Ken Balcomb has researched and photographed these whales for nearly 40 years. This is his information on those released.
Seaworld and those capturers for the entertainment industry have a lot to answer for.
J,K and L pod would have every reason to attack us the number of times the whole pods were captured and held is disgraceful and each time their babies were stolen, makes no wonder they learnt to split up when they were chased for the last time.
It is also very interesting that Corky recognised her pod and Yaka was able to catch live fish, proving that captive killer whales can do it.
Ken Balcomb video on the orca captures.
Pacific Northwest Reintroductions. Although no official followup on reintroductions occurred, photo-identification studies which commenced in the early and mid 1970's in British Columbia and Washington State have documented the recovery and social structure of virtually all of the pods which were exploited for public display.
1976. S and O pods, numbering 7 whales, were captured in Puget Sound and held temporarily while two whales (O-4, O-5) were selected for a Sea World and University of Washington radio tag research project. The unselected whales were released after one week to reintegrate back into the transient community. The two selected whales were maintained in captivity for 55 days before being released to reintegrate back into the transient community (Erickson, 1977). They have been independently photodocumented almost every year since release and are still alive 19 years post-release. Native reintroduction.
Note: Transient whales range over thousands of miles and could potentially have great difficulty relocating their podmates following reintroduction; nonetheless these two certainly did reintegrate into their social community. Seven whales; Captive 7-55 days; followup successful.
1975. Q pod, numbering six whales, was captured off southern Vancouver Island and held temporarily while a young female and a young male were removed for public display. The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the transient community. Photodocumented numerous times since release. Native reintroduction. Four whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
1973. Unknown pod (presumably southern resident) was captured in Washington State and held temporarily while one mature female was removed for public display. Native reintroduction. ???
1973. K pod, numbering approximately 17 whales, was captured off South Vancouver Island and held temporarily while one mature female was removed for public display. An adult male (K-1) was retained for two months before being released to reintegrate into his pod. Native reintroduction. Sixteen whales; Captive ? to 60 days; followup successful.
Note: K-1, alias Taku, is a prominent member of K pod, and is now approximately 39 years old, based upon his state of maturity in 1973.
1973. L pod, numbering approximately 39 whales, was captured off South Vancouver Island and held temporarily while a mature male and a mature female were removed for public display. The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Thirty-seven whales: Captive ?; followup successful.
1972. J pod, numbering approximately 15 whales, was captured in Puget Sound and held temporarily while one young male was removed for public display. The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Fourteen whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
1971. L pod, numbering approximately 45 whales, was captured in Possession Sound and held temporarily while two young females and a young male were removed for public display. The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Forty-three whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
1971. Unknown pod (presumably southern resident) of whales was captured and held in Washington State while two young males were removed for public display. Native reintroduction. ???
1971. Ishmael, a young male killer whale from J or K pod was inducted into the US Navy Project Deep Ops in 1968, but escaped from his handlers off the north coast of Oahu, Hawaii in February 1971 (Bowers and Henderson, 1972). No followup due to radio tag failure. Non-native reintroduction. One whale; Captive 28 months; no followup.
Note: If DNA studies were conducted on killer whales in Hawaiian or Central Pacific waters, it is possible that some genetic influence of Ishmael's reintroduction might be detected. It is also possible that Ishmael may yet be found by photo-identification studies.
1970. M pod, numbering three whales, was captured off southern Vancouver Island and held temporarily. One young female whale (Chimo) was removed for public display, and the other two (M1, M2) were maintained in a seapen at Pedder Bay, BC. These two whales "escaped" the seapen after eight months captivity and reintegrated back into the transient whale community (Hoyt, 1990). They have been photodocumented almost every year since. Native reintroduction. Two whales; Captive 8 months; followup successful.
1970. J, K, and L pods, numbering approximately 85 whales (contemporary news said 50 whales, but number was higher), were captured in Possession Sound and held temporarily while twelve whales were removed for public display (or by accidental drowning). The unselected surviving whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Thirty-eight to seventy-three whales; Captive 13 days; followup successful. Can you believe these whales were held for 2 weeks?
