Recently, a video shows an killer whale painfully hitting its enclosure at the Marine Park in Niagara Falls, Canada.
↑ Video screenshot
According to foreign media reports, the video was filmed by Phil Demers, a former employee of Ocean Park and an anti-captivity activist. According to Demers, the 44-year-old killer whale, named Kiska, was born off the coast of Iceland and has been in captivity since 1979. All five of its children have passed away, and for the past decade, it has lived alone in the Marine Park without companions. Demers called Kiska "the loneliest whale in the world."
Killer whales are reportedly extremely gregarious animals, and in the wild, they live in groups, with generations of families forming a group.
Foreign media quoted the Killer Whale Rescue Foundation as saying that for more than 40 years, Kiska lost his freedom, lost his children, and lost all his companions. For the past 10 years, after the death of the child, it has been completely isolated from its peers. Rob Lott is an activist against whale captivity. He told the media that Kiska's act of injuring himself by hitting his head against a fence in the video was "the result of the stress that a wild animal has been in captivity for the past 40 years after it has been captured."
Sadly, Kiska isn't the only killer whale to engage in self-harm behavior. Its repeated acts of self-harm also occur in other captive killer whales. These killer whales have been bored with life in small, featureless pools for years, with almost nothing to stimulate them. "Long-term stress can damage the immune system and physical health of captive killer whales, leading to disease and even death, and all whales and dolphins are extremely unsuitable for captivity." Rob Lott said.
Demers posted the video to social media and launched the "FreeKiska" hashtag in the hope of setting Kiska free.
Ocean Park did not respond to requests for comment from the media.
The 2013 documentary Black Fish puts the plight of captive killer whales in the spotlight, a documentary that tells the story of a killer whale named Tirikum. On the one hand, it is the animal star of Ocean Paradise, with countless fans; on the other hand, it has been in captivity for 25 years and has carried 3 lives. The documentary exposes the truth behind the killer whale's 3 "killings" and the cruelty behind the marine entertainment industry, with staff members who have lost their minds in the face of high profits treating marine species cruelly.
The film caused a huge public reaction, with SeaWorld losing millions of dollars, prompting the company to announce that it would end its killer whale breeding program and phase out the use of killer whales for live performances.
Red Star News reporter Jiang Yijin
Edited by Guo Yu
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