23 November 2011 / by Radmila Gurkova

Dutch judge rejects pleas for killer whale freedom

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEkIvVNm1hI&feature=grec_index

A Dutch judge has ruled that a rescued killer whale can be sent to a Canary Islands amusement park, despite pleas to release the animal into the wild.
The case of Morgan the orca sharply divided opinion in the Netherlands. The orca was rescued by a dolphinarium in Harderwijk after being found exhausted and starving in shallow waters in the Waddenzee in June 2010.



Conservationists are devastated by Monday's ruling, fearing the move to the Canaries will kill Morgan. The judge in Amsterdam decided however that the orca would have no reasonable chance of survival in the wild. The plan is to transfer Morgan within days to Loro Parque on Tenerife, where she will join five other orcas in a big tank, on show to the public. Ahead of the judge's ruling the campaign website of the Free Morgan Foundation had been getting more than 50,000 hits a day.

Tough decision
Niels van Elk, a vet who has been working at the dolphinarium for 13 years, thinks Morgan will be better off in captivity than in the wild.
"The theme park is the best option for her because that is where she can live in a group and that is the best we can offer her," he says.
"We as humans should not pretend that we can replace the challenges and the satisfaction that a group of killer whales can give. It is an artificial environment, it's a different life but it's a good life all the same."

03

February 2015
Teaching English in Spain
by Elena Riches
I previously wrote an explanation of the various ‘TEFL’ terms (you can read about it here), for those who were confused over what ...

01

February 2015
Chunking information & the power it unlocks
by Vincent Chieppa
...

27

January 2015
Paperless Lessons Are The Future - Join The Paper-free ESL Community!
by Elena Riches
Ready-to-use paperless lessons are now a reality for the OxbridgeTEFL ...

23

January 2015
Traveling and teaching: the perfect match. Interview with Marie Nancy Vernet
by Radmila Gurkova
My name is Marie Na...

19

January 2015
TESL, TEFL, ESL, EFL, TESOL and CELTA. Confused? Read on...
by Elena Riches
Whether teaching English is a career path that you want to follow, or you just want an excuse to live the good life in another country for a while, a TEFL certificate will get you off on the right foot because, the days when being a native speaker of English was enough to get you a teaching job are now long gone. Nowadays you almost always ne...

13

January 2015
Collaborative learning: "Working together is success"
by Vincent Chieppa
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Who would have thought that this quote by Henry Ford also applies to teaching!?  It sure stands true for collaborative learning where students are responsible for one another's learning as we...

09

January 2015
The Art of Teaching English
by Elena Riches
Just like writing and art, teaching English comes naturally to some whereas others have to be taught. Before I did the OxbridgeTEFL course and became a teacher I can safely say that I had no idea whether I would want to take up teaching as a profession, n...

07

January 2015
From Russia with love! Dina Tkach on English language teaching.
by Radmila Gurkova
My name is Dina Tkach, I’m 25 and I’m from ...

02

January 2015
Always look ahead, look at the future of English teaching education! Happy 2015!
by Radmila Gurkova
A new year has just begun, bringing us 365 possibilities for our brand new resolutions to come true! New wishes, new dreams! Looking back at what we’ve achieved in our “teenage” organization (12 years now from our foundations!), we cannot feel more mature, more certain about the route we’ve chosen. We started with a few but firm conviction...

26

December 2014
Hola Barcelona!
by Elena Riches
Having lived in Cyprus for 16 years and getting fed up with it (particularly since the launch of the euro!) I started toying with the idea of moving and began thinking long and hard about where I would move to. After much deliberation (and encouragement from people who have been there) I decided on ...