As orca welfare-ists, scientists and conservationists, we are encouraged to conform to certain rules to ensure our research and reports are robust and valid, with no grey areas. Even education by scientists can be frowned upon . Until a time when it is recognised life is not a box without holes and no overlap it will be increasingly difficult to reconnect people with each other, and to carry through that connection with other species we may not understand or relate to at all. I presented at a human behaviour change for animal welfare conference two years ago and I asked my audience to raise their hands if they had ever or knew someone who had ever suffered from poor mental health. Of course, if captive orcas were present, they likely (based on scientific welfare indicators ) would have all raised their fins. But there is still a stigma attached to mental health . It still frightens people and so only reluctantly did I see hands rise around the silent auditorium.