I heard on NPR this morning that certain persons (including Mike Lowry)
are trying to secure Lolita, an orca at SeaQuest, a commercial park in
Florida. This whale has been captive since 1970, when it was trendy for
parks to catch Puget Sound orcas. According to NPR, she's the last
survivor of this bunch. Apparently many people want to buy her back and
release into Puget Sound. Now, I sympathize with the idea of keeping
orcas wild, but doesn't this seem like a bad idea? Is it likely that
over the course of 25 years she's retained the hunting knowledge and
competitive edge that allows wild whales to stay fit? Seems to me she'd
be thrown in with a bunch of far superior peers, who would out-swim,
out-fish, out-compete her in every possible way (excepting of course
their ability to jump through hoops or throw balls). And would she be
accepted by a pod? I see this as a big PR stunt, with little concern for
the whale's well-being. I think she'd just die unless attended to by people.

Of course, I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time). If she were
reintroduced and quickly bonded with a pod (ideally made up of 'kin') and
fed and acted in a natural way, that would be a fascinating insight into
how well whales can 'remember'. But this seems unlikely. And NPR said
she was 30 years old, anybody out there know the average longevity of
wild orcas?

Any opinions on this tweets?

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Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html