The Containment Of Orca Whales

For several years, Americans have been visiting amusement parks, like SeaWorld and Six Flags, to observe large animals like orcas, also known as killer whales. These whales are quite difficult to view in the wild, but can now be seen for a simple fee. Orcas are known to be one of the smartest mammals. They are friendly, and this has caused people to take advantage of them. For the past sixty years, people have brought these massive creatures into their aquariums to make a profit from their exhibitions. Often, without considering the orcas' quality of life. While kept in captivity, killer whales are forced to do many tricks they normally wouldn’t do in the wild. Over the years, there have been numerous controversies regarding killer whales

Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s documentary Blackfish explores the harm captivity causes to whales and their trainers. Throughout the film the orca whales undergo a transformation from defenseless creatures into molded killers. The orcas in the film are portrayed as intelligent and caring creatures who are capable of grief. Through this character the development the documentary has affected how these animals are treated, as well as the public’s opinion on the issue.

Orcas in captivity suffer from more than just physical imperfections. Dosed with drugs to help the killer whales deal with stress, they suffer terribly in marine parks. Animals and humans share the same immune system. Just as stress reduces our immune system, it does the same to the killer whale. Therefore, stress has been an indirect cause of death in captive killer whales. Killer whales in captivity experiencing stress tend to beat their head against the walls of their tanks until it bleeds. At least three captive whales have killed themselves with this repetitive motion brought on by stress. Have you ever heard of this happening in the wild? Not only does it not happen, an Orca in the wild would never bring bodily harm upon itself. Denial of their right to live in their true habitat where they belong causes the killer whales much stress, frustration, anxiety, and sadly aggression. In the wild Orcas, do not attack humans as they have in marine parks. As Barry (2010, Para, 12) explained, "Isolation among marine animals is highly stressful, which leads to abnormal behavior." Marine parks such as Sea World have what they call petting pods, where the children can pet and feed the Orcas. Orcas are given tranquilizers to help them deal with the stress and anxiety of human contact. People might not be so eager to pet these wild mammals if they knew everything the Orca had to go through just so they

The orca or “killer whale” is a highly intelligent and self aware creature. In the wild, they are regarded as gentle and friendly, only in captivity do they live up to their nickname “killer whale”. No reported deaths have been documented in the wild, but 4 deaths have occurred while in captivity. Tilikum the orca is arguably the most infamous of captive orcas. He was captured in 1983 when he was 2 years old. Because of the stress of being deprived of everything natural and important to him, Tilikum has been involved in 3 deaths during his time in captivity. Conditions for orcas in captivity such as, small tanks, horrible health conditions and inadequate social interaction, breeds aggression. Seaworld likes to make believe they care about their orcas when, in reality, they view these intelligent creatures as nothing more than underwater cash cows. Orcas do not belong in captivity, they are going to continue to be a danger to both themselves and humans as long as they are being held prisoner.

What has attracted millions of families and spectators over the years, SeaWorld has recently brought reproach and disgrace. A few years ago, SeaWorld’s unacceptable treatment of their whales and sea animals was revealed and has greatly impaired their visitor attendance. This was exposed in the article, “Has America’s disgust at SeaWorld already peaked?” written by Jordan Weissmann. This particular article caught my attention because personally, I have made many visits to SeaWorld and to hear that the beautiful whales that I have witnessed were treated poorly, upset me deeply. I would have never guessed that such a well known park known for its incredible sea life would ever dare to harm their animals. And as mentioned before, because of this

Have you ever gone and seen orcas( killer whales) at a park like sea world. Do you really know how they feel. Sure you might be happy, but are they? At sea world they have not been taken orcas from wild, but instead they have been over breeding the ones they have already have. That is a lot of over breeding and in which can hurt the orcas. Orcas should not be kept in captivity because they have shorter life spans, it gives them health problems, and when forced to live in captivity they become killing machines.

Although quite a few people like to blame the trainer’s injuries on the trainer, others would rather place the blame on the whales. The blame, is in fact, on the whales. However, these are occurrences that would not naturally happen if it were not for them being trapped in a tank for most of their life. An article supports this with the statement that, “[S]everal decades of observation show that orcas are not naturally violent towards humans. There are no recorded cases of a wild orca killing a human” (Hogenboom, 2016).

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.

