Seaworld Is Not A Killer Whale Program And The Number Of Incidents

Another incident that occurred was Dawn Brancheau’s death. In the days following the fatality, SeaWorld made a statement that her death was her own fault. This statement was obviously after further investigation. From the provided evidence, the audience can clearly see that SeaWorld did not want to be held accountable for their irresponsibility of managing the care and wellbeing of the whales and

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.

"People always wonder whether I believe SeaWorld should be closed down. I always say no. They have tremendous financial resources and could play a key role in creating sea sanctuaries which could be a profit-making endeavor. I believe people would flock to a site where a killer whale is being a killer whale for the first time -- something infinitely more satisfying than seeing a killer whale dance the Macarena." - Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Cowperthwaite, the director of the documentary film Balckfish, is one of many that urges for change at the infamous marine park SeaWorld. For years on end SeaWorld has been a place of family fun and amazement; using one animal in particular as their spokesman and main attraction, Killer Whales. However, in recent years that image has gotten more than just a meager makeover. Over the past six years, following the tragic death of Dawn Brancheau, SeaWorld and the captivity of Killer Whales has been under serious scrutiny. There have been several findings of how captivity negatively affects these great creatures and the conversation of keeping Killer whales has only been gaining momentum. It is clear that the death of Dawn Brancheau is what sparked societies ideological shift, yet another key part in the start of this discourse is, without a doubt, the release of Gabriela Cowperthwaite 's documentary film Blackfish.

SeaWorld has been a well loved and renowned place to the USA and the families in it for over 53 years. The world famous entertainment park is well known for its wide variety of oceanic animals, and of course, the part that brings them the most fame: their killer whale shows. Because killer whales are so hard to find in the ocean, and going out on a whale watching boat is usually quite expensive, many people have ended up opting for the choice of going to SeaWorld to see these animals. These shows are considered to be spectacular to some audiences, and an abusive nightmare to others. Despite the fact that many people love SeaWorld and consider it to be a fun and family-friendly place, the person with educated knowledge about what really goes on in this place could never see it the same way again, and should want something to be done about it. SeaWorld has caused controversial problems to animal lovers, the people who work there, and of course the killer whales themselves. SeaWorld should be talked about more in schools, educating more young people in hopes that one day there is enough people to take a stand and get this place to stop keeping killer whales captive.

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 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.

Imagine living in a bathtub for your entire life. Imagine never meeting your mother, and living with abusive strangers. Imagine being cut off from the world. Unfortunately, there are creatures that live like this. And they are found, in none other than SeaWorld. SeaWorld provides an unhealthy living environment for its whales, and should be closed down immediately. This particular story revolves around a friend, an outcast, and a killer.

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

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

Orca whales tend to travel in packs and have large, distinct families. Biologically, orcas have a part of the limbic system in the brain that particularly sticks out - it’s where their emotions are stored. This means they have a certain sense of belonging and social bonding. They tend to “stand by each other, everything is together.” Jeff Ventre, a former SeaWorld employee expressed in an interview, “We were promised to believe that in the park, artificial pods of assembly were created to form a family of captive whales.” Much like humans, orca whales are born into families with a connecting bond; it is hard to create a counterfeit connection. “We do not separate calves from mom’s,” is a lie SeaWorld tells. A particularly sad situation was shared from Jeff Ventre outlining the reality of these “families.” Four-year old Takara, a young baby orca, was moved from her mom in SanDiego SeaWorld to gain a more intensive training schedule at the Florida SeaWorld attraction. By doing this, a close biological family tie was broken. Upon the night of removal, Ventre shares the feelings he felt from the mother of Takara, “The night Takara was removed from the concrete pool, you could feel the pain and anguish coming from her mother. She was shaking and screaming, and crying; she was looking for Takara through screeching vocals. The sounds went on all

As the highly advanced and intelligent primates that human are, would you be okay with confinement and being separated for a life time from loved ones? For many years animal rights organizations have found an issue with a brilliant animal, like Orca whales, being restrained solely for entertainment and revenue purposes. Those fighting for the rights of animals have mainly placed their attention toward a family entertainment company recognized as SeaWorld. Since their opening in March of 1964, SeaWorld has become well-known for being an aquatic theme park bringing families together solely for an experience like no other, while creating an educational purpose for knowledge of marine animals. With all of the issues that have developed since SeaWorld’s opening, confinement of orcas is what seems to have everyone’s attention. Their newly permanent tanks, mistreatment and or self-harm can only lead to stress from the orcas which has been recorded to result in harm to their care givers. This has become an important issue because both sides have found it difficult to come to an agreement on how this conflict can be resolved. Can orcas in captivity become be a thing of today for entertainment and educational purposes while keeping the safety and rights of orcas in mind?

Despite the name given to these intelligent animals, killer whales don 't seem to be killer... in the wild anyways. Yet, places like SeaWorld seem to have shown people unintentionally that keeping whales in captivity and such small areas leads them to be aggressive, and essentially living up to their name. SeaWorld is an attraction that has been in the United States for many years, and although it provides great entertainment for individuals and their families, it also is a place where whales are treated poorly and held in captivity. While people enjoy the tricks the intelligent mammals are commanded to do, they don 't realize the poor conditions that they have once the show is over. Between whale fighting, poor feeding, and small areas; it is clear that keeping whales in captivity provides is both physically and mentally harmful to these animals. Many debates and arguments revolve around keeping whales in captivity, but keeping them in such small areas seems to cause them to lash out and hurt others. However, after learning about whales both in captivity as well as the wild, the realization that they should not be captive is starting to become noted by animal activists, the media and even the public. As the recent controversy of the poor conditions of killer whales in captivity is becoming more publicly noticed, animals activists are working towards the rights of killer whales.

Why do we enjoy watching other species being enslaved? Killer whales from SeaWorld is an example. SeaWorld should release the killer whales from their captivity. To support the claim a former SeaWorld Trainer interviewed in the article had quoted ‘‘Why Killer Whales Belong in the Ocean, not Sea World’’, ‘‘I owe those whales,” he says in an interview. “They gave me so much in my life and my career.” But the whales’ physical and emotional well-being, he grew to believe, was incompatible with captivity. The trainers might think it was a happy time for everyone, especially themselves, but what they don’t consider the killers whales and their feelings. How do you think they would behave after being held captive for their entire life entertaining? Confined to unnatural social groups for the convenience of their owners, bored and restless, forced to perform tricks for food that trainers withheld as punishment, they occasionally slipped, he writes, “into the dark side.” Due to the fact that killer whales are held in captivity, this would affect them emotionally, and sooner or later they will take it out on the SeaWorld trainers. Shouldn’t the people at SeaWorld considered how the killer whales would feel being held captive for the rest of their lives? Every creatures should have a say in what will affect them for the rest of their lives. Killer whales have emotion and feelings like us, so imagine yourself in the killer whales position. It’s not the killer whales who should be

To understand the orcas violent actions and the distress it takes back to about 35 years ago, SeaWorld had an interesting method of capturing these orcas. SeaWorld had what they called sea ‘cowboys’, they were informed to capture orcas in Puget Sounds, Washington, using aircraft's, speed boats, water bombs with acetylene torches, ropes; whatever it took to complete their mission. They told the sea ‘cowboys’ that they were only to capture the young baby orcas due to “shipping cost”. John Crowe was a former diver that was hired to be one of SeaWorld’s cowboys. Crowe expressed his experience during an interview with the producers of ‘Blackfish’. With disappointment in his voice he said, “We’re there, trying to get the young orcas into the stretchers, and the whole famn damily is out here, 25 yards away… and they’re communicating back and forth. Well you understand