Shouka the killer whale has captivated my heart this week. She is a 19 year old Orca currently living in Six Flags Discovery Kingdom located in California. She has been living in a small pen by herself for almost six months. She reportedly had a companion for a while, a male bottlenose dolphin, which is now living in another pen. I am disgusted that Six Flags would leave her in a pen all by herself for this amount of time. She is a highly intelligent animal that not only deserves but needs a friend.
Orcas are highly social mammals that spend almost all their time in the wild communicating with their family. I can’t imagine the loneliness this beautiful animal feels every single day. The day-in and day-out of performing for food, being forced to paint pictures for the public (that’s right, but it’s okay, she has no teeth so holding a paint brush in her mouth is easy) and then spending the rest of her time swimming in circles in her small enclosure will evidently drive this animal to the brink of insanity. An animal of her size is worthy of a better life.
Shouka is, by law, supposed to have a companion in her pen. The Animal Welfare Acts, Section 3.109 states “Marine mammals, whenever known to be primarily social in the wild, must be housed in their primary enclosure with at least one compatible animal of the same or biologically related species”. Six Flags is in direct violation of this act.
Upon contacting both Six Flags Corporate and also Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, neither of them seemed to care. It is blatantly wrong to disregard a law that concerns one of their animals. The woman on the phone in California informed me that they were not breaking any laws and that Shouka was doing fine without a companion. Are you kidding me? If I was left in a small pen all day for six months with no one to speak to I would go insane. This will surely happen to Shouka if we don’t act now and find her a companion (an animal already in captivity) or get Six Flags to move her back to France where her family resides.
What can we do to get Shouka a companion? The first thing you can do is sign this petition and then of course share/tweet it out. You can then contact Six Flags corporate and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. The last thing you can do to help Shouka is to write a letter to the Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Inspection Services. I was told on the phone that if you file a formal written complaint that they would look further into the issue. You can mail your letters here:
USDA/APHIS/AC
2150 Centre Ave.
Building B, Mailstop 3W11
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117
2150 Centre Ave.
Building B, Mailstop 3W11
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117
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