#ingrid visser

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

Please share all you can about Toa the orca calf, I think his story is very important. I don’t know too much but it seems like a case of activists being but in charge rather than actual experts.

Yeah it was a mess from start to finish. Toa was found stranded on the rocks, with witnesses saying the waves had thrown him up there. Already he would have been distressed and had been on his side on a hard surface for a few hours at least.

They got him back in the water and then videos of these interactions started to surface:

No PPE, giving Toa belly rubs and ignoring any formal rescue protocols (if you're trying to refloat a whale, you're not letting them turn upside down)

The sun was going down and DOC wanted people out of the water. Ingrid was on her way and giving instructions to her team. The decision was made to put Toa on a trailer overnight - it's unclear if that was her decision or not but it's clear that, despite not having any rehab facilities in New Zealand, people were determined to rehab this calf and release it back into the wild at any cost.

So they cobbled together a "sea pen" on a boat ramp in a dirty harbour. This is where Toa would eventually die in a few weeks time. Whale Rescue was already selling the story of a miraculous rescue and the plan to "reunite" Toa with his pod. And lying openly that orca calves had been successfully released in the wild before:

He wasn't injured, they said. He was fine. They just had to find his pod now.

When asked reasonable question about where the PPE was for volunteers, Whale Rescue immediately became defensive:

The call for PPE went ignored for about a day while people were in close contact with a sick orca. And the call went out for more "volunteers" aka anyone with a wetsuit. This sparked immediate concerns from the Advisory Group.

Photos like this started showing up - 6 people crowding Toa in a circle, no where for him to go if he wanted a break from people:

The excuse was that Toa needed help swimming. Yet he was swimming okay and avoiding the fences without any obvious issue. And so the habituation began... Despite continuing advice from the Technical Advisory Group - including Loro Parque and SeaWorld, who both have extensive calf raising experience.

"There is no need to have people 24/7 in the water when the animal is able to float and swim alone."

Finally PPE was being used but the habituation and intense contact with Toa continued. Ingrid gave it the okay and other inexperienced members of the public continued to encourage it.

Whale Rescue continued to affirm to the public that they are merely "duplicating natural behaviour" for Toa

And the cultish and unquestioning worship of Ingrid Visser allowed this to continue - note the amount of people in the water for Toa's "massage." They only started wearing PPE when people started questioning it.

If you're wondering what I mean by cultish behaviour see the comment thread below:

They actually believe that Ingrid was communicating with Toa. Because that's what she told them she was doing. And they believed it without question.

When Toa was moved into the freshwater pool due to storms, it got even worse.

This photo was quickly deleted but look how absolutely foul the water is:

There didn't appear to be any sort of filtration or pump system.

At this point volunteers and Ingrid were being fed by donated food from the local pubs, Ingrid was sleeping on site in a donated campervan and the entire community were rallying around trying to "help." Note how close they're all set up to the pool.

Putting him in the pool also made Toa a lot more accessible. Concerns were raised about the stress to the calf and an exclusion zone was agreed upon. Buuut it was immediately disregarded.

7 people! In that tiny pool! And the photos of the complete flouting of the rules continued to surface.

The comments find it all very amusing!

Roll up, roll up! Come and see the dying baby orca calf!

And then, as we near the end of this animal's torment, Ingrid brags to the press about how she's now TRAINING the animal she intends to release into the wild. Because we definitely want to be training cooperative care and making life saving feeding and hydrating procedures all about Choice.

Remember when Ingrid Visser didn't like the "exploitation" of orcas in captivity? Remember when she said that training "tricks", even husbandry behaviours, is cruel and bad? I do!

It makes me seriously wonder if she just wanted to be an orca trainer all her life.

But anyway, Toa's getting bouts of colic (gee, maybe changing the formula without permission wasn't a good idea!) and DOC is starting to get concerned about him. At this point, people are still denying that SeaWorld and Loro Parque are involved and any mention of a facility getting involved is immediately shut down.

