The video published by The Dolphin Project on its website is a new attempt at manipulation through exaggeration and dramatization of a completely normal situation in which there is no problem for the animals.
The video shows Morgan (within the medical pool) and Tekoa in the pool B interacting through the door. The interpretation that Morgan is suffering a panic attack is completely incorrect and malicious; all we see is that Morgan wants to open the door to access the pool B and be with Tekoa. When any of these animals (Morgan now exceeds 2,200 kg and Tekoa 2,700 kg) pushes the door strongly, it produces the banging sounds heard in the video.
The interpretation of a panic attack is completely ridiculous, given that the orcas are trained daily to enter and remain quiet within medical pools, since it is an essential element for the veterinarians to make routine examinations of animals or treat one if it is sick. In the same way a dog scratches a door when it wants to enter another room, orcas push the doors when they want access to another pool. It is surprising that advocates of ending the breeding of orcas in human care should be offended by these images, precisely because sexual frustration at not being able to access the pool where there are orcas of the opposite sex with which to mate can trigger this type of behaviour.
Increasingly, some self-proclaimed animal rights organizations dedicate themselves to launching these smear campaigns without any proven information based on the welfare and health of animals. Loro Parque’s orcas are under the care of our team of veterinarians, and regularly receive visits by veterinary experts in cetaceans and inspections by the competent authorities in animal welfare. None of these professionals has found that any stress and cruelty allegation is true. There is no doubt that the interest of the organizations conducting these public defamation campaigns is simply to obtain donations, and not for the welfare of the animals, but for their own welfare and benefit.
In the last 22 years thanks to the work of a zoo internationally recognized for its quality, as is Loro Parque, it has been possible to invest more than 16 million dollars in the conservation of endangered species on our planet. The most important success of this work has been to save two parrot species from being critically endangered, and to help many others to increase their small populations and not disappear forever. What are the achievements of The Dolphin Project in the conservation of biodiversity? How much money has it invested in the conservation of the most endangered species? How many species have been saved? The terrible paradox is that not only has it not helped to preserve nature, but it aims to destroy those who work daily to save species from extinction. How then can they call themselves animal lovers?
