While captive orcas have created a massive corporation for Sea World it does not compare to the shallow concrete tanks they live in to those living free in the ocean. From trainer to killer whale deaths many orcas face health issues along with inhumane living conditions in captivity. It is time to phase out breeding programs for orcas for the means of entertainment. “Since orcas (Orcinus orca) were first placed into captivity for entertainment purposes serious health issues related to their captivity have become apparent.” Sea World stated (on their website) that, “Wild killer whales generally swim long distances because they are looking for food. When food is plentiful they do not swim far and at Sea World, our whales do not have to search
for food.” However, as research states, one of the most common health related issues found in killer whales in captivity is the collapsing of their dorsal fin. In the wild many male fins can reach 6 feet in height but with the limited ability to swim for miles at a time many captive orcas fin began to turn downward. In the ocean lateral, torsional, and compressive forces generated by moving water typically sculpt erect dorsal fins. Kanduke, a killer whale who later died at Sea World, was held in a 35 foot deep concrete tub when he himself was 22 feet long. Due to the confinement many pools orcas spend a good extent of their day logging or floating motionless at water level. Logging risks the likelihood of other health problem like UV radiation to their skin and eyes. Trainers or animal care staff will hid sunburns on the back or orcas with sunblock and black colored zinc oxide hid the fact that they spend an highly excessive amount of time logging. Many killer whales spend their life in small, tight knit groups where they protect and learn from one another. Yet, when they are extracted from wildlife and yet they are placed where they “are confined to small, acoustically-dead, concrete enclosures where they must live in extremely close proximity to other whales with which they often share no ancestral, cultural or communication similarities.” While put in these depositions they often form agression toward one another and their living enviorment. Many will chew on steel gates that seperate one from another most often grinding and breaking their teeth also metal or concerte structures.
These killer whales are massive creatures living in these cramped pools not doing what they want to do when they want to do it. Mr. Jett and Mr. Ventre also said “...Typically spending their entire lives within tight family groupings, orcas captured from the wild, have been traumatically extracted from the security, comfort and mentoring which these groupings provide. Captured animals are confined to small, acoustically-dead, concrete enclosures where they must live in extremely close proximity to other whales with which they often share no ancestral, cultural or communication similarities.” Seaworld ends up throwing these animals in random groups of whales that are not their families, having whales that have never been outside of the concrete wall, to whales that all they know is the wild. The Documentary Blackfish states that one of the killer whale
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
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
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
Orca whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. Orcas are very curious creatures, they like to sky hop, which is when they poke their heads out of the water and look around, and they can also dive to as much as a hundred feet. These social animals live in pods and stay with them for their whole lives. They are so family oriented that they can may sleep together in a tight circle and have synchronized breathing. Orcas can grow up to thirty-two feet and can weigh nine tons. They typically eat five percent of their body weight and are amazing hunters. The lifespan of an orca in their natural habitat is about fifty years. This lifestyle for them is wonderful because they can swim as far as they want to and are free. Orcas should not be held captive because the capture process is dangerous, it is not good for their health, and their trainers are at risk. Free Willy. Dir Simon Wincer. 1993.Video. Warner Bros Home Video
The whales are usually pregnant for 15 to 17 months; but having young every 2 to 6 years. In captivity about 163 orcas have died. As well as about 30 miscarried or stillborn calves (“10 Things…”). SeaWorld force breeds the orca’s. They do this by having the animal lye on its back while they masturbate it. The people take the sample and put it inside of a female (“The Fate of…”). They do this to make the numbers of orca’s they are capturing to go down. In all actuality they are making things worse. They have inbred these animals. They don’t know what it could do to the baby inside of the mother. It could come out with some type of deformation, and the wiring in their brains could become
Suppose you were kidnapped from your family as a child by an alien species while your family watched in despair, crying out helplessly for your kidnappers to not rip you away from them. Now imagine then being strapped down and transported to a place unknown and once you arrive, you see that some of the other children that were also kidnapped have died. You then witness something that will forever remain engraved into your mind; you witness those monsters that took you hostage cut the children open, fill their bodies up with rocks, tie an anchor onto their feet and throw them into the ocean. The monsters then throw you into a tiny cage; you learn that you will not only never see your family again and die in that confinement but you will also work for these monsters and perform as a source of entertainment for them. You spend every night locked away into an even smaller steel cage that gives no freedom of movement at all and aren’t fed if you displease your new masters. Although this sounds like an outline for a horror movie, it is not. It is happening in real life and in our world. It is horrific, not only unethical but inhumane. This depicts the capturing process and life in captivity for public display of Orcinus Orcas, popularly known as Killer Whales since 1961. Although some laws regarding the capturing of whales have changed, whales are still being treated unethically. Just as inhumane as it is for this to be done to humans, it is equally inhumane for it to be done to animals. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, inhumanity is “the quality or stage of being cruel to other people or to animals” (dictionary.com) and that is what their captivity is...