This is what was being said in the Advisory Group:

At this point both SeaWorld and Loro Parque have provided formulas, advice ect. Ingrid Visser was claiming she knew these things all along and that the formulas were from her hand picked experts.

So these are what the comments were:

Whale Rescue thought it was appropriate to reply to comments of concern like this:

The cult of Visser continues to fuel the anti human care sentiment.

DOC starts to report concerns with Toa's health and Whale Rescue decides to double down that everything is completely Fine. Don't listen to DOC, keep giving us money.

The donations are getting up to 20k.

Because of Whale Rescue casting dispersions, anti DOC (Department of Conservation - who put in about 10k into the rescue efforts) sentiments grow.

And, only a few days later, Toa dies. I reached the end of my image limit but I still have plenty more screenshots I can share.

I recommend you check out the documents released by DOC to see the sources of these screenshots - the other screenshots were taken from news reports, Facebook groups and posts as well as videos:

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Ingrid Visser used to give RUBDOWNS to orcas??

She really loves hugging wild orcas.

[bauerntanz]

Stolpersteine beim SV Meppen

Gunter Demnig verlegte in #Meppen fünf weitere Stolpersteine zur Erinnerung an die Opfer der Nationalsozialisten - darunter auch für drei ehemalige Fußballspieler des @svmeppen1912.

Am letzten Freitag hat in Meppen (Ems) der Kölner Künstler Gunter Demnig fünf weitere Stolpersteine verlegt. Demnigs einzigartiges Projekt umfasst inzwischen mehr als 100.000 Stolpersteine. Sie erinnern in 22 Ländern Europas an Menschen, die von den Nationalsozialisten verfolgt, meist deportiert und er mordet wurden. Angeregt durch den örtlichen „Initiativkreis Stolpersteine“ sind bisher in…

[ihazyourkitty]

Why John Hargrove is full of it p.1

Multiple people have expressed interest in the detailed Blackfish rebuttal I am working on. The plan is to put it in video essay format on Youtube. This not only has the potential to reach a larger audience, but it also gives me more creative/expressive flexibility that would otherwise be difficult to get across in just written text.

This project will not be completed for quite some time, as there are a lot of things to cover. However, I did want to provide a short glimpse into some things I've uncovered thus far.

You see, I plan on not only refuting the movie itself, but also covering the consequences of Blackfish, and major figures like Naomi Rose, Ingrid Visser, etc. So as part of this project, I am listening to the eBook version of John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface for the second time. It's..... so.... much..... fun.....

*sigh* Warning, there's a long rant ahead. TL;DR John Hargrove comes off as very full of himself in this book, and it's annoying.

______

Now, on a purely emotional, literary level I guess, the book is certainly very gripping. It's difficult to put down, even when you know that much of what is alleged therein is utter bullcrap. However, I don't think this is just because the whole "little-guy turns against evil corporation" trope makes for good storytelling across the board. I think it's also because, unlike Mark Simmons' Killing Keiko, or Hazel McBride's I Still Believe, John Hargrove's Beneath the Surface has the luxury of both professional editing, and a co-author (Howard Chia-Eoan).

To be clear, I'm not saying this as dig against Hazel McBride or Mark Simmons. I bring this up merely to illustrate the stark contrast here. As far as I know, their works were self published, or at least lacking the same polish and publicity from big name publishers, or sensationalist documentaries.

However, this contrast wouldn't be so noteworthy to me were it not for these two things I'm increasingly noticing in this reread of Beneath the Surface:

It is never clearly stated which parts were written by Hargrove, and which were ghost written by Chia-Eoan... but the amount of contradictions and shoehorned information in here gives me some serious suspicions.

John Hargrove... seems incredibly full of himself!

