “freedom” only matters to humans. And the fact that a whale in the wild looks “prettier” to a human than a whale in a pool. It doesn’t mean anything to the whale. The whale cares whether it’s feeling good, not whether it’s in a pool, a sea pen, or the ocean.