I went to Marineland on opening day May 17, 2012. It was very hard to witness and see the sad lone killer whale named Kiska circling her pool. I took lots of photos and some video as well. You can see the sadness in her eyes. I will be posting more very soon. The is the one and only Orca whale in captivity in Canada at the moment. She was caught in the wild and has been living out her life in captivity. Why do we keep whales prisoners like this? Or any animal for that matter? For us to look at and entertain us? It is very sad.
I watched children say “Wooooowwww” and stand in amazement watching her. Most of them requested their parents to take a photo of them standing in front of the whale.
I sat with her on the edge of her pool in the underwater viewing area for a couple of hours. Sometimes there was a crowd watching her and then after a few family photos, they would clear out and it would be empty again.
I wondered what she was thinking. I wondered how she felt inside.
A Marineland whale trailer worker came up to me and asked me if I was a “Whale nut”? Probably because I was watching her for so long. He asked if I wanted to hear more information about Kiska. He told me how she was originally taken from Icelandic waters when she was young. And she has been at Marineland since the early 70′s. She used to be the main whale who did all of the whale shows at Marineland. She also birthed a few young but most of them have died. Now because of her age, she is considered “retired”.
She lives alone in a pool with artificial salt water (the park adds what they feel is the correct about of salt to the fresh water) to keep the whale buoyant and to artificially replica the ocean.
There are a couple of rocks at the bottom of her tank and rock formations around the edges of the pool. She circles these rocks over and over again…
Her dorsal fin is wobbly and not strait. Her eyes stare deep to the bottom of the pool as she circles over and over again…
It is very sad.
I will be shooting a film this summer 2012 on Vancouver Island featuring the killer whales in their natural habitat. Support an Orca Whale Documentary here: http://www.indiegogo.com/orcadoc2012?a=507914
