Shocking video shows whale beaching itself at Spanish animal park
This is the shocking moment a killer whale is filmed trying to beach herself while she was supposed to be performing tricks at an animal park, in Spain's Canary Islands.
Disturbed visitors to the tourist park at Loro Parque, in Spain's Canary Islands, who filmed Morgan the orca beaching herself on a concrete slab next to her tank, say the animal was trying to commit suicide.
The video shows Morhan slumped at the side of the pool, motionless, after a show.
While wild orcas remain constantly moving even while sleeping, Morgan only flopped up and down slightly, during the 10 minutes she was seen beached before the visitors were asked to move on.
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Beaching can cause whales to crush their internal organs and muscles, given their mass.
Most park visitors were oblivious to the gravity of Morgan’s actions – some stopped to take selfies in front of the enclosure, while others walked on.
Animal rights organisation The Dolphin Project said Morgan’s behavior could not be explained, The Daily Mail reported.
“Sadly, Morgan was still out of the water by the time the videographers had to leave,” the group said.
The Tenerife park, has recently come under attack by animal rights activists for its treatment of whales in captivity - all six of which are owned by SeaWorld.
The recent beaching footage surfaced only weeks after the same whale was recorded in a small pool repeatedly banging her head against a metal gate at the tourist park, in an a attempt to free herself.
But the park, which has a controversial history with its killer whales, insisted that behavior in the video depicts normal activity.
'The video published by the Dolphin Project on its website is a new attempt at manipulation through exaggeration and dramatisation of a completely normal situation in which there is no problem for the animals,” a Loro Parque spokesperson said in a statement.
Wildlife vet with PETA, Heather Rally, told The Dodo: “Every single orca that I observed [at Loro Parque] had significant wearing on their teeth, specifically on the lower mandible,” she said.
“They start chewing on their tanks. There's boredom there as a factor, and there's also stress... as soon as they start doing that they start to traumatize their teeth."