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
For 50 years SeaWorld has entertained park guests with numerous stunts involving the majestic sea creature, the orca, also referred to as the killer whale, and their human trainers. What the on-lookers don’t see at these shows is what goes on behind the scenes: how the whales got there in the first place, and the conditions in which they are housed.
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, the average lifespan is 30 for males, 50 for females, and can live up to 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 in captivity than it is in the wild. Activists believe that the capture and transport of these animals is extremely cruel, due to the psychological stress caused by the separation of pod members, and the stress caused during transport.
Orcinus orca is the scientific name for the massive marine mammal. Orcas are not rare, but have declining numbers in some areas (Martin.) Orcas are found from the Artic Ocean to the Antartic Ocean. (Britannica) They belong to the Delphinidae, or dolphin family, which is the largest of their species. Female orcas grow to be at the most 15 feet, and weigh up to 4 tons, but the males can grow as large as 20-30 feet, and weight up to 8 tons. (Martin) The color of the orca is white in some spots, black on the majority of the body, and gray just behind the dorsal fin. It is white on the chin, belly and the eye. The white patch above the eye is usually mistaken for the eye, and may confuse their prey, but acts as a camouflage for the eye. The name “killer whale” makes people tend to believe that this is a viscious man-eating mammal, yet it is one of the most shrewd, docile and playful species of the marine mammals. The orca is sexually mature at 10-15 years of age, much like humans, which is 12-13 years of age. They tend to mate year round, and is able to have a calf every two years. It is interesting to know that lactation of the mother lasts 12 or more months (Wynne.) The life expectancy of orcas is 45-50 years of age.
Orcas, or killer whales are majestic giants of the sea. They are actually the largest type of dolphin. They have long black bodies with distinct white patches near their eyes. A killer whale can be up to 32 feet or more in length, and weigh up to 12,000 pounds. Females are a bit smaller, but live longer (Gorman). The name “killer whale” apparently came not because it is a vicious whale, but because it preys on whales. They do not have any natural predators, and they are considered the “top dog” of the ocean. Not even the great white shark stands a chance against these superb killers. “Unlike sharks, killer whales are cautious hunters, sometimes spending hours harassing a 1,000-pound sea lion so it can easily be drowned” (Francis). Orcas use many hunting tactics that are unique to their species, which is what makes them invincible.
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.
They claim that having Orcas in captivity is a good thing because the population is endangered; they say that the research they can do is just not possible in the wild, but at the same time how are they helping the population? Yes they breed them, increasing the population but what good does that do when they keep them locked up and use them to make money? SeaWorld. From the Animals: Captive, but not Contained article by Talal Al-Khatib. Animals may be captive in cages and pens, but that doesn’t mean they are contained, as was demonstrated in 2010 at Sea World.
First, the term killer whale misrepresents the Orca. It makes people think they are predators seeking to cause harm to anything or anyone they meet. This could not be farther from the truth. The myth is mostly due to some accidents that have occurred while in captivity. While it is true that accidents have occurred. The truth is they are playful creatures and there was no intent for harm to their trainer to occur. The result is some people thinking Orcas are