I don't have the time to elaborate on #1 right now, so we'll just talk about #2 today. John Hargrove is almost never in the wrong. He is always painted as the hero, the true advocate for these animals. You don't hear much about the other trainers he worked with or learned from. Mostly, it's just about him. He bemoans the allegedly poor conditions SeaWorld's animals are kept in, while simultaneously boasting about all his accomplishments with them. He speaks of differing perspectives between him and some of the other trainers, but seldom elaborates on what exactly those differences were. Instead, he usually just frames it in a sanctimonious "me vs. them" way.

The closest he gets to admitting any mistakes he had to learn from is when he recounted an aggressive incident with Freya at Marineland Antibes, and even then.... the whole reason why that incident (allegedly) happened was because Hargrove overestimated his training/waterworks abilities with a whale he didn't have a relationship with. His admission of that mistake is then overshadowed by the rather self-righteous tone he frames the resolution with. All the success was about him. You don't hear anything about how he worked with the other trainers there, what they brought to the table, and certainly not the stronger, lasting relationships they had with Freya. It's not that he had to mention them by name, but he didn't even mention them at all!

To be fair, this interpretation is partly subjective on my part. Still, as someone who is personally working in animal husbandry right now (albeit not with marine mammals), the gaping holes in this narrative raises some red flags.

Here's some free advice to anyone interested in working in the zoo/aquarium industry: I have been told by multiple hiring managers that they don't want someone who "just wants to work with the animals, and not deal with people." That's not how this works. You still have to work with people in some form or another.

It doesn't matter which animals you are working with. When you're on an animal husbandry/training team, you gotta ask for/provide help, seek/give feedback, communicate with other departments, etc. Complaints, conflict and disagreements will inevitably happen, but you gotta be mature about it.

And yes, in that process... you are going to make mistakes, and you're going to have to own up to them! It's part of how you learn. You're also going to inevitably work with people who don't see things the same way.

The people who can't do this tend to not only get stuck in their own way, but are more likely to start resenting coworkers and/or management whenever disagreements happen. They'll constantly complain about how other people do things, but then can't/won't take constructive feedback themselves. It's worse when it's someone with more experience under their belt because of the massive ego. Let me be clear: this kind of mindset does not help your animals! It only creates a toxic work environment that's resistant to change!

DO. NOT. BE. THIS. PERSON!!!!

No, this does not mean you can't vent frustrations. No this does not mean that you can't take pride in your work. It means that you gotta be able to swallow your pride, and not alienate other people.

So, what does all that have to do with the contrast mentioned earlier?

Like Hargrove, McBride details her career journey, but doesn't just paint it all in glamour. She talks about her setbacks, how she grew, things she learned from other people, the internships she did, the grunt work she was willing to do, etc.

Killing Keiko has less to do with the details of Mark Simmons' career path, but he does give credit to other people where it is due, even at times towards those he fundamentally disagreed with. I can remember one part where he explicitly admitted that he made a mistake too, and tellingly, it was in an instance where he played the "I've been doing this for years" card. In the very next sentence he admitted it was the wrong thing to say in that situation, and highlighted the perspective he was missing in that moment.

These things are conspicuously absent in Beneath the Surface. I don't remember anything of the sort that stood out when I first read the book, and thus far it's certainly not there in my second time around. The first third of the book is dedicated to how he dreamed of becoming a trainer as a kid, and the path he took to get there. Most of this path, though, is painted in glamor, when the reality is.... the path to getting into animal husbandry isn't particularly glamorous. Not only do you have go to college, but you also have to settle for various unpaid internships or volunteer gigs, and then apply for multiple jobs only to get several no's before it works out (to say nothing of how underpaid zookeepers/aquarists/trainers are).

Hargrove, on the other hand, kept pestering lead marine mammal trainers at SeaWorld since he was a kid, practiced his swimming/diving abilities, and started his degree in psychology. Then, as luck would have it, an apprentice trainer position opened up at SW San Antonio, and when he got the job, he jubilantly quit college. Not much is said about what kind of volunteer work he did before that. I think he did some stuff with marine mammal rescue in Texas, but I'll have to go back and reread to be sure... in any event, I wish I'd heard more about the experience he got besides swimming and pestering the SW animal training department.

