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Animal abuse at seaworld
The effect of captivity on the killer whale
The effect of captivity on the killer whale
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Imagine seeing a majestic killer whale floating at the bottom of its pool—depressed. Tapping on the glass does not stir this gigantic friendly beast. Every once in a while she will make her whistling and calling noises. This killer whale, named Katina, and her infant killer whale was taken away from her (Kirby 43). Katina was separated from her new calf because the calf was acting out during shows. Kalina’s family pod was broken, leaving Katina alone and depressed in her pool. Katina would call out to her Kalina, but nothing would subdue her sadness (112). Killer whales should not be kept in captivity because captivity not only leads to aggressive behavior and emotional anguish of the whales, but also injuries, and furthermore deaths of the trainers. The leading captor of whales is the once family friendly SeaWorld. SeaWorld’s humble beginnings were started by a group of men named George Millay, Milt Shedd, Ken Norris and David DeMott. Their dream was to build an underwater restaurant, however, that dream transformed into a marine zoological park, expanding twenty-one acres of Mission Bay in San Diego. Their new plan was driven by $1.5 million, forty-five personnel, and many other variations of aquatic life. SeaWorld was visited by 400,000 tourist their first year. As of 2014, SeaWorld has expanded their locations to Orlando, Florida and San Antonio, Texas (“History”). The orcas’ aggressive tendencies have led to many injuries and even deaths of trainers. SeaWorld’s trainers were trained to perform with and feed the killer whales. The whales are rewarded for each “behavior” they do correctly (Kirby 9). When the amount of fish they are receiving starts to dwindle and they hear the trainers’ hands hitting the bottom of the bucket... ... middle of paper ... ... home at SeaWorld and they deserve to have a place to call home. In conclusion, SeaWorld’s negligence to inform their employees resulted in dead orcas and dead people. Ways the nation can help cease this barbaric culture of watching animals in their sad aquariums is to legislate that imprisoning animals is wrong. The first step to do this is stop paying to see animals in zoos and aquariums. The next step is to write the country’s Congressmen and force them to make imprisoning animals for profit illegal—for Tilikum, other killer whales like him, and in memory of those like Dawn Brancheau. The last step would be to release all the healthy orcas back into the ocean, and the older whales can be released into a marine animal sanctuary where the orcas can live out their remaining days. Aquariums and zoos, like SeaWorld, should be shut down and have their animals released.
Since whales are normally peaceful in the wild and they only seem to attack while in captivity, the argument is that captivity is wrong and dangerous for killer whales. This argument is supported by detailed facts about how the whales are tortured and agitated by other whales with no outlet. Both female and male whales are confined to a swimming pool where they are in a way being forced to try and mate. The female whales tend to abuse the male whales, which leads the whales to become mentally and physically unhealthy resulting in attacks on trainer. In the interviews with Corinne Cowell and Nadine Kallen, they mentioned that when they visited Sealand of the Pacific that three whales were confined to a “dingy pool”. Another appeal to pathos is when a neurologist that has studied killer whales mentions how the animals are very intelligent and are well-aware of what is going on around them. (SeaWorld) Killer whales have similar brains to humans, but have a bigger part of their brain where emotions are processed. With this, whales are more aware of their emotions and the bonds they make with humans and other animals. (SeaWorld) With the huge amount of raw footage, first-hand accounts, and true information, the film is able to grasp the attention of the viewers with the amount of emotion that is shown from the former trainers and the whales themselves. With these tactics, the film effectively appeals to the
The captivity of large, wild animals is accepted for theme parks all around the world. Tickets are sold for people to come and watch these animals live and even preform in an exhibit that almost resembles their natural environment. It is impossible for parks and zoos that use animals as attractions to provide the same resources and space they would have in the habitat they are usually found in. They can, however, help injured or ill animals that cannot survive in the wild. This is where I believe they should draw the line for keeping animals in captivity. SeaWorld has gotten a lot of attention in the last few years, especially since the Netflix documentary, Blackfish, was released. This film targets the company for the mistreatment of their orca whales. In particular, it told the story of one named Tilikum and shows the problems he and the other orca whales face while living under the care of SeaWorld. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director
