Young female orca Morgan was betrayed by the humans who were meant to help her and is languishing in captivity at the vile Loro Parque marine park in Tenerife, Spain. After suffering there for more than eight years, she gave birth to her first calf in 2018, who has since passed away. In February 2025, it was announced that she was pregnant again, and in April, Morgan gave birth to a baby boy. He will now spend the rest of his life trapped in a tank, forced to perform degrading tricks for tourists.
On 23 June 2010, Morgan was found emaciated in the Wadden Sea off the coast of the Netherlands. The Dolfinarium in Harderwijk, the Netherlands, captured her and transported her to its facility under a permit that specifically provided for her recovery, with the purpose of her subsequent release. She recovered at the dolphinarium in just a few months.
During this time, a group of experts – the Free Morgan Foundation – compared Morgan’s unique calls to those of other orcas in the region and found that she most likely belonged to an orca population in the Norwegian Sea. The foundation developed a detailed plan for her rehabilitation with the intent of reintroducing her to her pod.
But she was never released back into nature. Instead, she was shipped off to Loro Parque, a marine park.
Morgan is kept in a small concrete tank at Loro Parque alongside orcas obtained from SeaWorld. These intelligent animals are denied everything natural and important to them and are forced to perform degrading circus-like tricks for tourists.
Experts have repeatedly identified health problems and psychological distress in the orcas at Loro Parque. Some are missing their teeth, some have painful rake marks all over their bodies, or mucus dripping from their eyes. They float on the surface of the water, depressed and listless, exhibiting behaviour unheard of among free-living orcas.
According to the Free Morgan Foundation, laws prohibit using Morgan for breeding. Yet, Loro Parque has done just that – newborn calves attract more visitors, boosting the park’s profits. Like Morgan, her first baby Ula spent her days in a prison-like tank filled with chemically treated water. In August 2021 – not even three years after her birth – Ula died at Loro Parque. In April 2025, Morgan gave birth to a baby boy, who, if he survives, will face the same fate as his mother in the cruel park.
Speak out for Morgan! Tell the Spanish government you want her transferred to a coastal sanctuary.