Orcas And Its Effects On Human Resources

One major reason why orcas should not be held in captivity is because orcas are a family oriented type species. Orcas are extremely social animals. Orcas are very close to their family. For example, when SeaWorld orca catchers came to capture orcas in the year 1977, John Crowe, one of the orca catcher’s, said, “When we took the baby orcas and left the adults, the adults huddled in a circle and made noises to the baby orcas that were being taken away.” He also stated, “We dropped the net to let the other adult orcas go, but they stayed and huddled around the boat.” When killer whales are in captivity, they are not with their family. They are involuntary forced to live with other orcas from a different family and are

The latest data show that orcas are more than three times as likely to die at any age in captivity as they are in the wild. This translates into a shorter life span and is probably the result of several factors. First, orcas in captivity are out of shape; they are the equivalent of couch potatoes, as the largest orca tank in the world is less than one ten-thousandth

“All whales in captivity have a bad life. They’re all emotionally destroyed. They’re all psychologically traumatized. So they’re ticking time bombs.” This is a statement by Lori Marino from the documentary, Blackfish. Many statements like this one are common and believed to be true due to the proof that the documentary provides. There are many incidents that prove Orcas, also known as Killer Whales, are harmed in captivity and that their trainers are often harmed because of this, too. Orcas should not be kept in captivity since it is harmful to both Orcas and humans.

Orcas have an average life expectancy of thirty to fifty years, however males can reach the maximum age of sixty to seventy years,

The conditions that the captured killer whales are forced to live in are not acceptable replacements for the wildlife habitats that they have been ripped from. All the enclosures that the orcas are kept in do not provide an adequate amount of space that the animal requires. The size of an orca in relation to the size of the tanks they are forced to live in is comparable to the

Some people argue that keeping orcas in captivity is not a problem, yet they do not realize some of the limitations and dangers orcas suffer when kept in captivity. One reason is that these unpredictable, thirty-foot long creatures are usually kept in a tank that is too small for them, compared to the ocean where they can swim freely. In captivity, space is limited. According to one expert, “orcas can swim up to 100 miles per day- a phenomenal amount, in comparison to the exercise they receive in captivity” (Cronin). While in captivity, an orca has to keep swimming in circles or float, unable to exercise adequately in a confined space. The small tanks also prevent orcas from living in their natural group sizes, or pods. “In the wild, killer whales typically travel in pods of between five and 30” (Melissa). In captivity, fewer than five whales are kept together, an imbalance that makes the whales more aggressive towards one another. This can lead to dangerous, territorial situations in which captive

“An orca called Kahana dies of multiple skull fractures, cerebral contusions, and severe hemorrhaging, after colliding with a pool wall at SeaWorld San Antonio” (Smith, 2003). Killer whales face a number of health risks when removed from the wild and dropped into captivity. Removing an orca from the ocean and putting it into a tank is like not giving a labrador retriever a backyard. In the wild, killer whale pods travel approximately 100 miles a day in straight lines with a home range of about 500 to 900 in miles (Smith, 2003). On the other hand, while placed in captivity they are forced to swim continuous circles around a 2,491,400 gallon concrete tank with artificial salt water, which eventually leads to the collapsing of their dorsal fins

Documentation proves that Orcas are social creatures. In the wild they form lifelong communities, have their own unique dialect, and the calves stay with their pods forever (Blackfish). The Orca pod is committed to one another; they will stand by each other until their death. Not to mention, they will always help each other out if the need arises. The documentary, Blackfish, proves whales from different communities, subsets, and cultures are captured and forced to live with each other in tiny twenty by thirty feet deep concrete pens. Naturally, they do not get along and become annoyed, because they do not speak the same language or have the same genes, they are without a doubt different (Blackfish).Inside the pens, there is no room for them to move around let alone escape from each other. The result is always injury to the whales and in some cases death (Blackfish). Next, in the wild Orcas are free to eat whenever and whatever they want. However, in captivity, they have a regimented feeding schedule. In fact, food rewards good behavior. Knowing they are intelligent creatures, they are aware of food running low, or lack of food (Blackfish). Naturally, this causes them to refuse to listen to commands or want to continue to perfume. Instead of humans trying to understand them, their only reward, at this point, is punishment. Because of the whale not wanting to comply, they are isolated in small rectangular pools away from the others. Irrefutably, this further causes unneeded stress for the whale. There is no doubt; Orcas need to be in a stress free environment, the

