Forgotten by activists: How Ingrid Visser killed orca calf Bob.
A year ago today, at 04:15 am on August 6, 2016, a young orca calf named Bob passed away in the care of well known animal rights activist and orca researcher, Ingrid Visser. Bob was estimated to be between 6 months and 1 year of age. Three weeks earlier a young killer whale calf was found alone, no pod in sight. It had been in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, since July 14, but Orca Research Trust was only made aware on July 22. Right then, DOC (which controls cetaceans) decided no action was to be undertaken. It was already dehydrated then and as time would go on, this would become worse and worse. An internation expert (Jeff Foster) was called in to assess the calf. Upon assessment, Ingrid Visser requested that the DOC let her and her team help orca Bob. A petition was started to ask the DOC to let Ingrid Visser and her team help the young orca, who was deteriorating day by day. As of July 29, DOC along with orca experts were discussing how to best manage the situation. Orca Research Trust continued to ask the public for nearby sightings of orcas. By August 2, resources for a seapen were looked at and gathered. By this time the calf was emaciated. Ingrid Visser and local tribes were discussing a naming ceremony which they hoped to do soon.
On August 2nd, a pod of orcas was spotted cirling/searching close to where orca Bob resided. Calls were made to Orca Research Trust and the DOC, but no immediate action was taken to locate the pod and see if Bob belonged to this pod of orcas.
On August 3rd, the calf was finally "rescued" and placed into a pool on land. Feeding attempts so far have been unsuccessful and the calf's health continued to deteriorate. In the next few days, Ingrid, Jeff and locals were petting the orca without gloves and hugging it. A random undergraduate student called Visser and was soon in the pool with her, touching the calf. None wore mouth masks or gloves and people who passed by were allowed to pet the calf as well. Orca Bob was never treated as a rescue, but as a mere pet.
Ingrid Visser did a great job at anthropomorphising the calf, saying it “sought reassurance by leaning against Visser and Foster.”
As care continued, the petting and hugging continued (and thus letting the orca adjust to humans, which later on can become a dangerous thing. Too attached to humans and it might not want to hunt for its own and instead prefer human contact). “Orca are more social than humans and this calf has been deprived of social contact for 21 days so providing social contact is as important for him now as is food.” On August 6th in the early morning, Bob passed away. A few hours later, without a necropsy to determine the death (hide Visser's incompetence) he was buried by a local tribe. Ingrid Visser showed that being an orca researcher doesn't mean she knows how to handle cetaceans.
It raises the question how Visser would handle her seapen marinepark with captive orcas (if that's ever going to happen).
Rest in peace, little Bob.