It is truly unbelievable how some organizations continue to distort the facts to present to the truly concerned public a new reality convenient only to them. In this case, it is Free Morgan Foundation that we refer to, notoriously known for having lost every single court case on the case of the orca Morgan, all 10 of them, mind you! (For more detail see: New defeat for Free Morgan Foundation in the Netherlands)
One can only wonder just how much of the honest taxpayers’ money and recourses has been irrevocably wasted in the process, only because FMF have been refusing to accept the obvious and affirmed facts but …. this is not the object of current communication.
So, what are those facts so vehemently negated by FMF? The No. 1 fact is that the orca Morgan was rescued 11 years ago (by the way, we invite you to watch the following video tribute published on the occasion of 10th anniversary of Morgan by her rescuers), and the fact also is that she was too young to provide for herself and was determined as not releasable by the authorities of the Netherlands based on the opinions of independent experts. The fact is that her family has never been found either. The fact is also that Loro Parque was asked to offer home to Morgan, otherwise she was facing a euthanasia, and the fact is that Loro Parque accepted the call because as a true animal embassy that the park is we are always ready to offer a second home to a wild animal that cannot survive in nature.
Another important fact is that when Morgan was already in Loro Parque it was discovered and confirmed, not immediately, but in several scientific studies, that she is completely deaf – another reason in support of the already made decision on an inability of releasing her to the wild as that would be an equivalent of a sure and imminent death. A suffering death, as she would be condoned to starvation, not speaking about diseases, traffic accidents, social depravation, etc. It is further a fact that Morgan has perfectly adapted to her life at Loro Parque, with a unique light-based communication system developed here for her as the only deaf orca in the world, among many other privileges that only the best modern zoos, as is the case of Loro Parque, are able to offer.
It is true that only two days ago, we had to share with the interested and truly concerned public a very sad news: we have lost our beloved Ula, Morgan’s calf, who was born here, with us, at OrcaOcean. As we announced around three months ago, Ula suffered a serious intestinal process, which put her life at serious risk and has required the full attention of our caregivers and veterinary team. Thanks to the enormous efforts of all the Orca Ocean staff, who have taken care of her day and night, and the experience and knowledge of the greatest experts in killer whale veterinary medicine together with our veterinary team, Ula showed an important improvement, and for several weeks we were optimistic about its evolution. However, pathologies in cetaceans can suffer sudden aggravations, and this is what has happened in recent days. Despite all our efforts, sadly, we have been unable to save her life.
What is also a proven fact is that the first years in the life of a cetacean are especially complicated, as evidenced by the high perinatal mortality among the young calves of wild killer whales (around 50%). Dolphins and orcas are also one of the most complex animals from the point of view of veterinary medicine, since surgical procedures have not been developed to address the most complex pathologies.
As we already announced, we have asked the team of experts in cetacean pathology at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to carry out the necropsy of Ula, in order to have all the scientific information on the intestinal process that apparently caused his death. Scientific knowledge about the causes of death of an animal is essential to progress in veterinary medicine, and will undoubtedly serve to save the lives of other offspring in the future, both in zoos and in the wild.
Returning to the FMF, though, it is nothing other than laughable to read their accusations on the lack of social interactions. It is easily seen from numerous photos and videos that we had published on a regular basis as Ula and Morgan had not only an amazing and special bond between each other, but also with other members of the group of orcas and with the entire personnel of OrcaOcean. That is why, just as we have expressed in our official channels, right now we are grieving a loss of our beloved Ula.
Now, while FMF is talking about necropsies, we would like to remind the interested public that there were not one, but two wild orca calves situations, in whose care the founder of FMF was personally involved. Sadly, both cases ended up tragically, resulting in prompt deaths of the animals. Well, what we want to point out is that in neither of these cases, FMF has requested any necropsies, conveniently alluding to an emotional pretext. Why the difference, then?
All of this is clear as day to anyone who has taken the time to inform themselves on the matter of hypocrisy of Free Morgan Foundation in the case of Morgan and her late calf, Ula. And we encourage everyone, who has not done it yet, to do just that and confirm the truth for themselves.
