Animal Welfare Act Of The Ringling Brothers Circus

Since SeaWorld opened in 1964, the park has encountered harsh criticism from the public. Whether criticized for their ethics or their oblivious harm to animals, the underwater amusement park raises many ethical questions regarding the captivity of sea animals, especially orcas. Most people are uninformed about orcas to begin with, so they do not understand why SeaWorld is such a terrible place. SeaWorld exploits animals in their shows to bring revenue to their company, while disregarding the physical and mental health of the animals. Today, people have begun to see the reasons why SeaWorld should close. SeaWorld should close their doors due to their record of unhealthy orcas, their aggressive killer whale, Tilikum, and their dishonesty to the public.

SeaWorld opened in 1964 along the Mission Bay in San Diego, stretching a total of 21 acres. When they first started, their park only had 45 employees, a few dolphins, sea lions, and two saltwater aquariums. Today, several parks are spread out throughout the southern United States in California, Florida, and Texas. SeaWorld provides various shows every day with special perks for high paying guests, such as swimming with dolphins and other sea dwellers. A majority of their shows include orcas, otherwise known as killer whales. Recently, these majestic beasts have been living up to those names, attacking, mauling, and fatally injuring the parks own trainers. Blackfish, a documentary released in 2013, gets up close and personal with these stories of attack, to bring us countless reasons why orcas, and other marine life, should be left to live in their natural habitats, instead of in the concrete cells they rot in now. Orca pods are part of a matriarchal society, the females are more dominant and this can cause disputes between the alphas. When orcas are confined to a small space, these fights can get out of hand, disallowing the least dominant one to run, resulting in injury and death to the whales. Over the past 35 years there have been four deaths and countless injuries, and each time SeaWorld has placed the blame upon the trainers, explaining they hadn 't completed basic safety procedures. Orcas should not be kept in captivity for many reasons. Firstly, they are

SeaWorld’s claim is that the average lifespan an orca whale is 25-30 years. “Orca whales tend to live a lot longer in captivity because they have all the veterinary care - in the wild, they live less.” That is false. According to the National Geographic, wild Orca whales live to be around 50-80 years old with some living to see 100 years. Marine biology research has proven that orcas in captivity suffer from extreme stress, injuries, disease and infections. These effects take a toll on an orca whales body and immune system. SeaWorld and other marine parks lack ability to provide adequate environments to keep orcas alive. Another common threat found in captive orcas is a floppy dorsal fin. According to SeaWorld, “A floppy dorsal fin is normal, twenty-five percent of whales have a fin that turns over or flops as they get older; it is a sign of the wise.” That too, is a lie. A flopped dorsal fin is a sign of a depression. Dorsal collapse in the wild happens in less than one percent of orca whales. Generally, orca whales tend to be the most free, discovered animals on our great world today. Animal activists say that “Orcas have a great spiritual power, they are not to be meddled with; orcas aren’t just respected, they are in charge.” Artificial, manmade belief puts shame to the respected power and beauty of an orca

Theme Parks such as SeaWorld confine dolphins and orcas, who are capable of swimming up to more than one hundred miles a day, in tank that are 50 feet deep and 350 feet in length. To put it in perspective, that’s equivalent to the size of a standard bathtub. SeaWorld portrays itself as a loving, fun, and family based establishment; however, certain activities can harm the killer whales emotionally and physically.

Since 1961, 157 orcas, or killer whales, have been ripped from their homes and shoved into captivity. 127 of these orcas are now dead. With the number of captured orcas plus the number of those born into captivity, The W.D.C. (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) reports that, “At least 162 orcas have died in captivity, not including 30 miscarried or stillborn calves” ( “The Fate”1). Out of the 127 taken into captivity, 44 have died in SeaWorld. There are currently 58 orcas residing in 14 marine parks in eight different countries. 24 of those orcas are held in SeaWorld’s three parks in the United States. Since 2002, 14 have been taken out of the wild and put into these marine parks. (“The Fate”1) It is not fair for these innocent creatures to be physically and mentally manipulated and damaged. Such brutality would not be condoned if it were targeted towards a human, and it should not be condoned when targeted toward an animal. Orca whales should not be held in captivity because they are forced to live in subpar conditions, they are mistreated while in captivity, and they are led to aggressive behavior.

