Orca Outrage

Never again will an American dentist shoot an African lion famous enough to have its own first name. The Internet did that.

Online shaming is witch-hunt scary — said dentist won’t be pulling any teeth any time soon — and infuriatingly random (what about all those nameless lions, non-cute nearly extinct species, countless thousands of humans tortured, maimed and killed in Syria?)

But right now, if you’re big game, a baited bear, or any other kind of animal regularly mistreated by the alpha species on this planet, you’re thinking: Je suis Cecil. Let the Internet do its magic.

Could the orcas at San Diego’s SeaWorld be the next beneficiaries of meme-fueled outrage? This map certainly has the shock value that mere facts lack. In red: where you park your car to go see the orcas. In green: where the orcas actually live. A bathtub-sized pen, not just compared to the ocean they should call home, but even to the blooming parking lot of their prison.

Weird detail, though: Isn’t that parking lot vaguely orca-shaped?

Many thanks to Ribbe De Bie for sending in this picture, found here on Facebook — and shared over 66,000 times. SeaWorld, seek cover.

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Strange Maps #728

Got a strange map? Let me know at [email protected].