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This dead right whale calf had injuries consistent with a vessel strike, including fresh propeller cuts on its back and head, broken ribs, and bruising. Photo: FWC/Tucker Joenz, NOAA Fisheries permit #18786

Emergency Right Whale Petition Seeks Overdue Protections From Vessel Strikes

This dead right whale calf had injuries consistent with a vessel strike, including fresh propeller...
Dolphins with oil rig

Go ahead for new UK oil and gas exploration threatens whales and dolphins

Permission has been granted for the development of the UK's biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland,...
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
Commerson's dolphin

New Important Marine Mammal Areas added to global ocean conservation list

Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...

Federal appeals court rejects petition to reopen case for captive-held orca Tokitae

In disappointing news, a Federal appeals court has rejected a petition from conservation groups to reopen a lawsuit over the Miami Seaquarium’s treatment of Tokitae (also called Lolita), the last surviving Southern Resident orca held in captivity.  This is a blow to the latest court effort to free Tokitae from the Seaquarium and retire her to a sea sanctuary in her home waters of Washington State.  The groups involved, including Orca Network and Washington’s Lummi Nation, have vowed that the fight for her freedom will continue until Tokitae returns home.

Tokitae was taken from her family, L pod of the critically endangered Southern Resident orca population, in the infamous Penn Cove capture of 1970, when more than 80 individual orcas were rounded up.  Seven young whales were taken and sold to marine parks around the world, and as many as five orcas drowned during the capture.  Tokitae is the only orca surviving from that horrific day, and the last Southern Resident orca in captivity.

 

Your support helps WDC end captivity for whales and dolphins everywhere, and protect and recover Tokitae’s family, the Southern Resident orcas.