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Biologist Indicted for Feeding Killer Whales

California researcher broke law with blubber, feds say

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 6, 2012 1:57 AM CST

(Newser) – A renowned marine biologist has landed in hot water for giving blubber to killer whales. Nancy Black, who runs whale-watching tours in California's Monterey Bay, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges that she violated a federal law banning feeding or otherwise interfering with marine mammals in the wild, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Her lawyer says all she did was attach a rope to a free-floating piece of blubber from a gray whale, killed earlier by orcas, in order to film killer whales eating.

"The federal government says that's like feeding the bears in Yosemite," her lawyer says. "You've got to be kidding me. We're not bringing in Twinkies and moving them into cars; this is what they are eating." The indictment, he adds, is "a classic example of the government taking a position that may not be right. I think the government wants to make an example of Nancy and try to draw a bright line and say even scientists can't do this. I think they're wrong."

Killer whales swim in Monterey Bay in this photo taken by Nancy Black.
Killer whales swim in Monterey Bay in this photo taken by Nancy Black.   (AP Photo/Courtesy Monterey Bay Whale Watch, Nancy Black)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 38 comments
catwoman
Jan 7, 2012 2:58 AM CST
A lot of incomplete information is being given to the public about this. So this is what everyone gets to base their opinions on. There is more to the story, and Nancy Black deserves to have her side of this heard. She is a respected scientist who was conducting research with the utmost respect for the animals she has spent her life learning about and joyfully sharing with the public. The federal government is clearly out of line here, and there are many marine mammal experts who agree with this. Please try to reserve judgement until the facts are heard.
SPHeroid
Jan 6, 2012 3:44 PM CST
Please don't feed the whales (or trolls).......
SpaceCadetGlow
Jan 6, 2012 9:49 AM CST
Anyone ever seen a Black Bear or Grizzly tear apart a car or RV as a result of stupid campers thinking it is funny and cute to give them junk food or any of the repercussions of them doing so? They become less afraid of humans and areas with larger human populations and are very destructive and dangerous. Doing this also totally screws with the natural order of things and distorts competition between the strongest of animals to survive and the weaker animals in the gene pool to not thrive. This woman is a biologist and given the supposed knowledge she possesses that should be more extensive than the average joe i don't believe the indictment is all that unfounded. She should be held to a higher standard because of that specific knowledge. Take that same idea about what has happened with the bears and their destructive powers and multiply that by about 100 and you get the potential situation with these killer whales, I am pretty thankful someone had the balls to nip this in the bud regardless of the ridiculous backlash it may bring before more people began to believe this was a genius idea and we have whales increasingly ramming and sinking boats and injuring and killing more people. Let's also not forget that this is a federal law, however lame a law people may think it is. The law is still a law and is in place for a reason.

 
marine mammals • marine biology • cetaceans • killer whale

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