Dutch Agriculture Secretary, Henk Bleker, recently ruled that Morgan the orca whale that has been languishing in a stark holding tank at Harderwijk dolfinarium in the Netherlands for the past 15 months should be transferred to Loro Parque in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

A Dutch court had suspended the government's export permit after dutch based organisation, Orca Coalition, presented a plan to release her back to the ocean. The court ordered that the Coalition, Agriculture Ministry and Harderwijk Dolphinarium review the scientific evidence and work out a solution. Although Bleker agreed that Morgan belongs in the ocean and not in captivity, he was obviously unwilling to take the chance to put her through a rehabilitation programme. He said the transfer to Tenerife's Loro Parque, was "the least bad solution."

Due to restrictions under international law relating to the commercial trade in orcas, the dolphinarium cannot sell Morgan, however they do collaborate with SeaWorld and other marine parks and it is not the first time that the dolphinarium has exchanged cetaceans with SeaWorld. As yet, there is no date set for the transfer however from past experience the captivity industry, do tend to move animals very quickly with as little notification/publicity as possible.

Experts consulted by the dolphinarium said Morgan was likely to die if she were released and unable to find her original pod, or family. Disappointingly the captivity industry always refer to the release of Keiko, the orca made famous by the 'Free Willy' movies. Morgan's case is very different - this orca is younger, approximately 4-6 years of age, and was only taken into captivity after she was found in the Wadden Sea malnourished, prior to that she lived free in the open ocean. Keiko's story was different, deliberately captured at age 2 near Iceland and spent over 20 years in captivity, before being rescued from a facility in Mexico City.

Marine Connection Director comments; "Everyone has worked so hard to fight for Morgan's freedom. All blame for the fact that she is now probably facing a lifetime in captivity lies solely at the feet of the captivity industry. The sad fact is that as long as people pay to see these animals in marine parks, demand for new animals will continue and 'rescued' animals like Morgan are like a free gift to the industry who pay highly for new animals from other sources. We will continue to campaign for captive dolphins and whales facing a lifetime in captivity - animals like Morgan, are made to endure what is literally a life sentence in captivity. Having committed no crime they sadly have no hope of seeing the open ocean they were born into again."