Seaworld And The Seaworld Corporation

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

Captivity Kills The documentary Blackfish reveals the horrifying story of the capture and torture of orca whales at the well-known amusement park, SeaWorld. Blackfish revealed the heartless treatment of the orca whales to the public eye. Tilikum, a featured whale in the documentary, was taken from his family at a young age and forced to live in a small concrete pool for most of his life. His experiences revealed a large part of the problem of placing whales in confinement.

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

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

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.

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.

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

The orcas on film have suffered greatly as a result of their captivity. The area in which SeaWorld

Since its establishment in 1964 the world famous franchise SeaWorld has been subjected to various tabloid headlines and legal investigations following the horrendous attacks by orcas, also known by their more apt name ‘Killer Whales’. These incident range from minor to major, but, there has been rare cases of fatalities from the family orientated marine parks based in America.

Some orcas have even broken their teeth trying to get out of SeaWorld. In SeaWorld Orcas are forced to breed unnaturally and on a regular basis. Employees at SeaWorld train male orcas to float on their backs so their trainer can masturbate them and collect their sperm. Females are artificially inseminated and are forced to breed at a much younger age than they naturally do. In the wild female orcas are ready to reproduce at the age of 14. In SeaWorld, there have been instances where they breed them at the age of 10, and even sometimes at the age of 8. Katina is a killer whale that’s in the SeaWorld located in Orlando Florida. She is used as a breeding machine. Caretakers sometimes even breed her with her own children. Although SeaWorld claims that Orcas live longer if they live in captivity it has been proven that Orcas have a shorter lifespan while they are held in captivity. SeaWorld has claimed females live to 26 years and that males live up to 15 years. While according to national geographic female killer whales can live 50 to 100 years while males can live 30 to 60 years. Killer whales live longer in the wild than they are claimed to live in

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

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

Since the 1960 's, SeaWorld has captured wild orcas, domesticating them like cats or dogs while displaying them like goldfish in an aquarium. The cruelty and dangers that SeaWorld presents to these animals need to be diminished. The environments they live in, the lifestyle they have adapted to, and the behaviors that have resulted from captivity are shocking. The breeding program in place at SeaWorld and the accidents that have happened in the facility that houses these whales are equally horrifying. The organization of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, began its campaign “SeaWorld of Hurt” in May 2012. We need join PETA in efforts to end the captivity of killer whales, end the SeaWorld breeding program, and close all SeaWorld facilities.

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.

Three whales, which included two females and one male, would be put in one of the smaller tanks to breed. Well, in the orca species, the females are dominant. The two female whales would gang-up on the male whale and bite him which their sharp teeth which led to infection and continuous bleeding. Since the whales would not breed, they turned to artificial insemination. Tilikum, a whale known for his aggressive acts, was the main breeder. His sperm was worth millions and SeaWorld would freeze it for future use. Since Tilikum is aggressive, his calves now have his aggressive genes. Even though SeaWorld knows this, they continued to use Tilikum and now he is a father to 21 calves. Since his calves will now show aggressive behavior, this makes it even more dangerous for the SeaWorld trainers. These whales have caused many deaths, but SeaWorld continues to keep breeding and putting these trainers lives at risk for