Hey everyone, I was just wondering, if anyone knows about anything the park is planning? I personally think it needs some new exhibits and updates to current ones, does anyone think this could or will happen? I'm not sure how to find this stuff out on my own so i figured I'd ask everyone here I think this park could be great, if only they would invest more time and money into new and more extravagant exhibits (like that aquarium complex there were once going to build ) Zack
Does anyone have any thoughts or feelings about this park? (nothing about anti-captivity please!) Any experiences? good or bad? I use to love this park, but i feel that since arctic cove was added, they have let it go and really need to update and add to it. Anyone? If you could add to the park, what would you add? (be creative, just not unlogical)
My wife and I were, a few years back, planning a trip up there to have a good look at the whale interaction program they were doing at the time. Unfortunately, said program got canceled, and we scuttled the trip as a result. The last time I looked at their "master plan," on their old web site (about four years ago), they had this nice artist's concept of a massive new cluster of exhibits which would have included, among other things, an interactive dolphin exhibit. Unfortunately, I can find no further mention of any such thing on their current web site (heck, I can't find anything truly useful on their new site anyway -- the thing's so overburdened with eye candy now...). I did have the opportunity to meet one of their whale trainers at the 2008 IMATA conference. The 'vibe' I got from the guy, however, was not particularly good. It's academic, anyway. My IMATA membership expires at the end of the month, and I've chosen not to renew. No visit planned on my part any time soon, not unless something urgent in the falconry world calls us up to that area. Happy travels.
Thanks for the reply Kc, Yeah i too heard about this intereactive program, but from my understanding it never got off.....i was told by a staff member there that they are having issues with the owner, maybe it is time for a proper board of members and someone from the outside (not standing to loss ALOT of money, do something with the park, a corporate sponsor or something) to step in and help out. What would you do with the park if you could do something to it?
Wow! That's a heck of a question. I'll respond in kind, but I give you fair warning: You probably won't like some of the answers. First: Completely separate the "thrill rides" section of the park from the "animals" section. Make the dividing line clear and easy to cross, but also have a neutral barrier of clear space between the two. This way, visitors have an easy and clear choice of what part of the place is most interesting to them, and the folks who are more interested in the 'animals' section don't have to put up with the noise and crowding on the 'thrill rides' side. Second: Enlarge the whale habitat. Get rid of any SeaWorld-like "theming" in the shows, to be replaced by a balance of education and entertainment. For long-term goals, look at establishing a whale 'rehab' center, with an eye towards training wild-caught orcas for return to the wild. This would follow an ultimate goal of eliminating the whole idea of orcas in captivity. Sorry if that bothers you, but there's just too much we don't know about their social structure and how wild captures affect it (and them). Third: Establish a well-designed interactive dolphin exhibit, preferably including a swim-with program which emphasizes quality of experience (for both visitor and animals) over quantity of people through the sign-up queue. Fourth: Open the doors to cutting-edge research, mainly the possibility of creating a synthetic language to establish two-way communication with dolphins, whales, or both. I realize this may sound crazy to some, but -- at least one researcher has already made some pretty good strides in that direction. Specifically, Lou Herman, at the Kewalo Basin lab in Hawaii. I would want to see how far such an idea could be taken. I would also want to see what application of contemporary computing power, and digital signal processing techniques, could do about establishing, once and for all, if cetacea do have a structured language AND, if so, whether it can be decoded. Crazy? Maybe. But riddle me this -- How many billions of dollars have we spent on projects like SETI (designed to search for signs of extraterrestrial civilizations in the form of their radio emissions), or on other deep-space exploration ideas? Seems to me we may have a lot of the answers we seek right in our own back yards, so to speak. Even if it still sounds nuts, ask yourself what's more nuts: Starting multiple wars with each other, which nobody can win, or trying to determine if we really are alone (or not) in terms of intelligent life? Happy travels.
I like your ideas Of course the ideal goal is to have no need for zoos, but as populations decline zoos and aquariums i feel are important, to (try) keep the population stable until one day wild release is possible and the population can be rebuilt. I would love to see an actually dolphin habitat, i think they have too many in the show tank now and they could use a more naturalistic setting. I would also love to see some other type of additions, maybe a walrus, and seal habitats, not just using them in the shows......some more saltwater fish, sharks of course, and other creatures, and then once these are built, repair, and re construct friendship cove to enable better options for the whales.....also maybe it is time to add another pool to arctic cove, especially with all the babies they have been having as of lately (last June/July).
I think kc's plan is really good! The park needs an update I am considering going to it this summer, but I am scared that I will not be impressed! I would like to see an aquarium as a majour city we are lacking one!
I agree I think the park, has the space and capacity to become better than seaworld parks, if only Holer (or however you spell) it would put some money into the park! It's been over 8 years (at least) since anything new was added, i think it is about time for something
That is an interesting idea Deviant.....i would love to see some more information on their orcas and whales that they have around as well. I went this summer and apparently they have "retired" Kiska their female whale and so during the summer months she is kept in the back small pool at friendship cove, so not to be disturbed by others. I was told by 3 different trainers when asked at different times that they are trying to find IKE (the young male orca) a female friend that he can be kept with all the time, apparently the park would be willing to trade a fair amount of belugas for this female as well. I think it would be awesome if they could get another orca and get rid of some belugas at the same time. This could be good for the park, as more orcas would mean more money, which could mean improvements to the park.
