At Loro Parque in Tenerife, the youngest female orca has been given a name. The park announced that the choice had ultimately been clear-cut. The decision was made following a two-stage online vote.
The calf was born on 31 March to the orca Morgan. Now that the orca calf has settled in well at the zoo’s Orca Ocean in Puerto de la Cruz, the search for a suitable name has begun.
To this end, Loro Parque’s online followers were invited to submit suggestions. The ideas were then shortlisted in an initial stage and finally put to a vote. According to Loro Parque’s director, Wolfgang Kiessling, around 7,000 people took part in the vote. And so the choice fell on this name:
Orca calf at Loro Parque named „Teno“
The online community opted for the name „Teno“. It is intended as a tribute to the mountain range of the same name on Tenerife. The decision is seen as a symbolic link between the island and the orca breeding programme.
Kiessling said he was „deeply grateful for the extraordinary public response, particularly from young people“. „Teno“ represents „a new hope for the protection and education regarding whales and now bears a name that links his story to the identity of his home country“, said the zoo owner.
Controversial orca programme at Loro Parque
Morgan was found stranded off the coast of the Netherlands around 15 years ago. Veterinarians later determined that the orca was deaf. The orca was taken to Loro Parque and has lived there ever since.
The zoo in Tenerife consistently emphasises that Morgan is not viable on her own. Animal rights activists, however, accuse the zoo of keeping orcas in captivity for profit and forcing them to perform in shows in exchange for food.
The debate over the keeping of orcas in captivity has been going on for many years. Whilst other organisations, such as Sea World in the US, have discontinued their orca programmes, animal welfare organisations accuse Loro Parque of producing the next generation of captive whales through its renewed breeding programme.
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