And like.... great, he got the job, but it seemed more by luck than by the sweat of his brow. Then he balked that he was put in the SeaLion Stadium, and/or that he had to spend a lot of time washing dishes and spotting before even being allowed to work directly with a whale, which like..... yeah? I don't know what you were expecting dude.

(Btw, this part isn't just me being nit-picky, Duncan Versteegh from ML Antibes corroborates Hargrove's resistance to doing grunt work like cleaning)

Whenever mentioning people at SW who didn't want to work at Shamu Stadium, Hargrove couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't want that.... because heaven forbid other people have different preferences? To be fair, from what I've heard of SW work culture in general, Shamu Stadium is kind of painted as the glamorous A-team, but DANG does Hargrove really lean into that attitude!

Later on, he detailed some of the conflicts he had with SW's entertainment department. At one point his manager explicitly told him he needed learn to get along better with other departments. And like... yeah... yeah you do!

Look, I'm not interested in doing blanket apologia for SeaWorld. I'm sure Hargrove was in the right more than once when he'd argue with people, but I'm also not convinced that the whole of the entertainment department, management, et al., were just a bunch of unfeeling jerks who didn't care about the animals.

This part actually ground my gears quite a bit. Before I became an aquarist, I was an educator, and sometimes I would overhear certain husbandry staff gossip about us in a really patronizing way whenever there were miscommunications. Not that they never had valid reasons to complain, they did, but to be treated like you're just a dumb educator/guest services person is not pleasant, and certainly not professional. I don't know how common this is at other places, but I bring this up to illustrate the importance of being able to work with other departments, especially in the face of disagreements or miscommunication.

That Beneath the Surface paints Hargrove's inability to do this as a virtue rather than as the character flaw that it is... well.... it's um... it's a choice. And it's telling.

Again, some of this interpretation is subjective on my part. Ultimately, none of us can know for sure what is in someone else's heart. Hargrove does seem to sincerely care about the animals, despite the narcissism. However, the vast majority of people who are going to be reading his book are not people who have spent much if any time working in the zoo industry, and thus may not pick up on some of these things. I'm not the only one to point these things out either.

So even if one is against keeping orcas in captivity, I think being aware of the egos behind figures like Hargrove is important. When you get to the end of his book, you would think that all his former colleagues are, at best, just timid little clogs in a corporate machine, brainwashed to do as SW says. This is just not true. These people are dedicated to their animals, and have worked very hard to get where they are at. Some have gone on to get their masters, or PhD's, provide expertise to other facilities, or take part in rescues, etc., and they did it without chasing clout.

SW Corporate should absolutely treat their employees better, but their treatment of them pales in comparison to how people like Hargrove basically erase their accomplishments altogether. In this way, he tries to have it both ways... his time at SW proves how much of an expert he is, you know, because he was a senior trainer with two decades of experience after all! Oh, but when someone else from the field speaks up to refute what he says, nope.... their accomplishments don't matter, they're just brainwashed. If that doesn't scream "massive ego", then I don't know what does.

I'm only halfway through the book on this second round, so there is a chance I'll come back to correct some things here. I do encourage people to try to read this book themselves and come to their own conclusions. You don't have to buy it either, check your local library (it's how I got a hold of this eBook).

[zehub]

Une vie de misère attend les dernières orques du Marineland d’Antibes

Les deux dernières orques du Marineland d’Antibes pourraient être envoyées au Japon dans un parc qui serait le « pire du pire ». Bassins trop petits, signes de maltraitance, stress... Les cétacés y sont déjà exploités. Une vie de misère et de souffrance. Voilà ce qui attend Wikie et Keijo, les deux dernières orques du Marineland d’Antibes, si elles sont transférées au Japon, alerte l’une des plus éminentes spécialistes de l’espèce, Ingrid Visser, dans un rapport publié le 17 juin. La biologiste (...)