Killer whales have been a staple for entertainment for decades and it has been attracting guests to various amusement parks throughout the world but theres a hidden world about these animals that not many people know about. Just like with any great business there are things that companies do not want you to know about their products, and things of that nature. Some would say it’s just good business to keep the negative aspects of their businesses out of the consumers eye, but I’d like to shed a little bit of light on one business in particular, SeaWorld. SeaWorld is known for their marine mammal shows like Orcas, Dolphins, and SeaLions. To the viewers eye the animals look well taken care of and happy and healthy. Unfortunately, that is just good business and if they were to reveal the truth behind the way they care for their biggest money makers, the Orcas, SeaWorld would no longer be known for their great entertainment shows. We understand why people love dolphins and why many want to see them close up, but putting whales and dolphins in tanks for our entertainment is wrong.

Since 1961 killer whales have been captured from the wild and taken into captivity. Orcas are exceedingly intelligent and affectionate. For instance, in their natural habitat orcas remain with their families their entire lives hunting and swimming hundreds of miles daily. Each pod of orcas has a different dialect and set of rituals while being immensely family-oriented. In captivity, these brilliant animals are forced into a concrete pool and coerced into performing circus acts. Once the pursue for killer whales began the smallest orcas were ripped away from their families by gruesome methods. These methods include pens, speedboats, nets, and explosives. The remaining family members would stay the entire time and once the huntsmen had the young orca loaded, they would follow the boat to the shore. The family would call out to the young orca through all of this, some of the orcas would not make the journey to shore. Therefore the huntsmen would cut the orcas open, fill them with rocks, tie weights to their fins and throw them back into the water. Ultimately, orcas do not belong in captivity, where they suffer tremendously from mental and physical health issues. For this reason, in this paper I will discuss the various ways orcas are maltreated.

Director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, in her documentary, Blackfish, exposes SeaWorld for the cruel capture and mistreatment of Orca whales in their amusement parks located around the world. Cowperthwaite’s purpose is to persuade and compel viewers to understand how cruelly the Orcas are being treated and how being kept in captivity can negatively affect Orcas whales. Cowperthwaite efficiently persuades her audience that abducting Orca whales from the wild and keeping the animals in captivity is not morally right by including pathos in vivid imagery and in building a somber mood.

The documentary “Blackfish” shows the horrifying reality of what it’s really like keeping animals in captivity. Things that I was impressed by in this movie was the fact that when SeaWorld was first opening they needed orcas for the park, and they would go to the Puget Sound, herd the mother whales and babies, then trap them in a net and take the baby orcas. This relates to the film’s position on whether orcas should be held in captivity because, they had interviewed a guy who had the job at the time to capture the orcas. In the beginning he explained how he was so excited to be doing that job, and that he thought he was doing something amazing, but by the end of the interview he explained how it was of the worst things he has ever done in his life. He described how the mother whales would cry and that some of the baby whales didn’t make it to the trip back.

At SeaWorld, it is common practice for the orcas to “rake” other orcas. Raking is when an orca forcefully scratches another orca with their teeth to establish dominance. When orcas are in the ocean, there are infinite opportunities for them to escape from another whale attacking them. But when they are in a tank, there isn’t anywhere for them to hide. A killer whale named Kandu V has even died because of the aggressive behavior. Kandu V accidentally missed the whale she was trying to establish dominance over and slammed into a wall, shattering her jaw. Since the tanks are so small, she unfortunately wasn’t able to avoid colliding with the wall, and Kandu bled to death in front of hundreds of

Holding animals such as killer whales in captivity goes against their natural functions entirely. The facilities humans build provide unnatural living habitats that don’t cater to the enormous size of the animal. They also separate families, something unnatural to how a killer whale lives in the wild. These factors lead the animals to sometimes show aggression against their trainers. Once we question Sea World’s role, it leads to broader implications about the role of humans in the environment. Just because we have the power to hold animals such as these captive, should we? It is vital that the human race learns not to overstep our roles in the natural environment. Even though we have the power, it doesn’t mean we should always use it.

Recently SeaWorld has come under a significant amount of scrutiny in regards to their orca whale program. Their whales have become increasingly aggressive over the years, hurting and even killing their trainers. SeaWorld and other facilities like it claim that they have these programs in order to conserve species and save them from extinction, but is the damage to the mental and physical well-being of these animals worth it? Orcas are considered highly intelligent and social animals. In this paper, I will discuss the problems associated with SeaWorld and why conservation programs are important in order to come to a compromise between freedom and captivity.