In the article entitled “SeaWorld tanks or sea pens? Dispute over which is best for orcas continues,” the Los Angeles Times is mainly focused on a dispute over releasing killer whales, SeaWorld thinks orcas would be safer in a large tank while animal activists and SeaWorld critics want orcas given a sense of freedom in a sea pen. First, the Los Angeles Times explores how marine biologists agree that these whales will most likely never be freed and if a compromise is made, the closest they would get to freedom would be a limited environment: “But marine biologists — including SeaWorld critics — agree that the orcas probably will never be released to the open seas. Even if the killer whales don’t spend the rest of their lives in the theme park, the closest they would get to freedom would be retirement in ocean coves. …show more content…
They say that long-captive orcas can’t withstand these conditions.” In addition, the Los Angeles Times mentions “Blackfish,” a documentary featuring one of SeaWorld’s orcas, Tilikum, and a petition used to free Tilikum to a sea pen: “A petition on change.org has collected more than 220,000 signatures. It calls for SeaWorld Orlando in Florida to release an orca featured in ‘Blackfish,’ Tilikum, to a sea pen.” Moreover, the Los Angeles Times describes how maybe one reason SeaWorld wasn’t inclined to free Tilikum is because one free orca’s story, Keiko’s, didn’t turn out so well: “Keiko was captured off Iceland in 1979 and trained to perform at theme parks…. the killer whale was transported to a sea pen in Iceland in
There has been many other cases that has been ignored before even Tilikum has killed people in Seaworld that they have completely twisted and made up lies to cover up the fact Orcas shouldn't be tamed and put in large pools. For example, November 23, 1987 trainer John had an Orca jump on top of him causing many injuries and another attack in November 29, 2006.
Thesis: SeaWorld should be shut down because of the treatment against Orcinus orcas in captivity.
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
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
Orca whales have been in difficult circumstances ever since the first orca was captured in 1961. The first orca captured lived two days in captivity then died and the reported cause of dead was pneumonia. Many things come to mind when people think an orca is in captivity. Many people tend to believe they are being treated, they will enjoy life more, and they will live longer due to the fact they are receiving food and care. These statements are told to spectators at seaworld, marineland and many other water parks around the globe. The facts disagree with these statements. Orca are very friendly animals, there have been no recorded attacks of orcas hurting any human being in the wild. Most of them will come up to fishers boats and be
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.
For many years, we’ve been going to such places like, SeaWorld, and Six Flags, to see vast animals, like Orcas, also known as the killer whale, which we wouldn’t normally see out in the wild. Orcas have been around for millions of years; it’s known to be one of the smartest mammals, closest to humans. Since of their friendliness, people have taken advantage of them. For the past sixty years people have brought these massive creatures into their aquariums to make profit out of it, but never thought about their lives. What if you were kept in a cage for years, and was pushed to do such activities, you wouldn’t do in your normal life. While being in captivities, killer whales are forced to do plentiful tricks, which they normally wouldn’t do
Many people believe that the baby orcas at seaworld should be free in the ocean not in tanks that are too small for them. In my opinion I think they should be let go into the ocean where they belong with their families living in their natural habitat because that is where they belong in a large body of water not in small concrete tanks. In the article “Orca babies need their families, not concrete tanks and humans”, I read that they were writing about how orca babies need to be with their families and not in small tanks in contact with humans recently at sea world a baby orca named “kyra the last orca to be born at seaworld died just at 3 months of age”, in other words orcas should be left alone in the ocean to grow up with their families not
Animal captivity acts as a broad way for the public to view and enjoy wild species. However, “it transforms helpless, harmless animals into aggressive, agitated monsters” (4). “Wild animals should never be kept in captivity- especially not at SeaWorld Parks” (7), and little did you know that kept Animals in captivity are deprived of their loved ones, their freedom, and their personal will to carry on, which lead to them becoming highly aggressive. The conditions in captivity are horrifying and disgusting. The animals have to have a better place to live in so that they will have the capability of striving. Why do you think so many species are in danger of going extinct? Many believe that SeaWorld is a family-friendly incorporation and an
“If you love something, set it free.” This is a quote that has circulated for years, and nowhere else is it more applicable than in SeaWorld’s parks. Trainers and corporate alike claim a deep love for the animals they keep captive, but in recent years, the topic of holding orca whales in captivity has become more controversial than ever before. The CNN documentary “Blackfish” brought the conditions Seaworld provides for its orcas to the public eye in a way that had not been done before, which led to much public outrage. The containment of orca whales for educational and entertainment purposes has, in almost every way, been brought into question. Ranging from the physical and psychological damages they experience, the issues in their family structures, and the dangers that their human trainers experience, orca whales are not fit to be kept in captivity.
Imagine a place where you can see your favorite sea animals. Whales, dolphins, sharks, even penguins. Doesn’t that sound like somewhere you would enjoy going? SeaWorld is what comes to most people’s minds when they think of this, but is SeaWorld really that wonderful? Is SeaWorld truly what it’s hyped up to be? SeaWorld claims to be a sanctuary for animals where they keep animals like killer whales safe from the dangers of the world. Well, SeaWorld should really get a dictionary because a “sanctuary” is truly not what they give these animals. Orcas are the main attraction of SeaWorld but they are also one of the animals that suffer the most. Orcas in SeaWorld lifelessly float in their pool with little to no shade from the sun. In the wild,
One example all orcas have their own pods ( family ) in the wild. Imagine if you were an orcas and you were captured and taken away from your family to live with complete strangers. Orcas are genius animals they are one of the smartest marine life animal. This clearly shows that sea world and other marine parks that keep orcas in captivity only want the orcas so that they can make money. If marine parks wanted to have orcas for a good reason don't just for money they would be taking good care of them and instead of taking them out of their happy families in the wild and bringing them into a bad home. From the article, “should orca shows be banned” the article clearly stated that when orcas live in the wild they all have their own pod with about 5-10 whales. Each pod of orcas all have their own way of squeal and languages to communicate. It could be that when an orca is taken out of the wild and into a new tiny artificial pool they are basically being put with a bunch of strangers. Picture this if you were an orca, suddenly you fall and trip and everything has been blacked out. You wake up the next day without your family and you are put in a tiny pool with 5 different strangers and you are forced to live with them. You are then forced to be doing tricks
Allowing the killer whales of SeaWorld to stay with their family would help more than anything. Orcas are incredibly emotional creatures and are very protective of their young, so when they are separated from their family it causes them great distress, but this does not stop the big companies from separating families. Most animals in captivity have been living there their entire lives. This means that they do not know how to hunt or behave as a wild animal should, which leads to the second way to fix the problems of captivity. Samantha Berg, a former SeaWorld trainer suggests, “They should release the animals that are young enough and healthy enough to be released.
All in all, orcas should not be used for entertainment and live a regular life, not an artificial life in entertainment places (BBC) even though, people who work in places like Dutch Wonder Land and SeaWorld will lose their jobs. Killer whales could die in numerous ways while being held captive in tanks. The author of Former Trainers John Hargrove, wanted killer whales to go back into their normal habitat and they should live a normal life in their regular
Biblical Viewpoint Orcas in captivity does not hold up when compared to the Word of God. Even though the Bible does not directly say that orcas should not be held in captivity, it describes how animals should be treated. “The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel” (Proverbs 12:10 End-Systolic Volume). In other words, a righteous person has virtues regarding all of God’s creation, unlike the wicked whose acts of “kindness” in reality are truly evil acts. In comparison with this verse, SeaWorld will protest that their killer whales are well taken care of trying to overshadow the overpowering downside of captivity.