[bimbocore]

And the winner is the incredible ORCA!!!

While not technically a true Balaena Whale, being rather a Delphinidae Dolphin the Orca (or Killer Whale) is certainly deserving of all of the majesty and admiration afforded to other whales!

A mighty cetacean, the Orca is truly deserving of it's "Killer" title, as it displays exceptionally complex and and brutal hunting techniques, brought upon by it's high intelligence and sociability, hunting in cooordinated packs.

Despite this, they're remarkably playful and curious, especially when it comes to humans. No fatal attacks have ever been recorded against humans in their natural habitat.

However, in captivity is another story, and Orcas are unfortunately kept in unsuitable conditions in aquariums around the world, and much like the similar situation of Elephants performing in circuses, have lashed out due to their mistreatment.

If you'd like to learn more about Orcas and how you can help them, you can visit the Orca Research Trust run by Dr. Ingrid N. Visser, a renowned marine biologist specializing in Orcas.

Ok i have to know

Reblog for sample size!

(THIS POST REPRESENTS A CLADISTIC APPROACH TO WHALES. ALL CETACEANS ARE VALID ANSWERS)

[hlfmoonshine]

the open starter department : an anthology

this post tracks all my open starters posted per muse up to 2024/05/27 this post ft. ≈ forty muses, ranging from one to four starters, depending on the muse. * = supernatural origin Φ = criminal origins ° = nepo/fame origins

aberdeen carano (one)* angel silva (one)*Φ angelina george (one)° ash dayna (one)(two) asmodeus moll (one)*Φ bo linklater (one)Φ boone leigh (one)Φ claire leigh (one) cobie conford (one)(two)(three) darius landon (one)(two)Φ dima federov (one)Φ elena toro (one)° este galin (one) fleetwood gagnon (one)(two)(three)° francis landon (one)Φ gillian owens (one)(two)* icarus conford (one)° ingrid wilson (one)Φ ivy reyes (one)° josie eden (one)(two) laramie hannigan (one)(two) lena antonova (one)* lita price (one) lydia reid (one) lori gallagher (one) millie woods (one)° nash clement (one)° nellie dawson (one)Φ otto james (one)° patrick visser (one)* pennyshore robertson (one) perry hart (one) rosemary clement (one)° royal woods (one)° sanem togan (one)(two) seraphina poriosolo (one)(two)(three)* suvi nygard (one)(two)(three)(four) thaddeus james (one)° veronica wright (one)° willa hancock (one)Φ yasha clement (one)°

[evidencelockerpodcast]

The Gruesome Murders of Ingrid Visser and Lodewijk Severein | Spain https://audioboom.com/posts/8272500-the-gruesome-murders-of-ingrid-visser-and-lodewijk-severein-spain

[themagicof-orca]

From Ingrid Visser’s Facebook page 23rd August;

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ARE HERE TO FILM NZ ORCA. The team have arrived and we are seeking your help with orca sightings. If you see or hear of Orca, please call 0800 SEE ORCA (0800 733 6722). The film crew are here for only 3 weeks so we are all hoping that we have some good weather and orca luck! If you are the one who calls us and gets us onto the orca I've got a special gift I'll arrange to get to you, so keep those calls rolling in (and remember, if you think "someone else has called in already", likely everyone thought the same thing and didn't call either - therefore, you could be the first caller - but the second or third call could be the one that gives us the critical information as to where the orca are heading, how fast they are travelling or where we should launch the boat - so each and every call plays a critical role in finding the orca and I've got more than one gift ready to send out!). Thanks in advance for your continued support (and please know that we are out in the field so we aren't monitoring facebook so a phone call is the way to contact us).