Captivity not only damages the physical and mental health of these animals but it also puts trainers in danger yet places such as Sea World still choose to profit off of them. In the wild female orcas can live up to 100 years old and males can live

People say that keeping orca’s in captivities is not a problem, yet they do not realize that, orcas are also human beings. There are several reasons, why keeping these thirty-feet long creatures, in captivities is a problem. One of them, which are the tank, which is too small, compared to ocean where they can swim freely. One the other side, in captivities, the space is limited. Comparatively, to how they swim out in the wild “orcas can swim up to 100 miles per day- a phenomenal amount, in comparison to the exercise they receive in captivity”(Cronin). While being in captivity, orca has to keep swimming in circles or floats. Out “In the wild, killer whales typically travel in pods of between five and 30”(Melissa). In captivities there are only few whales, so it makes them more aggressive toward one another. This sometimes can be lead to danger by killing each other for fighting to gain power of the tank.

They are not able to swim all around the world and be able to do what they do best which is to live wild and free. They are stuck in a small space with thousands of people watching them every day. Most Orcas are taking from their mothers at an early age. Although Orcas are known to stay with their mothers until about two years of age, they are taking too early so they don’t receive all the nutrition that they need to help them develop fully. If a young one is taking away from its mother to early it is more likely to die. Orcas usually reproduce once every three years. Although it is known that it is possible for them to have twins, they are more likely to just have one at time. They usually only have one at a time because they are too big. After the calf is born the mother then trains the Orca how survive. She teaches them how to find food and how to protect themselves from other animals that may be harmful to

The research shows that killer whales are not healthy in captivity. But we can stop this and seaworld has taken some steps to help solve the problem that orcas aren’t healthy in captivity. This problem affects the orcas big time, and the trainers that take care of them. Killer whales in the wild are having a great time, but remember in some countries there are no laws stopping them from catching or killing orcas. Maybe we should call them killer humans, instead of calling orcas killer whales because they’re really the problem. Research highly suggest that they expand their tanks or just plain out stop pulling killer whales out of the ocean. Some laws have been passed in the US to stop people from killing orcas or pulling them out of the ocean.

The life of a killer whale is reduced when in captivity. SeaWorld claims, “the life expectancy is about 30-40 years for both captive and wild killer whales” (Rose 2). In reality, killer whales have the same life expectancy as humans, which is about 60+ years. Not to mention, “SeaWorld has about one ocra die each year” (Rose 3). Captive killer whales die young for many different reasons. Some of the main being pneumonia, septicemia, and injuries. These are, “pathogens and wounds that immune systems of wild orcas would normally be able to combat, can be fatal and is caused by immunosuppression” (Rose 2-3). This means captive killer whales’ immune systems are not prepared and not as active because of their environment. Tanks have different chemicals and bacteria that result in the infections but many are stress induced.

When they are put in these tanks, they are often put with multiple other captured orca whales. On top of being all crammed together in a tiny space, they do not “speak” the same language. This creates a lot of confusion between the orca whales and a lot of times hostility towards one another. All in all the orca whales are forced into a new enclosed environment with other orca whales who are distressed as well. In the film Blackfish, it shows at one point a whale being so distressed that he began to harm the whale that was in the tank with him by biting the poor whale and slamming it against the tanks walls. This is a common result of the social strife of these whales. Orcas are often cut, raked, and rammed by the whales who have been there the longest, often seen as a form of seniority.

Release the Orcas According to the charity whale and dolphin conservation 156 orcas have been taken into captivity since 1961. 128 of those orcas are now dead, they can live to about 50-80 years old (BBC). Now they are breeding the whales in captivity. Living in captivity can be very dangerous for the orcas and for the people training them. Overall I believe SeaWorld should release the orcas.