Center for Whale Research: L90 Update: September 11, 2011

Monday, September 26, 2011

L90 Update: September 11, 2011

L90 in Haro Strait, September 11- Photo by Dave Ellifrit

L90:
We have been episodically monitoring L90 - taking respiration rates, surfacing/

dive intervals/traveling speed, and videotaping , as well as taking good-quality close-up photos of her melon, etc.

She continues to consistently trail the other whales and is breathing at frequent intervals ranging from 20 sec-120 sec, with

most in 30 second range. Her dives are typically shallow (often visible underwater at about 60'), and when observed the in calm water near East Point on September 20th, she was making brief vocalizations between breaths. At the time, she was lagging behind the other whales by about one and a half miles. Her surfacing posture is unusual - when logging she "bobs" for each breath, and when traveling she surfaces horizontally and then dives rather "stiffly", as if there is a problem with her spine. She has been doing this since July 6, before the alleged vessel strike.

We recently noted her surfacing about 100 feet behind a yacht wake and she appeared to be thrown off balance from the wake. She was also observed rolling on her side going through kelp. She does not show evidence any emaciation. The most notable aspect of all of this, and it is also notable for other ailing/trailing whales we have monitored in the past: there is little to no obvious care-giving behavior exhibited by the other whales. Presumably she is eating, otherwise she would show evidence of emaciation.

We all have concerns for the fate of this whale, but there is very little that anyone can do but observe. This has happened before, and it will happen again.

3 comments:

Candice SmithSeptember 28, 2011 at 10:45 AM
:( Poor Girl.... I hope she is not in TOO much pain...
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AnonymousOctober 18, 2011 at 6:25 PM
It's been almost a month since you updated. What's going on now?
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AnonymousJanuary 1, 2012 at 2:21 AM
just read your end of year article-quick note-the "bubbles" sea world san diego has is the same whale from marineland-the problem is that it is not the original bubbles marineland had-there are articles that have an employee from marineland basically saying this-I have also seen photos of a "bubbles" with a white spot under the chin-at one time the performing "bubbles" was actually male-sea world is not going to answer your ridiculous conspiracy theory questions
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Some Background Information on the Orca Captivity Issue from Howard Garrett

"In 1965 a young male orca was captured in the town of Namu, BC. He was sold to Ted Griffin and towed in a pen to Seattle, where he was promoted extensively and made into a worldwide celebrity. Namu died after 11 months of captivity, but by then Sea World had captured their first Shamu from Puget Sound and the revenues from killer whale shows started a stampede to capture and sell orcas from Washington.

For ten years the captures were led by Don Goldsberry and Ted Griffin, who became public enemies after they tried to violently obstruct news coverage of their operations. They caught over 100 in that time, but claimed there were plenty of orcas here so the captures would make little difference on a population level. There was no science to dispute that until the mid-1970's when Canada and the US contracted with marine biologists Mike Bigg and Ken Balcomb, respectively, to conduct a survey to find out how many orcas there were in Washington and BC. They found only a few hundred, mostly north of Vancouver Island, meaning the captures had removed about a third of those resident to Washington waters.

Goldsberry, Griffin, Sea World, and the marine park industry in general disputed the scientists' findings and methods because they didn't like the results, and thus began a deep animosity toward field researchers on the part of the marine park industry. That dislike and disregard for the natural history of orcas that Bigg and Balcomb and many others revealed over the years became part of the marine park culture and continues to this day. The longevity of orcas, for example, was known from field research to be many decades longer than what marine parks told the public in their educational materials.

Needless to say, any organization that criticizes the captivity industry or that attempts to rehab, retire or release captives receives special scorn from the industry (which includes many people on Keiko's care team)."

"... and that's unfortunate because there could be some areas of agreement and cooperation if we could trust one another's information. But for those within the industry survival of the business is often more important than survival of the orcas, so rather than defend against these innuendos, unless there are disputed facts I'll try to give the background for the argument and leave it at that." From Comments by Howard Garrett

Monday, September 26, 2011

L90 Update: September 11, 2011

3 comments:

Candace Calloway Whiting