Out of the 156 whales they have taken into captivity from the wild, 129 are dead. Including orcas bred within SeaWorld, at least 165 have died in their facilities (Schelling). Another falsehood SeaWorld claims is that collapsed dorsal fins are completely normal and common of all male orcas. It is actually quite rare to find in the wild, while every single one of their male whales has a collapsed dorsal fin (“8 Shocking Facts…”). SeaWorld also guarantees that they never separate a calf from its mother and even have posted a picture of a baby and its mother as proof. What they didn’t tell the public was that soon after that picture was posted they shipped the calf off to Spain alone to a different park. A past trainer even said that there had been at least 19 separations of mother and calf that he knew of at his location. All of these factors previously stated added up have a large influence on the whales mentally. Many whales are afflicted by psychosis and anxiety and in turn are given drugs such as Valium to keep them performing in shows. There have been various occasions, often swept under the rug by SeaWorld and away from the public eye, where the drugs didn’t work enough (Schelling). There
Millions of people come from across the world to visit Seaworld every day without thinking about the lives of the animals behind the scenes. Why would they have concerns? From Seaworld’s commercials to the website, they convince the general public that Seaworld is the place to go to see the happy sea animals perform. If Seaworld is such an ecstatic place, what excuse does Tilikum, their greatest well known orca whale, have for the three attacks on trainers? The documentary “Blackfish” was created by the director Gabriela Cowperthwaite because she questioned herself after realizing Tilikum's odd behavior over time in captivity, and if there was any indisputable parts to animal captivity?
They succeed in catching Tilikum, a large male orca, along with two other females, and almost immediately, an important question is raised in the viewer’s mind: What gives humanity the right to incarcerate and separate these animals from their natural environment and their families? As the documentary progresses, Tilikum begins to exhibit frustration and aggressive behavior at the amusement park due to the fact that he is being kept in a small underwater storage container when not on display. Eventually, this treatment leads Tilikum to kill his trainer by dragging her to the bottom of the performance tank and forcing her to drown. At this point, another question is presented: Is Tilikum’s aggressive behavior a product of nature, and the nature of orcas as a species, or is it due to his coerced captivity? Over the course of the documentary, a number of killer whales are caught and brought to different aquatic parks where the viewer gets a behind-the-scenes look at what happens to these animals and their families upon imprisonment.
The profitable park was founded by George Millay, Milt Shedd, Ken Norris, and David DeMott, four UCLA fraternity brothers. The park was originally planned to be an underwater restaurant but the concept grew into the idea of a marine park sitting on 21 acres along the shore of Missions Bay in San Diego (History). The park started out with 45 employees, several dolphins, sea lions, and a couple aquariums. Now that Anheuser-Busch owns the park, new attractions were added, including several thrill rides and its Shamu stadium (History of SeaWorld). The first whale was bought for $8,000 by someone who accidentally captured it near Namu, British Columbia.
Despite the orcas being trained in captivity, they are still wild animals and have the potential to be unpredictable in their personal behavior and actions. For example, during February, 2010, one of Sea World Orlando, Florida's most experienced and valued trainers, Dawn Brancheau, was attacked and killed by the park's largest orca that she had a close relationship with. The whale "grabbed her hair pulled her into the pool and brutally killed her." (Court). In addition, there have been records deaths of Sea World trainers in 1999 and 2006, both resulting from the whales' playful and social attitudes and lack of sense the fragile nature of a person and size difference between themselves and the humans.
SeaWorld a leader in the captivity and use of killer whales for entertainment has counterattacked the points made by the documentary Blackfish, which brought many points to light. For example, SeaWorld asserts “that while research suggests that some wild killer whales can live as long as 60 to 70 years, their average lifespan is nowhere near that,” (source). In the wild, average lifespan is 30 for males, 50 for females, and can live up to be 80-90 years old. In captivity, in such environments as those at SeaWorld, most orcas die in their teens or 20s and only a handful survive past 25. The annual mortality or death rate for orcas is 2.5 times higher ...
