| Pascuala - flooded with love and care |
By Silvia Álvarez - June 2007. |
The small orca Pascuala, now well known world-wide, continues its process of recovery with a speed that provokes admiration in locals and strangers.
 During an interview with Fernando Miranda of the company Dolphin Adventures, who is the one in charge to provide shelter and protection for this specie of the dolphin family informed that the young animal enjoys surprisingly good health, which is considered admirable given the circumstances surrounding its first days after having been rescued from beaching at the coastline of San Blas Nayarit one month ago when the whale had been tangled up in the flew of local fishermen.
"Pascuala is in a rehabilitation program and has had a very positive development in a time-span that has been almost too short. This program includes a space where it can be comfortable while receiving adequate food, as well as maximum support involving trainers and specialists from San Diego’s Sea World, because at the beginning its state was truly critical due to the simple fact of being an orphan."
According to the report of the specialist, the small whale is in good shape and has adapted well to captivity. And although it is obvious that the company does not have the necessary installations to receive an animal of such characteristics because it was never planned to have an orca, the pool which is used is an excellent place for its recovery.
Pascuala is monitored 24 hours a day and her aid program includes emotional support, strengthening and feeding. "We give emotional support because it needs to feel someone’s love or affection: any creature always needs this as part of protection, safety and confidence, to feel that someone is close. The orca knows that we are there all the time and although its conditions are not favorable, an interaction is very important because when it sees us in the water this opens a channel of communication between it and us. We can touch it and caress it, something that it needs a lot,” the therapist assures us.
On the other hand the adequate diet that is administered has been an important part for the orca to be able to survive and recover its health. "It has not been easy at all, it is a baby orca where the specific formula and requirements that it needs will never be provided a 100%, as it would be by its mother, but our formula is very similar because it was contributed by specialists from San Diego who had been successful in previous experiences when experimenting with a baby orca." At present it is estimated that Pascuala weighs around 180 kilos .
Faced with the question if this orca and its situation is an unusual case, Fernando Miranda, who can look back on a decade of experience with species of the dolphin family, told us that there are no previous registries of a case like this and so far there has not even been any record mentioning that a baby orca has ever survived. So, yes you can say that this is an unheard-of case because even in the field that has contacts like aquariums and marine parks, they have no records of this type of experience. Although I would also like to clarify that it is not the first orca in Mexico, since the first one was Keiko.”
According to estimates made by Miranda and the specialists, Pascuala is approximately one month and a few days old. Nevertheless the immediate future of the orca is still undefined. "I can only speak about the present and for today it is very well, eating every two hours during the day and every three hours at night, it is gaining weight and growing. In question of what will happen to it, that does not depend on us this is directly handled by the board of directors of the company. What the government and we do is just giving it the best of what each one has."
"It is necessary to point out that the directors of Sea World in San Diego, California have been interested in Pascuala since the beginning and when they were contacted by Alejandro Gomez Rubio, the manager of the company in charge, it was suggested to give the animal a better quality of life. They (Sea World) never raised any objection, they came to Mexico with their equipment in their private airplane, accepting and following the rule that the orca will not leave the country. They are looking after its health, just like many other ecological and biological groups. There are many people involved therefore it is time that together all of us find an answer to the question what is best for Pascuala." This is the suggestion of the person interviewed.
Silvia Álvarez
E-mail: silvialvarezb@yahoo.com.mx
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