Loro Parque, a marine park in Tenerife, has announced the birth of a new orca calf. Morgan, their only female orca, has given birth in captivity.
Sadly, the calf's future is already mapped out. It is likely to spend its life confined to a barren tank, performing for tourists and never seeing its true home - the ocean. In the wild, orcas travel vast distances, form deep family bonds, and exhibit complex behaviours that cannot be replicated in captivity. Many countries, including Canada, France, and Belgium, have recognised this and banned the breeding of whales and dolphins for entertainment. But Loro Parque continues to defy the growing movement against orca captivity.
Morgan, the calf’s mother, has a tragic history. Originally found malnourished off the coast of the Netherlands in 2010, she was taken in for rehabilitation, with the intention of being released back into the wild. Instead, she was sent to Loro Parque, where she has been used in performances to entertain tourists and perform tricks. Her first calf, Ula, was rejected by Morgan and had to be hand-reared - she didn’t survive past her second birthday. Now, another orca has been born into the same cycle of captivity.
A spokesperson from Loro Parque recently told an audience at an orca symposium that the park has no plans to stop breeding, despite widespread criticism.
One of the key players still selling captive dolphin venues like Loro Parque is TUI Group, one of the world’s largest travel companies.
Despite claiming to uphold animal welfare standards, TUI continues to sell tickets to venues that profit from captive whales and dolphins. In December 2024, they updated their policy to exclude venues that breed marine mammals for commercial purposes so why are they still selling trips to Loro Parque? When challenged, they justified this contradiction by claiming that breeding could be ‘valuable’ to the social group, a statement that critics have called a blatant greenwashing attempt.
Katheryn Wise, Wildlife Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection, said:
“The news of another calf being born at Loro Parque is heartbreaking. For such a beautiful and incredible animal to now face a lifetime in a tank, performing for tourists and potentially being bred like a cog in a corporate machine is tragic.
“At Loro Parque, four orcas have died since 2021, including this calf’s sister, Ula, who died at just two years old.
“This is a venue that clearly goes against TUI Group’s animal welfare policy, yet they continue to sell tickets and promote it—excitedly stating that ‘the Orca Ocean spectacle deserves a special mention’ on their website.”
“This outdated idea that we can keep whales and dolphins captive without them suffering needs to end. The only way this new orca calf can be a celebration is if it marks the last orca to be born into a life of captivity for entertainment. Even then, this poor calf faces a bleak future in a barren tank.”
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TUI claims to care about animal welfare but they’re still selling tickets to venues that exploit whales and dolphins.
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