Photocredit : Say No To Captive Cetaceans Facebook Group

Am reposting this as we are just past the 45th anniversary pf Corky’s capture. She was captured on 11th December 1969.

This is Corky. Corky is a member of the Northern Resident killer whale population. Sadly she was captured at about 3 years old. She is said to be  blind on one eye. She has experienced 7  unsuccessful pregnancies, with no calf surviving more than 46 days. Corky measures about 20.6 feet and weighs in at 8,200 pounds (February 2004).www.orcahome.de/orcastat.htm

Corky makes her own poignant point against cetacean captivity :

“When the whales at SeaWorld were played a sound recording of a group of whales made at sea, they all stopped moving in their tanks. Then one of them, Corky, began shaking violently. The tape was playing sounds of her family. I have no idea if this creature shares any feelings that we know as humans, but her reaction reminded me of the times I heard messages from my own family when I was a hostage in Lebanon. I would feel great relief at knowing they were well, but also much sorrow and a sharpened longing to be reunited with them. What is clear is that Corky could recognize her family’s sounds after years of separation…Knowing only this much I believe it is pointless and cruel to keep these animals apart for commercial reasons – to exploit them for commercial entertainment.”-John McCarthy.”

She performs under the name Shamu with 5 other orcas. “Shame” would be a more appropriate name. Corky was captured with her pod along side her mother. Her mother managed to escape. Can you imagine that? There is a campaign “The Free Corky Project”  who tell us that :

Corky (A16) still has a family. Her mother, Stripe (A23) is 47 years old, and is seen frequently in the waters of northern Vancouver Island. Corky’s mom had a baby, Fife (A60), in 1992. Corky’s sister, Ripple (A43) born 1981 and brother, Okisollo (A27) born 1972 still swim together. The family is commonly seen swimming with many other orca families that come to the area each year

Can you imagine that? Humans are held in captivity because they have committed crimes against society or in hostage situations. In the latter scenarios, people and governments negotiate for their release. In the interim, the captive humans can retain some hope of release because they know that fellow members of their species are working on their behalf behind the scenes. This is not so for poor whales like Corky. Her family cannot negotiate, cannot campaign to beings who can help.

“Spirit of The Islands” expand on Corky’s story :

This is the true story of Corky, a female killer whale better known as Shamu. In 1988 Corky and her cousin, Orky were purchased from Marineland for 23.4 million dollars. In 1989, Orky died at the age of 30. Corky now swims at Seaworld, San Diego. Between 1978 and 1986, Corky had given birth a total of seven times. The longest surviving baby lived 46 days. These animals are dying to amaze us.

Start with the capture itself. Start with the terror that must have been in the ocean that night. A violent storm raged in Pender Harbour. There were a group of fishermen waiting there who were geared up and ready to go because they had captured and sold whales the year before. The A-5 pod – Corky’s family – came into the narrow entrance of Pender Harbour during the howling wind and dense rainstorm. Who knows why? Maybe they were looking for family members that were lost. The fishermen who had been waiting jumped into their boats and quickly surrounded the whales with nets. They worked all night and in the morning they had about half of the whales behind nets and about half of them remaining outside. This illustrates something about the closeness of the membership of this Orca family. Because some of them were behind nets, the rest of them stayed; and because the rest of them stayed they were easily rounded up too.

The whole family was behind nets. The phone calls went out. The business men came. The A-5 family was split up. About half of them were shipped to an oceanarium and the others to different places all over the world. It was a total bust up of the family. Some of the members were released or escaped”

As we know, one of the escapees was Corky’s mother.

For further information, please write to:

THE FREE CORKY PROJECT
P.O. Box 801 Lido Court
San Diego, CA 92109 (USA)
Tel/Fax: +1 (619) 488-5783

Please write to the following with requests for action on Corky’s behalf:

Congressman Gerry Studds
Merchant Marine & Fisheries Committee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515 (USA)

The following plea from Animal Advocacy :

This is a message from the Corky Connection in Europe:

To make it short and simple: we are trying to convince the oceanarium “Sea World” in San Diego, CA, USA; and its owner Anheuser Busch, one of the world’s leading beer breweries, to agree to a re-inroduction program involving the captive Orca CORKY. Corky should be given the chance to be re-introduced into the wild under strict protocols which would guarantee her
safety and well-being, to be able to rejoin her Mum and siblings who are known to researchers and swim free in the waters of British Columbia, Canada.

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HOW YOU CAN HELP: send an email or, even better, a fax (or both!) to the
addresses below.

CAUTION: TO ENSURE YOUR MESSAGE/LETTER IS READ DO NOT Write “Free Corky” on the
Subject Line!!! It will be disregarded! INSTEAD PUT some general subject
like: “shows, research, orcas, show schedule,opening hours, membership,
entrance fees, gift shop, ….”, IN THE SUBJECT LINE so that your email
HAS to be opened!

Please pass this message on to as many people as possible – let Sea World and
its owner Anheuser Busch know that people around the world are aware of Corky!
Remember to ADD your NAME, ADDRESS & DATE!

This is a sample letter drawn up by the organisation :

TO:
Sea World San Diego
fax number: +1 619 226 3996
E-mail: shamu@…

Mr. Brad Andrews
Director of Zoological Operations
Sea World Inc.
7007 Sea World Drive
Orlando, FL 32821 807, USA
Fax: +1 407 345 5397

Mr. August Busch III
CEO Anheuser Busch
1, Busch Place
St Louis, MO 63188, USA
Fax: +1 314 577 2900
E-mail: budmaster@…

Mr. Peter Jackson
“Marketing Director”
Anheuser Busch European trade Ltd
6, Devonshire Square,Cutlar Garden
London EC2 4LP, Great Britain
Fax: +44 171 623 0630

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Dear Mr. Busch,

I strongly request that Anheuser-Busch, producer of Budweiser beer and owner of the four U.S. Sea World amusement parks, DISCONTINUE KEEPING WHALES AND DOLPHINS IN CAPTIVITY

 I also ask you to join and assist the project to release the captive orca CORKY who performs under the stage name SHAMU back to the wild where she belongs! I will be promoting the following slogan and persuading all my friends to support it: “BUD IS OUT TILL CORKY IS OUT!”

Sincerely,

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http://www.wdcs.org/

http://www.orcalab.org/corky-a16/index.htm

https://twitter.com/corkyorca