What interesting timing when mere days ago Wellington’s south coast was graced with a pod of orcas hunting sting rays! Fingers crossed there’s plenty of orca sighting in the next 3 weeks for the National Geographic crew to film ❤️

[orcinus-ocean]

The next time someone says Morgan was a failure, show them this.

Rescue of killer whales post-2010 is so much harder simply because of her, forcing animals to be left to die. Seriously, this is a deadly, horrible lie.

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

Any time I see someone worshipping Ingrid Visser I remember the time her organisation, under her advice, kept an orca calf on a mattress in a horse trailer overnight because they wanted to “rehabilitate” him/put him in a makeshift sea pen to treat like a pool toy until he died.

I remember when videos showed up of newly named Toa vocalising (usually a sign of stress) and her cooing and making nonsense noises at him. And the comments were like “she’s talking to him!!!”

Ingrid also insisted of making Toa interact with people despite him being a very sick baby orca who was slowly dying.

This was later confirmed by people who were there:

I remember when untrained volunteers were crowding this stressed sick orca calf, bragging about swimming with him and bonding with him and ignoring advice to stop habituating him.

They had young kids in with him that didn’t know better and were told by Ingrid to interact with him like this. They were also laughing about how he “snored.” (Cetaceans don’t snore - anything that sounds like snoring is respiratory distress).

(Funny how waterwork is only okay when they do it with the stressed and dying orca calf but not in SeaWorld.)

The pathetic attempt to rehabilitate this dying calf by treating him like a pet, putting him in a tub of freshwater that quickly became toxic with ammonia. Signing off feeds with belly rubs and formulas changed behind the backs of the actual experts from Wellington Zoo and the experts consulted overseas who actually have successfully rehabbed calves.

How Whale Rescue (Ingrid’s organisation) lied again and again about Toa’s health and chances to be rehabilitated and released. How they misrepresented information about habituation when rehabbing whales and how Ingrid wanted to “train” Toa, despite plans to release him. How they demonised SeaWorld and claimed they weren’t involved despite records showing that SeaWorld and Loro Parque vets had provided their formula recipes and calf rearing protocols.

None of this is true - Ingrid has never rehabilitated any whale from a marine park. All the information she was getting was from DOC and the advisory group team

I could go on but I hit my image limit.

Basically: Ingrid’s “expertise” misled the New Zealand public, bullying out the actual experts so she could play orca trainer with her new pet.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

The Orchive

Get it? Orchive? Orca?

Below is a master list of (mostly) my original posts that address frequently asked questions! This is a living document and may not be comprehensive. I also utilize an extensive tagging system!

Some of these answers are older. Feel free to ask a question again, and I’ll let you know if my thoughts have grown at all.

Please note that some topics contain multiple links, so look carefully!

Zoos & Aquariums (General)

How do I know if a zoo is ethical?

Stereotypical behaviors

Unethical animal sanctuaries

Why are so many zoos "for-profit"?

Elephants in zoos

Zoos & Aquariums (Specific)

The Beluga Whale Sanctuary

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

The National Aquarium

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Greensboro Science Center

SEA LIFE aquariums

Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park

Brookfield Zoo

Dolphin Quest (and Dolphin Connection)

SOS Dolfijn

Killer Whales & SeaWorld

Why I'm "pro captivity"

Is SeaWorld AZA accredited?

What about Blackfish?

How SeaWorld helps animals

SeaWorld's marine rescue program

Why is public sentiment against SeaWorld?

Why do orcas' dorsal fins collapse in human care?

Should whales and dolphins have larger tanks?

SeaWorld's killer whale breeding program

Life expectancy of SeaWorld's killer whales

Should SeaWorld have ended their breeding program?

Why did SeaWorld use artificial insemination?

Are killer whales "too smart" to be in captivity?

Why does SeaWorld teach their orcas to do "circus tricks"?

