In a previous post, I’ve talked about the group Voice of the Orcas, created by four former SeaWorld trainers to help captive orcas. Now, I’m going to show you how you too can be the voice of the orcas. I will tell you about four orcas who need our help. The first one is Kshamenk.

Kshamenk is a male orca of 25 years old held at Mundo Marino. He is 19 feet long and weighs around 7,500 pounds.
While Mundo Marino claims to have “rescued” the orca from a local beach, it was revealed on national television that Kshamenk, along with three pod members, was obtained by means of a forced stranding: four orcas were forced ashore by Mundo Marino boats pulling a net between them. The orcas were stranded high and dry on the beach for several hours. One was returned to the sea by their captors, as it was too big and heavy to move. A second died in transit and a third died from banging his head against the concrete tank repeatedly. The only survivor was Kshamenk.
Since the death in 2000 of the female orca who was sharing his tank, Kshamenk was left without orca companionship. He recently attacked the 2 dolphins he has for company (the dolphins are ok).
Kshamenk remains in deplorable conditions. He is held in a tiny tank, when he is not performing. And his teeth have been grind down as he bites the iron bars connecting his pool to the show pool.
He belongs to the Argentinian Government. Therefore, any decision about what should happen to him, can only be made by the Argentinian Government.
SeaWorld seems to be interested of getting Kshamenk into one of their Shamu Stadiums. But no whales should ever live in captivity for human entertainment! Besides, the orca whale is a very good candidate for rehabilitation for various reasons. There are three main reasons why he is a god candidate for release:
– He is hostile to his trainers. In fact, he wants nothing to do with people. The fact that Kshamenk has not developed ties with humans during his time in captivity shows that he is not dependent on them for anything besides food. And it has been shown with Keiko (Free Willy) that hunting techniques can be taught.
– He was caught very young. So by the time he was captured he had already had the time to learn the basic fundamentals of being a wild orca. Anything else can be easily taught.
-He is a transient orca (as opposed to a resident orca), meaning he could adapt well to almost any pod of orcas that he came across, in case he ever wanted to re-join an orca social group.

What you can do to help:
– Boycott Mundo Marino
– Spread the word to everyone you know
– Write letters to the park owner and the president of Argentina (webmaster@presidencia.gov.ar | (54) 11-4344-3600 | Balcarce 50 – CP 1064 | Ville de Buenos Aires)
– Join the movement on Facebook
– Sign and share the petitions:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/594/319/497/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/843/266/179/free-kshamenk-the-orca-from-his-cruel-tormentors/
http://www.change.org/petitions/presidente-director-rehabilitate-and-release-kshamenk-back-to-the-wild#share
– Take part in the “Kshamenk virtual protest” by drawing anything related to the rehabilitation of Kshamenk. You can post your creation on Facebook (but don’t forget to make it public), on Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr with the hashtag #freekshamenkvirtualprotest.