Ingrid Visser battles for Orca in Dutch theme park

Tutukaka orca expert Ingrid Visser is well known for her battles to save marine mammals in strife off the Northland coast.
Her latest battle, however, is taking place in a very different setting - a courtroom in the Netherlands.
For the past two weeks Dr Visser, together with a coalition of orca experts and conservationists, has been fighting to free a young orca from a theme park in the town of Harderwijk, 50km east of Amsterdam.
Named Morgan and thought to be 3-4 years old, the female orca was rescued after it was found alone and emaciated off the Dutch coast in June 2010.
It is being held in a tank at Dolfinarium Harderwijk, a marine mammal park known for its dolphin shows.
This week Dr Visser and the Orca Coalition notched up a legal victory when a judge in the Amsterdam District Court blocked a proposal to move the orca to a theme park on Spain's Canary Islands. The move was to have taken place as early as Friday.
The judge ordered the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Agriculture to investigate whether proposed scientific research in Spain was genuine, or merely a guise for exporting the orca.
The judge also ruled that Morgan must be moved to a bigger tank, where it would have more space and contact with other marine mammals.
He also recommended that all interested parties - the Orca Coalition, Free Morgan Group and Dolfinarium Harderwijk - try to reach a solution under the Ministry's guidance.
Dr Visser said it was "an incredible victory" for people power against a multi-million-dollar industry.
"It's unprecedented and shows how people can make a difference," she said.
"The captive orca industry has had 50-odd years of clouding people's judgments and hiding behind their glitzy marketing campaigns, but hopefully now they'll be exposed for what they are - a money-making industry which severely compromises the welfare of the animals."
Dr Visser has been in the Netherlands for the past two weeks preparing for the court case and working on a 68-page report explaining why - and how - the orca should be released. It is her second visit to the country for the Free Morgan campaign.
According to Dr Visser's report, the young orca - 3.5m long and weighing 1100kg - is a prime candidate for rehabilitation and release.
However, Morgan's physical fitness was a concern, because the tank was too small and shallow for exercise. The orca was also starting to show signs of boredom and repetitive behaviour.
The Free Morgan group is proposing that the orca be transferred to a semi-natural "sea pen" in the province of Zeeland as a first step towards release back to the wild.
The sea pens are up to 200m long and form part of a vast flood-prevention system called the Delta Works.