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Animals in captivity
Reasons why orcas should be held in captivity
Animals in captivity
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I recently visited Seaworld in San Diego. The place was very beautiful, and the employees were nice and polite, although I didn’t like seeing the Orcas in a small captivity. Orcas are meant to be in their normal habitat which is the ocean not some tank. I did some research on your Theme Park and learned that the tank where you keep the Orcas is only 40 feet deep, that is not good for them at all they get sunburned cause the tank is so shallow and the tank has no shade, not many people are aware of this because they apply black zinc oxide which matches their skin. I also know that an Orcas estimated lifespan is over 30 years, The average life of an Orca at Seaworld is 13 years old. I don’t think that it’s right for a wild animal to be in
captivity where they don’t belong for entertainment. It’s animal Cruelty they get fed pig and cow bones to keep them hydrated but it’s not healthy for them. I believe that Orcas belong in the wild, their very huge animals and deserve to be free instead of capturing them, training them, and using them for entertainment. It’s also dangerous for employees around them, Orcas can become frustrated and may become aggressive. Seaworld’s theme park is very nice I think it’ll be better to set The Orcas you have in captivity free and use that space in the theme park for maybe a new roller coaster or a new encounter, Whales are meant for the Ocean not for shows.
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.
The trainers along with Cowperthwaite believe to have them in a captivity like SeaWorld is inhumane. I agree with this documentary, Blackfish. This documentary gave a perfect visual representation on why I do not like having animals in a cage or in a small area. Having animals captive, working hard, and hardly fed is wrong, especially only allowing them in a small area to roam. Watching this documentary made me feel sympathy toward these poor animals that must go through with this harsh life style. Just like Cowperthwaite, I strongly believe the orcas shall not be held in these small areas and be allowed to live in their natural
Among the many things that individuals enjoy doing with their families, visiting amusement parks is at the top of the list. Sea World is a multi-billion dollar chain of marine animal parks, aquariums, and animal theme parks. (Wikipedia) When people are watching the rehearsed performances that the animals and the trainers do, the animals and the trainers seem to be happy. Witnessing the interaction between the animals and the trainers can remind individuals of the beauty of nature and it serves as entertainment.
SeaWorld tour guides have also falsely told the public that collapsed dorsal fins are very common among orca whales, but specialist have identified that less than one percent of dorsal fins actually collapse in the wild. SeaWorld has also stated that the average lifespan of an orca is twenty five to thirty years but an orca can live approximately the same amount amount as humans which could be up to one hundred
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
Second reason why they shouldn’t be kept in a captivity. You can’t recreate on orcas natural environment. The pods sea world cannot hold 40 or more whales which are usually in a pod. If it holds 40 orcas they will make more babies and after their gonna be so much whales and the water won’t hold that much whales. Because whales are the size of bus school and is just like 40 bus
I am sure almost all of you have either been to or heard of SeaWorld. Today I am going to tell you about what they do to their orcas that they are trying to hide. I chose this topic after watching a documentary called “Blackfish” that goes into the behind the scenes of how SeaWorld treats its animals. I have since done further research online to prepare for this presentation. This is an important topic because you should know what kind of company you are funding and behaviors you are endorsing when you go on your vacations to this destination. Today I am going to persuade you that SeaWorld is corrupt and maltreats its animals, specifically the orcas. First, I will talk about the specific way the orcas are treated and how it affects them
A reason why SeaWorld shouldn’t keep the orca exhibit is due to the amount of space that the animal is given while in captivity is not nearly the amount it should have. In SeaWorld the whales don’t have very much room to move around, so the tanks aren’t deep enough for them to dive down. SeaWorld’s tanks are 40 feet deep, 180 feet long, and 90 feet wide (“Hammond 203”). The whales need deeper tanks because they can’t get deep enough to shield themselves from the harsh rays of the sun. In order for them to hide this from the public they apply black zinc oxide: this acts as a sunscreen for the animal but
