Miami Seaquarium Miami Seaquarium

With Sea World already fined by OSHA regulators, this has set a standard that could be used against other facilities working with Orca, other cetaceans, and maybe further applied across the board to all exotics.
 
wensleydale said:
Uh-oh, here it comes, lots of bickering, nasty comments, and worst of all the possible use of an animal and her caregivers as a pawn.:(

Sorry.

OSHA has fined the Seaquarium for allowing unprotected contact with Lolita. This may be interesting and/or painful to watch (my opinion).

Miami Seaquarium fined by OSHA | News - Home

Miami Seaquarium Fined by OSHA | NBC 6 South Florida

My own opinion is that making them use protected contact would be unnecessary, given that to the best of my knowledge Lolita/Tokitae has never shown any aggression towards her trainers, likes to have them down there with her (only only have one quote on this then, maybe she just liked that one trainer), and is a fish eater.
Click to expand...

Thank you for at least mentioning Tokitae by her real name. It always amuses me how people are crying to Free Lolita but never call her by her rightful name or even know what it is.

I have a friend who used to work at MSQ and there was talk back in the early 2000s about building her a larger pool, but the powers that be decided to spend the money on a new dolphin swim area and claimed it would have been too stressful to move Toki.
 
azcheetah2 said:
Thank you for at least mentioning Tokitae by her real name. It always amuses me how people are crying to Free Lolita but never call her by her rightful name or even know what it is.

I have a friend who used to work at MSQ and there was talk back in the early 2000s about building her a larger pool, but the powers that be decided to spend the money on a new dolphin swim area and claimed it would have been too stressful to move Toki.
Click to expand...

Well, there is the matter of stress. I have heard (on the prestigious internet) that she does not find too much change to be reinforcing, and we can argue and argue and argue about the Seaquarium but her caregivers do know her better than I do. I have heard so much about her that its really hard to figure out what is and isn't true. I find the theory that she might not respond well to having her living conditions altered quickly to be plausible though. I hate the idea of subjecting her to a sudden upheaval, and I hope that this whole OSHA thing won't result in a quickie transfer to another park.

Like I said, finding some way of putting together a canal or something to a larger area that she could go into of she felt like it, rather than just forcing it on her. Also, I would love the chance for her to get to interact with another Orca, but she should be able to refuse that as well if she wants to (my opinion). God only knows what she thinks she is at this point in her life.

Here's a really exotic idea, what if she were to skype or telephone another captive Orca (with the right to refuse to do so). But then there would be the question of how she would react to this. Also, which one would she skype? Maybe Corky? Keet (since he is part Southern Resident and easygoing to boot)? I don't know. It might be of scientific interest.
 
wensleydale said:
Well, there is the matter of stress. I have heard (on the prestigious internet) that she does not find too much change to be reinforcing, and we can argue and argue and argue about the Seaquarium but her caregivers do know her better than I do. I have heard so much about her that its really hard to figure out what is and isn't true. I find the theory that she might not respond well to having her living conditions altered quickly to be plausible though. I hate the idea of subjecting her to a sudden upheaval, and I hope that this whole OSHA thing won't result in a quickie transfer to another park.

Like I said, finding some way of putting together a canal or something to a larger area that she could go into of she felt like it, rather than just forcing it on her. Also, I would love the chance for her to get to interact with another Orca, but she should be able to refuse that as well if she wants to (my opinion). God only knows what she thinks she is at this point in her life.

Here's a really exotic idea, what if she were to skype or telephone another captive Orca (with the right to refuse to do so). But then there would be the question of how she would react to this. Also, which one would she skype? Maybe Corky? Keet (since he is part Southern Resident and easygoing to boot)? I don't know. It might be of scientific interest.
Click to expand...

I remember some scientists quite a while back were asking the park to set up kind of a "whale telephone" thing, one part set up in her tank and another put in her home waters near her family pod. The idea was to gather data based on how they communicated, and perhaps gather insight on whether or not she had a shot at release. The park didn't go for it, but it would've been kind of cool. Here's a link to the matter.

I'm also glad I'm not the only one who has thought of whale Skype, (I KNEW I WASN'T INSANE) though I was more thinking of using it in the context of orcas that have been separated to see how they'd interact and communicate. But using it for Lolita would be cool too. Do you know if she has ever been shown video of wild orca like Keiko was?
 
azcheetah2 said:
Thank you for at least mentioning Tokitae by her real name. It always amuses me how people are crying to Free Lolita but never call her by her rightful name or even know what it is.

I have a friend who used to work at MSQ and there was talk back in the early 2000s about building her a larger pool, but the powers that be decided to spend the money on a new dolphin swim area and claimed it would have been too stressful to move Toki.
Click to expand...

I've heard that the lack of a bigger tank was because the city wouldn't approve the permits or something. Do you know anything about that, or is it just bad info?
 
TheMightyOrca said:
I remember some scientists quite a while back were asking the park to set up kind of a "whale telephone" thing, one part set up in her tank and another put in her home waters near her family pod. The idea was to gather data based on how they communicated, and perhaps gather insight on whether or not she had a shot at release. The park didn't go for it, but it would've been kind of cool. Here's a link to the matter.

I'm also glad I'm not the only one who has thought of whale Skype, (I KNEW I WASN'T INSANE) though I was more thinking of using it in the context of orcas that have been separated to see how they'd interact and communicate. But using it for Lolita would be cool too. Do you know if she has ever been shown video of wild orca like Keiko was?
Click to expand...

Maybe Katina and Kasatka (they have been apart since the mid eighties) would be better candidates for that kind of communication. Or Kasatka and Takara, Takara and Kohana or Trua (or both), Katina and Unna, Keet and Kayla (just to name a few). Doing it with Lolita would be more of an experiment to see how she might react to another Orca, and possibly as a form of companionship/enrichment, maybe even a way to test drive a future companion.

I know that she was played a recording of another Orca(s) sometime in the nineties and she was very interested, she turned her head over as far as it could go to listen. Of course I do not know if this was curiosity or something else.
 
TheMightyOrca said:
I've heard that the lack of a bigger tank was because the city wouldn't approve the permits or something. Do you know anything about that, or is it just bad info?
Click to expand...

I have heard of this, however all of the info I have heard about this has been on the prestigious internet:rolleyes:, with few, if any citations to credible sources. I won't say I don't find it plausible, but I am still looking for a credible source. I have been looking, but I am taking a break from it right now because as of late typing "Miami Seaquarium" into a search engine can be downright depressing, because of the recent hoopla over OSHA and the USDA (frankly I don't think that a rational or even handed debate about the best way to care for her in the future is going on right now, and one can only take so much bickering and obvious posturing). Also there is the possibility that they were told they would in all likelihood be turned down if they applied and they decided not to bother, or there is some other legal issue that would keep them from building.

If there is a place where we can search for past permit applications for the Virginia Key (the Key might have its own system, I don't know) I would like to know about it.
 
Parques Reunidos may well be going up for sale in the near future, possibly as soon as the first half of 2015. The company is emerging from the recession and may well be valued at over 2 billion euros, or 1.5 billion pounds, or quite a few USD. Bear in mind there is still a chance it will fall through.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/2...ues-reunidos-ponder-2-6-billion-sale-sources/

Any thoughts on who might buy the company? Apparently Merlin, its closest peer, is making quite a sum right now. I hope they don't buy Parques Reunidos because I have heard about their products and quite frankly I am not impressed. It seems like tourist traps more than anything. Like comparing Coke or Pepsi to Shasta cola. Of course maybe I might feel differently if I saw them in person, but to they just don't seem to offer anything special to the attractions snob.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top