Note: The only surviving captive whale from this event now resides in solitary confinement at Miami Seaquarium. Lolita. She is a J, K, or L pod female now approximately 31 years of age. DNA and communications research proposals to enrich her environment and examine the strength of social bonds over the long term have been presented to Miami Seaquarium.
1969. A5 pod, numbering approximately sixteen whales, was captured in Pender Harbor Vancouver Island and held temporarily while six whales were removed for public display (Hoyt, 1990). The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Ten whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
Note: Only two whales survive in captivity from this capture event: Corky at Sea World, San Diego, and Yaka at Marine World Africa USA in Vallejo, CA. Neither facility has allowed communications experiments between their captive and wild whales for environmental enrichment or to examine the strength of social bonds over the long term. "Prime Time Live" surprised Sea World officials by playing an audio tape of A5 pod at Corky's tank. This impromptu experiment aired in August, 1993. Corky visibly shuddered as she heard her family's voices.
Yaka was involved in a study reported in 1993 in which, "Results of this study demonstrate that captive killer whales will pursue, capture and eat live fish.
The whales in this study used echolocation while in pursuit of fish, as well as at other times." (Newman and Markowitz, 1993).
1969. A male killer whale from A5 pod released after one year captivity in pen in Pender Harbor since 1968 capture. No details available. Native reintroduction. One whale; Captive 1 year; followup ?
1968. J and L pods, numbering approximately 65 whales, were captured in Puget Sound and held temporarily while five whales were removed for public display or military purposes (US Navy). The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Sixty whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
Note: See Ishmael, 1971 reintroduction.
1968. A5 pod, numbering approximately 18 whales, was captured off northern Vancouver Island and held temporarily while six whales were removed for public display. The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Twelve whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
1967. K pod, numbering approximately 25 whales, was captured in Puget Sound and held temporarily while eight whales were removed for public display. The unselected whales were released to reintegrate back into the local community. Native reintroduction. Seventeen whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
Icelandic killer whale reintroductions.
As in the Pacific Northwest, no official followup studies have been conducted to ascertain whether there was successful reintegration of any of the released animals. In contrast to the Pacific Northwest, there are no independent followup or photo identification studies either. It is clear, however, that killer whales have been released back into the Icelandic population after periods of captivity (Dudok van Heel, 1986; Sigurjonsson, 1988), and there is no evidence that they have not been reaccepted and fared as well as has been reported for Pacific Northwest animals. At least one Icelandic reintroduction after captivity of several months duration was considered by world experts as the best option for survival for the reintroduced animals. The following records are the only ones we know about:
1981. Seven killer whales captured and one released shortly after being captured to reintegrate back into the wild community. One whale; Captive ?; no followup.
1980. Six killer whales captured and one released shortly after being captured to reintegrate back into the wild community. One whale; Captive ?; no followup.
1978. Eleven killer whales captured and three released after being kept in a holding pool for several months, during which time they developed frostbite and skin infections. Two other killer whales died in this holding pool before shipment from Iceland. Three whales; Captive ? months; no followup. 2 killer whales died in that pool and 3 sick orcas were just sent back to sea, disgusting!
1976. Six killer whales captured, one released shortly after being captured and two released after being kept in a floating pen. Three whales; Captive ?; no followup.
Other successful whale reintroductions
Most other cetacean reintroductions have been conducted following rehabilitation from stranding events or release from captivity due to health/behavior problems. The followup for such reintroductions has generally been brief or non-existent, but there are a few notable exceptions:
1972. Gray whale (Eschrictius robustus). A baby gray whale (Gigi) was captured in early March of 1971 during an expedition sponsored by Sea World, Inc. This whale was maintained in captivity for one year at Sea World, San Diego before being instrumented with a radio tag and released on 13 March 1972, during the gray whale northerly migration. The reintroduction was considered a success, but official followup was discontinued in May 1972 when the radio tag failed (Evans, 1974). There were several confirmed sightings of this whale after radio tag failure, one of which was two years later reporting the square white scar intentionally placed for identification. One whale; Captive 1 year; followup successful.
Strange how there were no concerns about how the ocean would affect this whale as there are with the orcas.
