Dr. Georgia Mason, the director of the Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, spoke with the Toronto Star about Niska, the last remaining orca whale at Ontario’s Marineland.

Mason discussed “stereotypies,” which are natural animal behaviours that can devolve into odd repetition once some animals are placed into captivity.

She referred to her team’s recent research that examined the inherent challenges of keeping intelligent animals like orcas in captivity.

A professor in the Department of Animal Biosciences, Mason is an animal behavioural biologist who studies how animals adapt to captivity.