Now, Seaworld talks about the animals they rescued because of probable causes, such as illness or injury, any chance they can get, like on their website “With a legacy of animal rescue spanning more than 50 years and benefiting more than 25,000 animals, responding to wildlife in crisis is a commitment we take to heart”. Seaworld will always bring up the animals they save and the animals they give “better” lifestyles to, but what about the animals that they ripped from their family and habitat in order to make a few bucks from the american people, who, for some reason, have a weird obsession over seeing wild animals in tiny cages performing inhumane acts of torture? Well what about those animals? Those animals are forced to live in tanks no bigger than 150 ft x 80 ft and 36 ft deep. An example of one of these animals would be Tilikum. A 34 year old male Orca, who weighs 12,500 lbs and is 22 feet in length was stripped from his family in 1983 from the waters in Iceland waters with no injuries or illness. Seaworld had taken a 2 year old baby orca from his family and have kept him captive for 32 years of his life. But he isn’t the only one. According to The Whale and Dolphin Conservation organization’s website “At least 148 orcas have been taken into captivity from the wild since 1961”. 148 families have been broken, and 148 orcas have died, physically or mentally, while living in tanks equivalent to a bathtub to us . While the debate over zoos, aquariums and animal entertainment are still being talked about, These facilities should be exposed and shut
SeaWorld San Diego opened in March 21, 1964. This was the first SeaWorld park to be established. There three parks all together the other two being SeaWorld San Antonio, and SeaWorld Orlando (Ask Shamu). 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).
Not to mention but here’s something that really caught my attention. Did you know that in captivity, Orcas live shorter lives? Orcas in the wild are expected to live for about 30-50 years. 60-70 years for males and 80-100 years for females. At Seaworld, most Orcas only live for about 13
When I was six years old, my parents took me to SeaWorld for the first time. I remember clearly watching the Shamu show and sitting in the splash zone ending up soaked in water by the end. But I also distinctly remember wondering how an animal so big and beautiful could ever be happy in such a small tank, so far away from home. The animals could never possibly experience the joy they would out in the wild where they belonged. And even a six year old wasn’t blind to that fact.
The whale Tilicum who is responsible for multiple deaths of trainers is still in captivity and still performs in shows. He now has no life left in him and for hours will still sit in the same spot. This is no way to treat a living thing and in no way should wild animals like this be put into captivity. The bottom line is that these animals are living mammals and should not be put into situations where they are starved and kept in extremely small spaces to live out their lives. Companies like Sea World should no longer have whale shows and should release all of the whales that will be able to survive into the wild. Sea World would be able to survive without their whale show, and even though it is one of the biggest sources of revenue the park can make money in other endevures.
Now let’s take a look at Orcas and the torture they go through at places like Sea World and Sea Land. What exactly do you think goes on in there after hours? Do you think they are just trained so well that they are released overnight and just come back the next day by themselves? I sure hope not, though. They are kept in tiny wells, it wouldn’t be tiny to us, but they spend their off time in a little tank with seven to nine other orcas that could be up to twenty three feet long and weigh up to six tons and they aren’t happy so you could imagine what they do to each other while in there.
Keeping animals in captivity is wrong. People fail to realize that these animals, such as Orcas, are losing their natural instincts by being placed in a small enclosed cage or pool. The life spans of these Orcas drop tremendously once placed into a stressful environment, such as a zoo. According to Richard J. Harrison, in his book Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, he stated that the “unawareness of the social organization that exist in the wild, dolphins and orcas that attempt to join pods of animals of a different species are often attacked. In fact, the mortality rate of the released captive animals is 15 percent”. Many of these animals develop physiological distress from not having the appropriate nutrition and adequate facilities which then makes it dangerous for the staff as well as the visitors to be around them. Understanding the definition of “wild” should give a clear picture of why keeping a caged “wild” animal is not only inhuman, but morally wrong.