I was actually in favour of them disbanding the "killer whale interactive exhibit"; my whole anti-captivity-stance was actually stemmed when I went to Marineland a couple of years ago and was horrified at their methods of trying to "force" a whale to participate. The whale at the time was obviously stressed and had no intention of coming over; which I was fine with...usually keepers simply grin when an animal isn't cooperating (during a show for example; "Sorry- Feathers is in a bad mood...we won't stress him out any more" and leave it at that...which I expect to happen and most people are understanding when it does). These "keepers" would NOT stop pestering the poor thing! They were yelling (NOT in a very encouraging way), going around the outside of the tank trying to herd him (her?) towards us...it was horrible. When the whale finally did up onto the "petting platform" it was only for a couple of minutes, and he would slide back into the water (in which case the whole process of herding/yelling would repeat itself). I was in line at the time and I felt absolutely HORRIBLE for even participating; when my turn came up I didn't even want to pet him anymore (which was fine; we were rushed so we didn't get much time anyways). The above being said I DID revisit Marineland two years ago (more out of curiosity...figured if their methods on whale-training still went on I'd never go back period). Thankfully the killer-whale interactive program was cancelled in favor of a "splash show" (which is all kids really want anyways )- I do believe there was *some* education involved but overall was just happy that they weren't forcing whales to interact with people anymore. Also (though this could also be seen as a negative) was happy that they downsized the pod to three; I was told it comprised of a mom and her two calves...I think it was a bit more acceptable given the size of their tank. I did participate in the interactive display with the belugas and actually found myself enjoying it; the format was VERY different from the killer whales (individual one on one with one beluga and a trainer; vs. a line to pet one whale) and the trainer I found was very pleasant as well. When the young female I was given decided to swim away (and I braced myself for this expecting the killer-whale fiasco to repeat itself) the trainer simply laughed; said the beluga would come back eventually, and we chatted in the meantime. It was very laidback and I was VERY glad to see that it was the belugas choice this time Also as a positive with the dolphins being moved to what was previously the "Killer Whale" demonstration area...which gives them significantly more room than what they had in the little indoor-arena (which is now dedicated to walruses which they did have at least two years ago...which I'm not sure but probably require less space than a dolphin anyways ) kc- LOVE your ideas! Totally in favour of separating the "themepark" from "nature park" (I'd imagine probably be less stressful for the poor animals too); and think the whale rehab centre for training wild-caught orcas is a fantastic idea (...if we knew where to begin haha). I have my worries against a "swim-with-the-dolphins" program (again: bad experience with killer whale interactive program kicking in); but if it was done in the right way I could be persauded I would love to see more naturalistic exhibits personally...or if not then the VERY LEAST some form of enrichment for the whales/dolphins while they're in holding (shows can get repetitive I bet...). I believe SeaWorld in Orlando had an "underwater passageway" that lead dolphins from the concrete tank to a little island oasis with a sanded grading (could be getting it mixed up with another exhibit- but if this isn't it then would love to create a bunch of little mini-exhibits for the dolphins to visit ) Also (the student side coming out ) think we need to emphasize education and research...Marineland now has huge; life-size diagrams of the killer whales/belugas I believe in the underpass; but more needs to be done I think...anyways long enough email so I'll cut it off there haha
Sounds like you saw one of the old school crappy trainers. Ikaika and Kiska aren't expecting any new Orca's to be arriving at the moment. Athena's death has rocked Kiska to the point where she would just lap the tank ignoring everything including Ikaika. She's slowly getting better and they're right by her. She's choosing to stay away, they aren't forcing her and hey, if she wants it that's fine by me. Ikaika however is a growing boy with hormones raging and bless him, he's gonna get a bit frustrated. This does mean his training will go a bit weird, but once he's calmed in a couple of years it'll be fine. Please don't start me on "FWEEING" the captive wild caught Orca's. It just wont happen and even if it did, it wouldn't go well. It'd end very badly, but hey, some people have the "Better dead than fed mentality". Retraining them would take another 30 years or so and then you have the issue of finding their pod, assuming there are still original members of the pod alive that would remember the individuals and the captives spoke only in their native dialect and would eat the fish they'd find out in the wild.... then it'd still be a nightmare simply because of their association with humans, food and then you get the pollution aspect which is killing off wild Orca's with robust immune systems. These captive Orca's don't get mild ilnesses in captivity cos their environments are so clean. BUT, when they get a respiratory disease (EG Pneumonia) it hits them hard and they can die within 24 hours (EG Kim 2 of Marineland France). Even if everything was ideal in the wild, it just wouldn't work. It's a lovely idea, and trust me, I'm no pro-capitive person, I just don't accept it'd be that easy. It takes generations of zoo animals to releaseable so they have no human contact before they even take steps to rehab. So it's a bit awful with animals like trained Orca's.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you Deviant*Strain on the non-releasibility of captive-wild caught orcas (or cetaceans alike...)- I had this conversation awhile back with my marine mammal professor and he had very little to say about the success of current rehabilitation centres; and for the reasons you listed was against any rehabilitation whatsoever (even wild ones that wash up onshore)...it's just fun to dream every once in awhile, place all logic aside and picture the ideal world
An article about the dispute of one of the orcas with SeaWorld Orlando: SeaWorld in bizarre tug-of-love case over 17-foot killer whale | Mail Online
Holy Cow... I think that particular article could be safely covered under the category of "You just can't make this sh*t up!" Happy travels.
