Morgan, the orphan orca, now has her own lawyer — at least that’s how a Dutch television station put it.
The 2-year-old killer whale has been kept in a marine park called the Dolphinarium Harderwijk in The Netherlands for the past seven months. For some background, see Water Ways, Jan. 14. A coalition of environmental groups says the Dolphinarium has no legal right to keep the orca and is proposing a plan that could lead to her release.
The latest legal move was disclosed in a news release sent out today from the Orca Coalition, which is made up of several environmental groups. The coalition’s first demand is to transfer Morgan to a larger and more natural sea pen on the Dutch southwest coast called Deltapark Neeltje Jans.
More than 40 international orca experts connected with the group Free Morgan have proposed a rehabilitation plan to the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. The plan calls for a series of steps leading up to Morgan’s release.
Meanwhile, the Orca Coalition is challenging the independence of
a previous report from seven killer whale experts who recommended
against releasing the young orca. (Northwest researchers are on
both sides of this debate.)
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