1985. Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). "Humphrey", the famous wrong way whale which swam up the Sacramento River, CA in November 1985 was escorted back to sea following a 24 day ordeal ending in a freshwater slough. He stranded several times, and appeared close to death on more than one occasion, but he nonetheless survived his ordeal and was documented by photo-identification studies numerous times for the three following years (Calambokidis, et. al., 1989). While not an actual reintroduction from captivity, Humphrey provides a remarkable example of survival resilience in these animals. One whale; 'Captive' 24 days; followup successful.
Pilot whale (Globicephala melaena). Following rehabilitation from stranding events, pilot whales have been reintroduced to the ocean environment on numerous occasions throughout the world (Robson, 1984 lists six successful pod rescues around Australia and New Zealand). Rarely, has there been any followup. We cite a couple of examples where there has been followup, and would appreciate learning of any others.
1991. Two pilot whales were rehabilitated by the Miami Seaquarium from a stranding which occurred on the Florida coast in 1991. They were satellite tagged by Dr. Bruce Mate and released in the vicinity where they had stranded. These two whales were resighted off the coast of Florida in February 1994 by the US Coast Guard, and their tag harnesses were still attached, although the batteries had died. (Mate, pers. comm. 1994). Two whales; Captive ?; followup successful.
1987. Three pilot whales were rehabilitated at the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA from a stranding which occurred on Cape Cod in December, 1986. They were released at sea off Cape Cod on June 29,
1987. One whale was fitted with a Telonics-built Argos transmitter (satellite tag), and one was fitted with a conventional radio tag. "The satellite-monitored whale was tracked by Argos for 95 days, as the whale swam at least 7,600 kilometers. Just three weeks after tagging, this Argos-equipped whale was spotted in a group of more than 100 pilot whales, suggesting that its movements and dive patterns were typical of normal pilot whales." (Mate, 1989). Three whales; Captive 6 months; followup successful.
1967. Pilot whale (Globicephala melaena). After almost eight years of captivity at Marineland of the Pacific, a twenty year old pilot whale named Bimbo was successfully reintroduced to the wild. Captured in January/February, 1960 at a length of 17' 6", he performed well for about three years. When his female pilot whale and dolphin companions died, Bimbo's behavior changed drastically. "One day he would be as friendly as ever, the next in a wildly agitated state or apathetic and apparently depressed" (Valentry, 1969). It was decided to keep him as an attraction whether or not he performed. After four years of treatment including antidepressant drugs and tranquilizers, Bimbo smashed into a window, flooding spectators. He was released in August, 1967 at a length of 20' 6", "...after much planning and weeks of isolation in a tank for physical tests to make sure he was fit for fending on his own at sea" (op. cit.). He was resighted in 1969 near Santa Barbara, CA by a U.S. Navy collector, and again in 1974 near San Clemente identified from photographs by L Cornell and J. Prescott (pers. comm., John Prescott.) One whale; Captive 7.5 years; followup successful.
There has also been over 60 bottlenose dolphin releases along with other cetaceans too, they can all be seen on Ken Balcomb's website
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| This is Corky 2 pre capture with her mother Stripe |
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| This is Corky now, full grown, 7 dead babies, no teeth, a life stolen |
Many of the orcas could not go back to the open ocean as they have medical needs or are part of Seaworld's breeding programme which created hybrid mixes with no conservation value what so ever as they have no equivalent out in the wild. They could however have a more natural life in a netted bay with the trainers they know still conducting their husbandry.
In the 60's and 70's people frequented circus's but those have been in rapid decline and many countries have banned them. In those early days circus's were astounding as people didn't have the technology we have today and it was the only way people could see man in control of the animals. Today however we don't need to see man in control, we don't need to show how we can 'tame' these creatures, we don't need hero's against predators, we have TV, internet, underwater camera's, video, boat trips, whale watching and people can learn about and appreciate animals without seeing them close up anymore.
The day of the circus and domination of predators has gone and no matter how many times it is called education, it is still exactly that, circus and domination. Education would be more beneficial if people could actually see the whales behaving naturally, hunting, foraging, and see their matralines and groups functioning as they would in the wild, not as Seaworld, Kamogawa or Marineland want us to see them.
The list and website link proves that can be rehabilitated and in some cases released too, and the time to do it is now as they have all more than earned their freedom.
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