"Imagine if the world you lived in, the space you breathed in, and the freedom you played in were suddenly taken away from you." (Free Willy)
SeaWorld claims that Blackfish’s rhetoric is “false and misleading” because it lacks “a shred of scientific support.” But if SeaWorld has dealt the scientific evidence card, then there are plenty of holes within its game play. One of the first claims that SeaWorld makes is that Blackfish’s information is dated. There is validity to that claim: after all, Blackfish relies on trainers who had their heyday in the 1990s. Yet SeaWorld’s scientific evidence is equally dated. SeaWorld backs many of its claims with a paper written in 1998 by Dr. Ingrid Visser. Dr. Ingrid Visser, whose work was cited without her permission, has since decried SeaWorld’s use of her paper in its rebuttal. Dr. Visser is also an outspoken opponent of killer whale captivity.
It all began with good intentions. People thinking that they can control these animals and not expect any negative impacts. It was all due to wanting to explore and entertain with the animals. However, not all animals are meant to be taken from the wild to be show animals. After many years of unfair ways, SeaWorld is doing the right thing by closing down the whale exhibit even if it isn’t by choice because it is unhealthy for both the humans and animals involved.
This appeals to surprised and saddened emotions of the audience by stating “whales are stored for 2/3 of their life in a small dark area”. The trainers “would deprive them food to make them go into the box” and this resulted in “whales covered in rakes and blood”. The music slows to a wistful tune as the former trainers discuss how “it didn’t feel right to store them there” in order to draw the audience in to empathize with them. The use of these heartbreaking scenes exhibits a sympathetic tone that proves to the audience that whales should not be kept in captivity. Blackfish uses reasoning to explain that an orca is a very intelligent creature and aware of its environment and interactions. “Whales have a part in their brain humans don’t have, they can process emotions. They live emotional lives”. The film uses this claim in order to emphasize that orcas in captivity suffer mentally. Blackfish confirms this statement by explaining that orcas have a limbic system that is more complex compared to humans. It then displays a scene reviewing an MRI that proves that researchers found a development in the brain of an orca that cannot be fully explained. By examining the brain first hand it is proof for the audience that allows them to understand this concept. The film states that mental stress and irritation can occur when
Thesis Statement: Closing SeaWorld’s doors would be unjust, however; SeaWorld can repair its image by providing excellent care for its current residents and by shifting the business model from entertainment to rescue, rehabilitate and release at all locations.
Seaworld is a giant marine life theme park. The greatest attraction to these many theme park would be those killer whales. In fact, these killer whales are the face of the park. As gigant as these mammals are, seaworld is keeping them in some pretty tight quarters. Mr. Jett and Mr.Ventre says “Wild killer whales can swim a hundred miles daily as they socialize, forage, communicate, and breed. In stark contrast, with little horizontal or vertical space in their enclosures, captive orcas swim only limited distances, with most spending many hours surface resting.” The animals don't have the freedom they need. Also when taking the whales out of their natural habit the whales tend to be depressed and not as heath in that situation. They need their freedom in the big ocean blue. Bring them into the small living units, breeding whales in captivity all for the entertainment of humans. At young ages the calves are taken away from their mothers on to a new seaworld park. Mothers of the calves have even been seen denying their offspring.
If Australia leads the way to making stricter rules to save the lives of these majestic creatures, the variety of species can recover. Overall the humpback whale has moved from 'vulnerable' to 'least concern' on the IUCN Red List, a list of the worlds species facing the highest risk of extinction. This means that overall humpback whales are less likely to become extinct which is a level needed for all whales. This is a great recovery however it is not enough to restore the marine balance in the oceans. We need at act NOW, in order to safeguard the futures of our worlds whales.