A dog is a domesticated animal. They have been bred for centuries to be companions to human beings. Some fish are bred to live in tanks -- gold fish, etc. Some birds that you purchase at pet stores are not able to survive outside in cold climates that are different from their native habitats. One has to use common sense.
There is a difference between a wild animal and a domesticated one. I am not suggesting one throw their poofy Pekinese outside to fend for itself in an area rife with coyotes and eagles. My Karelian Bear Dog is a primitive breed of dog that, although domesticated, could survive on its own in the wild because it still maintains many of the instincts of its wolf ancestors. Not all dogs could. However -- a bear or a timber wolf would survive just fine. A goldfish would die if tossed into the atlantic ocean -- but a killer whale could survive there.
Killer whales that have only been held for a short period of time (less than a year) have successfully been returned to the ocean. These were all young whales that were rescued after beaching themselves, or were injured after becoming entangled in a fishing net or something and needed only to be nursed back to health. When they were taken in it was with the intention from the beginning to return them to the ocean. This was not the case with Tillikum when he was captured in 1983. The idea from the beginning was to hold him in captivity and that is now what he is accustomed too.
It was already proven with Keiko that a killer whale that had been held in captivity for 20 odd years could NOT survive on his own when returned to the ocean. They spent over 6 years and $23 million dollars in an attempt to set him free and he NEVER even learned to feed himself nor was he able to integrate with a pod of wild killer whales. Regardless of the number of times he was set free on his own he ALWAYS returned to the company of humans and relied on them for food and social companionship. The only reason they ever attempted it was because of environmentalist, conservationist and the public who all THOUGHT that he wanted to be free and were sure he could survive on his own. It was a disaster that ended in a slow painful lonely death for Keiko by pneumonia brought on by malnutrition and one that never had to happen.
Now many people are shouting for the release of Tillikum and all of the other killer whales in captivity so I did a little research on the whales at SeaWorld Florida. These are the killer whales presently living there gathered from the latest statistics available from:
http://www.orcahome.de/orcastat.htm
Tillikum (M)- captured Iceland 11/83
Katina (F) - captured Iceland 10/78
--daughter Kalina (F) - born in captivity 9/85
--daughter Nalani (F) - born in captivity 9/06
Kayla (F) - born in captivity 11/88 (mother was Kenau captured Iceland 10/76 died 8/91)
Trua (M) - born in captivity 11/05
(mother was Takara, born in captivity 7/91 making him a second generation captive born killer whale)
Taima (F) born in captivity 7/89 (mother was Grudrun captured Iceland 10-76 died 2-96)
--daughter Malia (F) born in captivity to Taima 03/07 (second generation captive born)
Katina has been in captivity for 31+ years and Tilikum has been in captivity for 26+ years. All of the other killer whales have been born in captivity with all but two of them from mothers that were also born in captivity and have never even seen the ocean.
Question - How long would ANY of these killer whales live if we just turned them loose in the ocean?
Answer - Only as along as it took them to starve to death!!!!
IMO we need to LEAVE THE WHALES ALONE!!