Keiko (Free Willy)

Tilikum

Tokitae

Morgan

Dawn Brancheau

Toa & Ingrid Visser

Kiska & Marineland Canada

Killer Whale Ecotypes

Should Tokitae move to SeaWorld?

Why are those orcas attacking boats?

How do whales sleep?

Other Cetaceans

What's it really like for a whale or dolphin in an aquarium?

Aren't scientists against cetacean captivity?

What are some sources supporting cetaceans in human care?

What do we learn from having cetaceans in aquariums?

Do dolphins do well in captivity?

Don't wild dolphins swim hundreds of miles a day?

How long do dolphins live in captivity?

Swim-with-dolphins Programs

Dolphin shows

Wild dolphin tours

Do dolphins enjoy being touched?

US Navy Marine Mammal Program

Hvladimir the "Russian Spy Whale"

Indoor vs Outdoor marine mammal habitats

Why reproduction is important to cetacean welfare

Opposing the SWIMS Act

Cetacean ultrasounds

Why sea pens aren't the perfect solution

How come we can't just free the dolphins?

Are dolphins still captured from the wild?

Pets

Adopt don't shop?

Vet Medicine & Vet School

Zoo opportunities for vet techs

Client abuse

Animal Rights vs Animal Welfare

Veal crates

Dairy hutches

Dissections

Animal rights groups spread misinformation

Why don't you support the Humane Society of the United States?

Do you support the ASPCA?

Trophy hunting

Other

Commercial fisheries

Shark finning

Red wolves

Fun facts about eels

[orcinus-veterinarius]

It’s very heartening to see these two groups, despite their bad blood, banding together for the good of Toa. Everyone wants what’s best for him.

SeaWorld has confirmed that they are providing their expertise to Dr. Visser and the other groups helping with Toa.

[cetacean-content]

A killer whale of a tale: when peer review sometimes fail.

Photo:  Rachael Griffin - aquagreenmarine.org The extensive wear seen on the teeth of offshore killer whales may be caused by preying on sharks.

When examining claims in the scientific press one always tend to look to whether or not the evidence that this is based on has been subject to peer review.  Science journalism can be something of a mixed bag and with the ever increasing need to produce headlines that will generate attention (clickbait) and advertising revenue.

One such example is a recent news report in the web based science news outlet Phys.Org entitled: "Killer toothaches likely cause misery for captive orca". The article relates to a paper published in the Archives of Oral Biology that claims that tooth damage in captive killer whales is endemic and harmful to the animals. However a closer look at the paper and its authors give some calls for concern. Looking at what is available in the original paper it seems that the assessments made were from photographs taken by various individuals whilst visiting various facilities.  None of the authors appears to have had direct access to physically examine the teeth of any of these animals. The methodology of the data gathering is questionable and it is unlikely that all animals within the groups studied were assessed effectively. The authors clearly wanted to fit their hypothesis to the available data.

Only one of the authors, Carolina Loch, has any academic qualification in dentistry. Although Dr Lock's claim in the Phys.Org article that the animals would have to have there teeth cavities flushed out with "chemicals” unfortunately resonates strongly with the mantra of the pseudo scientists when promoting An Appeal to Nature. These do not sound like the words of an objective scientist.

It should be noted that humans regularly the clean their teeth and wash their mouths out with “chemicals” to promote oral hygiene on the recommendation of a dentist. Moreover there is a growing trend in veterinary dentistry for both domestic and wild animals which would also use various chemicals to combat disease and promote the health of gums and teeth.

Moreover, the paper does acknowledge the fact that tooth erosion is seen commonly in wild cetaceans but it's not very clear on what kind of comparative analysis was used. Tooth erosion in wild killer whales is well documented.

