Orcinus Orca Observation

In the documentary “Blackfish”, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, she discussed the harmful events that have occurred when keeping killer whales contained for show and entertainment purposes. Cowperthwaite argued the fact that the killer whales become aggressive when held captive in an area too small for them and separated from their families. Throughout the documentary there were many horrifying stories about the attacks told by people who had saw the tragedies first-hand.

In fact the relative number of spindle cells in killer whales is larger than that of even the human brain,” This gives high implications of social bonds within orcas, Crawford even points out that, “vocal patterns found within orca pods demonstrate levels of communication beyond mere sounds.” The similarities our brains have to the orcas is so astounding that it’s a wonder why anyone would ever want to keep that information unheard or untalked about. But minimal knowledge at both the Lobster Fest in ‘Consider the Lobster’ and at SeaWorld is what sells.

Orcas are the “most social mammal on Earth,” (Hogenboom). In the wild, orcas are born into a pod and will live in the community their entire lives. They live coherently and will cooperate with each other without issues. Each pod develops its own unique culture and creates the closeness and social dependence only witnessed in the wild. Rarely will a lone orca be seen outside of the aquarium setting. These animals thrive on having a large community to depend on their entire lives. They will swim and play together because it is vital to their quality of life and survival. (Hogeboom). In contrast, orcas who have been captured or bred in captivity, often live in what is comparable to a swimming pool or a bathtub. Size is not the only issue with orcas being held captive; they have synthetic interactions with their handlers and other orcas that inaccurately resembles

Thesis: SeaWorld should be shut down because of the treatment against Orcinus orcas in captivity.

Everyone loves going to marine parks such as SeaWorld and Marineland. They offer many spectacular shows with dolphins, sea lions and birds. However, the main attractions they offer are orcas, or as they are better known as killer whales. Highly intelligent and with acute senses of sight and hearing, they are apex predators. Recently, the possession of orcas has been a big topic of controversy. Many people believe that the animals are being mistreated in captivity. Their captivity limits their freedom and enjoyment. Many orcas suffer from poor physical and mental effects in captivity. Killer whales will usually travel between 50 and 100 miles per day in the wild, but in captivity all they can do is swim in circles or float for no reason. In the wild, killer whales live in pods of

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

The Orange County detective shifted in his seat and adjusted the phone in his ear. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Once they were able to pull her away, how did he let go of the uh..” Thomas Tobin, SeaWorld’s paramedic, portentously answered, “He didn’t.”

Killer whales are highly social creatures; because of their highly social nature, it would be morally incorrect to assume they would be well off in captivity, apart from their

Killer Whales, otherwise known as Orcas, are not designed to be held in captivity. Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in Orca captivity, which also allows us to see a decrease in the quality of life in these animals. Within captivity, Orcas will experience a decline in mental health, limitations to it’s natural instincts as a wild animal, and in extreme cases, their behaviour will lead them to inflict harm or even kill their human companions.

Garrett’s quote emphasizes the tranquil nature of captive orcas. Additionally, it strengthens the correlation between captivity and freedom.

Occasionally the whales will fight with each other due to stress, but since they are in such a small enclosure they have nowhere to go to get away from each other like they would in the wild. Many orcas that are held in captivity have problems with their teeth and they have to have their teeth drilled. “All captive adult male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, likely because they have no space in which to swim freely and are fed an unnatural diet of thawed dead fish”(8 Reasons). Some killer whales also develop infections and the whales are not healthy because they are not fed a healthy diet like they would eat in the ocean.

Half a century ago in 1964, the first orcinus orca or killer whale was captured and put on display (Rose 1). Today, there are forty-five orcas in captivity with about half being born in confinement (“Killer Whales in Captivity”). Orcas are tremendously intelligent, socially complex, and family oriented animals. Studying them in captivity, and at the same time in the wild, we have learned enough about them to realize that orcinus orcas do

Occasionally, the whales will fight with each other due to stress, but since they are in such a small enclosure they have nowhere to go to get away from each other like they would in the wild. Many orcas that are held in captivity have problems with their teeth and they have to have their teeth drilled. “All captive adult male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, likely because they have no space in which to swim freely and are fed an unnatural diet of thawed dead fish”(8 Reasons). Some killer whales also develop infections and the whales are not healthy because they are not fed a healthy diet like they would eat in the ocean.

Anyone who has been to SeaWorld or even watched an episode of National Geographic can appreciate the savage beauty and strength of Orcinus Orca, also known as the killer whale. This is the largest and smartest member of the dolphin family and can be found in all parts of the world. In the past twenty years, thanks to researchers like Ken Balcomb in Puget Sound, scientists have been making radical discoveries about killer whales (Martin, 1993, p.111-114). Modern research has shown the killer whale to be a highly perceptive, super articulate animal that has an amazingly complex social structure indicative of previously unrecognized intelligence.

“Nature did not put whales on this earth to splash kid while stuck in a pen” (Velez-Mitchell, n.d) this magnificent quote shows us that all around the world millions of aquariums use whales as an entertainment object, and people only see the stereotype that the show wants to transmit, but whales are really much more than that. On most aquariums whales are just allowed to act under the trainer’s orders, so that way killer whales are seen as “cute” by the public. Behind all this cute behavior there always a reason, like for example the whales broken teeth are because of the million times they fight with each other with sexual or game intensions, try to chew the glass is also something that whales in captivity do and that’s not normal on free whales, sometimes whales are seen as aggressive but that’s not their fault, mostly they are trying to play because of boredom or a lot of repressed energy that they don’t use.