The Marineland park near Niagara Falls has asked the Canadian government for emergency funding to feed and care for its whales, saying euthanasia is otherwise imminent.
They tried this with the whale from Free Willy, and the whale failed to adapt to the wild before dying. They tried preparing him for years prior to his release and his trainer moved to Iceland where they released him to continue his transition into the wild.
But we can’t ask these animals what they would prefer. Not everyone would chose the same as you.
Even if we could communicate with them, it would be much more expensive to train them to be reintegrated into the wild (with a high chance of failure), rather than just feed them.
Your second sentence is correct, but your first sentence is incorrect. Particularly for males, leaving their birth pod and joining a new one is standard orca practice.
I believe belugas have tendencies to move to different pods. They would interact with wild belugas, and how could they possibly understand the consequences/differences of interacting or following other belugas?
The odds of their survival in the wild are against them. Marineland can’t afford to feed them, it would be more than 10x that cost to train them to have a chance of survival in the wild. Marineland can’t afford to humanely release them into the wild.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_(orca)
They tried this with the whale from Free Willy, and the whale failed to adapt to the wild before dying. They tried preparing him for years prior to his release and his trainer moved to Iceland where they released him to continue his transition into the wild.
I’d rather die free than someone sticking me with a needle in my sleep and never having tasted said freedom.
I’d rather die in my sleep than slowly starving to death in the wilderness.
But we can’t ask these animals what they would prefer. Not everyone would chose the same as you.
Even if we could communicate with them, it would be much more expensive to train them to be reintegrated into the wild (with a high chance of failure), rather than just feed them.
Damn. They’re pack animals tho. Maybe better chance in a group?
Intigration into a pod is almost impossible tho. You can’t force a pod to accept a new member.
Your second sentence is correct, but your first sentence is incorrect. Particularly for males, leaving their birth pod and joining a new one is standard orca practice.
Aren’t they already a pod?
There’s 30 of them, though.
I believe belugas have tendencies to move to different pods. They would interact with wild belugas, and how could they possibly understand the consequences/differences of interacting or following other belugas?
Is it crueler than euthanizing them? They don’t have a chance of survival?
The odds of their survival in the wild are against them. Marineland can’t afford to feed them, it would be more than 10x that cost to train them to have a chance of survival in the wild. Marineland can’t afford to humanely release them into the wild.