The documentary, Blackfish, proves that there was and still is quite a bit of controversy over whether it is ethical to keep Orcas in captivity. Some people believe that it is acceptable since the Orcas are being treated and fed well. Other people, however, believe that this is not ethical because being kept in a tank for twenty years leads to aggression and therefore is too dangerous for humans. The documentary proves that there are many incidents, in the past, where a whale has harmed their trainer. One example of this, that made people more aware of the danger, was the death of Dawn Brancheau in 2010 (Cowperthwaite & Oteyza, 2013). The incidence has led to many different debates over the years and Sea World has had to try to refute the claims that were made about them. The claims were regarding their treatment of the whales and other issues. However, Sea World was not

Most people today have visited or at least heard of the popular tourist attraction, Seaworld. These tourists may think of it as a place to see marine animals do trick, like killer whales interacting with humans in a fun and entertaining way- but do we ever stop to think about the treatment or feelings of these creatures? After visiting Seaworld and seeing the famous Shamu, the thought of how living in captivity affects the animal had not crossed my mind. After researching I am now extremely concerned with the way these whales are impacted by spending their lives in bathtubs and forced to do tricks for food, all while humans are blindly funding this billion dollar business.

In 2013 a documentary called “Blackfish” (a documentary explaining the illnesses of orcas and the weaknesses of seaworld) was released to inform the world why seaworld was not all fun and games. In fact after the release seaworld lost $31.6 million the second-quarter income. Just one of the many things “Blackfish” told us is that capturing the orcas doesn't always go as smoothly

According to Richard Perez- Penamarch The Ringling Brother’s circus has a total of forty-three Asian elephants, at approximately 65,000 dollars per year separately. That is approximately 2,795,000 dollars in all, per year to maintain proper care of their elephants. We must stop using animals as entertainment immediately. This is just wrong it leads to aggressiveness in animals, causes distress, and leads to animal abuse!

At Seaworld, the Human Society Of The United States met behind closed doors to negotiate the end of the breeding program. Most of the animals are left in the sun without shade covering them. Many of the orcas at seaworld were kidnapped and forced there. Many of This can severely burn and injure the animals. The animals who are at seaworld are not treated the right way. They are sometimes left all day without being feed. These animals are not treated and cared for in the proper way. “Animals are not here to entertain, feed, clothe, or cure humans—that they are not property,” spoken by Catherine Gourley. Many animals at SeaWorld are sometimes beaten by their keeper, if they do not perform their routines right.

the money. Seaworld might argue that they spend millions of dollars to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife. So if they were just trying to rescue and rehabilitate the orcas, why did Seaworld start to hold the orcas in captivity? Seaworld has never released an orca back into the wild and it doesn’t invest much money into rehabilitation either as they say. Seaworld earns “$1.5 billion a year in revenue”, they only spend “$9 million on conservation”, resulting in only “0.06%” of the money is used in “research and conservation annually.” This demonstrates how seaworld earns billions of dollars, but uses very little to rehabilitate and rescue animals. Even worse the animals they do help, they hold them in captivity for entertainment. If you go to Seaworld to see the shamu shows you are contributing to hurting the orcas even more emotionally, socially, and

If you have ever been to Seaworld you would have had to go see the Killer whales in fact its one of the top attractions there. Through the eyes of a child, these gentle giants seem to be happy, healthy, and enjoying a playful game with their trainers. The question is are they really happy, do they get treated the right way, and why have there been deaths and injuries. Many people wonder about these things and after the movie Blackfish came out more and more people began to question how well Seaworld treats their animals. “The truth is that Sea World keeps its animals for entertainment and money and helps no one but themselves.”- Animal Legal Defense Fund

Since the opening at SeaWorld in 1959 they have imprisoned and exploited one hundred and eighty six orcas. Sixty three orcas have died at the parks and a further 30 have been miscarried or still born. SeaWorld now currently holds 23 orcas in its three parks in the United States and a further 6 at Loro Parque in Spain. A small amount of orcas at SeaWorld were born in the wild, but the vast majority of the orcas are bred in captivity by the company. In captivity the opportunity to act on all their natural instincts are denied. As an intelligent species, it is our

Many people that visit SeaWorld or know of the theme park believe that it is just a welcoming marina and a great place to take family to see wild animals and the remarkable shows that the killer whales present. Clearly many people do not realize the truth behind what SeaWorld is doing to these poor animals. For starters, captive marine animals are robbed of most everything that is natural to them such as living in a family pod and swimming up to a hundred miles each day. Obviously these necessities cannot be met within the small enclosures where the killer whales live. Another less known fact about SeaWorld is that it lowers animals’ life spans quite drastically. Orca whales live on an average of thirty to fifty years in the wild and some can live to ninety, but the average age for orcas in

The life of a circus animal is hard and demanding. It is not an acceptable way of life for an animal. Circuses would quickly lose their appeal if the public were more aware of their mistreatments of these animals. Many circuses do not have much money and as a result the animals suffer from inadequate care. These animals spend most of their time in small cages used for transportation. The Animal Welfare Act provides cage requirements, but many circuses fail to follow this law. Even the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus was cited for 65 violations over a two-year period according to Florence Lambert. When traveling, animals spend hours, even days between sites in confinement..