Further, four of the authors are actively are opposed to killer whales in captive care: Jeffrey Ventre and John Jett are former SeaWorld trainers who both left this facility in 1995 - with Ventre being dismissed for misconduct. They both appeared in the film Blackfish. Jett is now a biologists and lab coordinator and Ventre is now a physiotherapist. Ingrid Visser a scientist based in New Zealand who has undertaken work with wild killer whales. However her only direct contact with caring for a killer whale resulted in the death of a neonate killer whale due to her lack of experience in this field.

Jordan Waltz is a freelance graphic designer who has undertaken work for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. Interestingly, his mailing address on the paper is the address of animal rights activist Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project in Santa Monica an organisation Waltz actively contributes to in their news blogs. In his bio on this web site he states:

“...I am an artist by day, researcher by night. I served as archivist and researcher for the documentary films "Blackfish" and "Vancouver Aquarium: Uncovered." Most of my writings cater towards the lesser-known corners of the cetacean captivity issue...”

A small example of the large number of blogs and articles written by Jordan waltz for the Dolphin Project.

These facts alone should be a red flag to the actual objectivity and underlying agenda of this paper.

It would be interesting to know how appropriate and stringent the peer review was undertaken on this paper before it was published.  Judging by the credentials of the authors and the methodology used this paper seems to be very poor and really does not elevate the reputation of the journal Archives of Oral Biology.

[mama-beluga]

Tribute to the New Zealand Orca population! Footage courtesy of Dr. Ingrid Visser. Song: 'We Know The Way' from Moana

this is really cool please watch it? 

[the-ipre]

hi i'm asking you about orcas!! top five fun facts

hmmm fun is relative and i will say that a fair chunk of my research has been around orcas in captivity so those come with the underlying 'orcas being kept in captivity is fucked up' caveat but! lets go in no particular order:

- new zealand orcas are one of the only kind to hunt rays! and they have been recorded sharing food which is very sweet, also one of the hunting methods was going vertical with their head just above the hiding ray, blowing out all their air to sink down further, and then grabbing the ray by the end of its tail. it looks very silly! (unfun side of things, this leads to them being beached sometimes because rays are found in shallow water, and also as rays are filter feeders they have more pollutants which then leads to the orcas eating pollutants)

- female orcas have shorter curved fins (about 3 or 4 feet tall) and males have taller triangular fins that are about 6 feet tall! trying to comprehend this always throws me for a loop because like. picture someone stand up paddle boarding. a male orca swimming beside them with his back fully submerged would have his dorsal fin around that tall, possibly taller. thats just the fin. they're REAL big

- there has been one attack on a human from a wild orca where the guy was surfing and the orca bit his leg and then let go because ! orcas do not want to eat people. we are too full of bones is my guess. in new zealand dr ingrid visser is a prominent orca researcher and she will swim with the orcas to record video/audio, even while they are hunting sometimes, and although she needs to be careful because they are big and being hit even accidentally by their tail could hurt, she has not been attacked. (she is very close to the orcas to the point of naming them instead of giving them scientific numbers which makes me wonder about bias/anthropomorphizing, but thats a thought for a different day)

- orcas from different locations have different dialects and vocalizations! orcas from different populations around the world are sometimes different enough so as to be separate subspecies, and despite the fact that orcas can be found in a truly wild range around the world, they are in different populations that have distinct behaviors, vocalizations, and prey. most of these orcas are in pods, and it is rare to find an orca without one. because of this, orcas have close family ties, most offspring staying with their mothers for their entire lives. (this all means that when seaworld took orcas from different populations and different pods, they lost their family structure and were put together with orcas that they did not share a dialect with)

- i said this on a different post but !! orca brains are super interesting! theyre the biggest of the animal kingdom and have a small corpus callosum (connection between the halves of the brain) which allows them to shut off one half of their brain while keeping the other half active so that they can swim while they sleep! they have a very large cerebellum which helps with memory and learning! their brains are super wrinkly! their brains are made to transmit information quickly because sound travels quickly underwater and they use echolocation a lot! their hippocampus is very small because that much echolocation is damaging to the tissues! its very cool!