The Importance Of Killer Whales In Captivity

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.

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

Killer whales captivity is a major issue because they could become sick or injured there. According to Blackfish, orca whales in captivity tend to become hyper aggressive towards new whales. This results in whale on whale incidents where the whales can get severely injured, or can even die. Some examples of these incidents, as The Dodo has said, are a male whale named Nakai had his chin torn off in a fight. Additionally, a female whale named Kandu broke her own jaw and cut her artery in a fight, eventually bleeding to death. Her calf was circling around her during the event. In addition, the Huffington Post states, “animals may suffer from captivity related stresses that lower their resistance and make them more susceptible to disease, making lifespans in captivity significantly lower than in the wild.” To add on, The Dodo states,”One big issue was the terrible state of the orcas' teeth. Captive orcas are already at risk for dental trauma - bored and stressed, they often begin gnawing on the edges of their tanks.” They also state that these occurrences in the wild are very rare. Also, whales like Tilikum got a lung infection due to bacterial pneumonia, which is the most common reason why captive whales and dolphins die (according to Wikipedia). Tilikum had also died due to the disease. This indicates that whale captivity leads to many incidents and diseases that the whales would not have faced in the wild. All these problems are caused due to them being captive.

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 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

In an article by Paul Koene he talks about there being three categories that inspector’s base animal welfare off of these categories include health, body, and functioning of the animal including their feelings, natural history, and their ability to use their natural instinct (Koene). Based off of these categories the welfare of the killer whales at SeaWorld is terrible. A lot of the time SeaWorld gets reports that the whales are floating lifeless in the water, they are not really provided the opportunity to use their natural instincts, and are extremely restricted on what they can and cannot do. Based off of this information the only humane way to keep a killer whale is let it live in the wild like they are built

“… building a tank the size of Rhode Island wouldn’t be large enough for a six-ton male killer whale such as Tilikum, an animal capable of swimming 100 miles a day,” states an anonymous whale expert. Whales have been in captivity since 1861 when P.T. Barnum displayed the first live whale that was captured in Canada. However, Barnum had no idea how to care for the mammal and it died after only a week in captivity. (Animal Legal and Historical Center, 2014) Being up close with killer whales could give us some clues about how they interact with each other, including physical behavior, their dialect, and how their pods work together as a family unit. However, what we are finding is that whales who belong in the wild are suffering in

Since 1961, Killer whales have been held captive in a tank for entertainment. Helpless whales get captured from their families and get forced to live in artificial social groupings. At least 56 orcas have been captured and are currently held in captive. 23 of them were captured from the wild, and 33 were captive born. At least 163 orcas have died in captivity, not including the 30 miscarriages held in captivity. As you can tell, killer whales have a great negative impact when their in captive.

For years the killer whale, also known as Orcinus orca, has been drawing the attention of the public through the entertainment industry. These marine mammals have been bringing in billions of dollars to amusement parks such as Sea World, but at what cost? An idea that these killer whales can live happily and content while in captivity may be going through the minds of the public, but this cannot be further away from the truth. To have such complex creatures in captivity is not morally correct and there are many points against it, such as their level of emotional competence, violence between the killer whales, violence of killer of whales towards trainers, shorter lifespans, physical harm, and their level of intelligence. After taking a look at how these creatures function and the conditions they are put in while in captivity, there is no question about whether or not these mammals should be kept in captivity; an experience such as this affects these marine mammals just about the same as it would affect a human because of their high highly developed emotions and complexity. Since these industries do not have a natural authority over these creatures no matter the cause, the best thing they could do for these killer whales is to stop capturing them and return those who are capable back to the wild.

Killer Whales that live in SeaWorld are unhealthy to the ones compared in the wild. In the documentary Blackfish they went to SeaWorld to ask about the lifespan of a whale. They workers at SeaWorld responded saying they live from 20-30 years and that in SeaWorld they live more (Cowperthwaite). Killer whales life span is like a humans were males will live from 60 to 70 years and females live from 80 to 100. Killer whales that are kept in captivity are cutting their

For over many years orcas have been held in captivity. This has been a major dilemma because animal abuse is present while capturing killer whales. Many people wonder why they capture orcas, here is why, they are used for entertainment at SeaWorld. Some of the dangers that come with whale captivity are orcas taxing their physical health, drives the killer whale’s crazy which can lead to injuries and even death for a SeaWorld trainer.

All of the deaths were said to have been either “trainer error” or “trespassing, supporting that the whales are not aggressive. SeaWorld and Sealand want these whales to come off as cuddly and safe, like teddy bears. SeaWorld would not release the correct information

At least 164 Orcas, Killer whales, have died in captivity all of them being premature deaths. Orcas should not have to suffer in captivity and should be left alone and stay in the wild. All Orcas in captivity will die at half there age. They must live in tiny tanks equaling to us living in a bathtub. They are captured from the wild when they are young and are taken from their family and then forced to interact with other whales from different whale pods which also speak a different language then them.

SeaWorld doesn’t have the whales best interest at heart and doesn’t deserve to continue to operate. These whales are psychologically disturbed and SeaWorld knows how they are treating them is completely wrong. During one of the tours they said “ Whales live up to 25 years in the wild but they tend to live longer in our park”(Cowperthwaite). This is scientifically wrong Orca’s live the normal life span of a human being, sometimes even longer. If SeaWorld is making millions of dollars off of these animals you would think they would at least tell the public the correct information. One of the former trainers has said “Young orcas have so much energy and curiosity—I could

Do you think Seaworld treats the majestic Killer Whale right? In the documentary entitled “Blackfish’’ we learn about what happens behind the fun and exciting shows. This film was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, and the release date of the documentary is July, 19th 2013. The purpose of this film is to persuade us that while being kept at Seaworld, and even being captured to go there, the Killer Whales were mistreated. The animals still put on amazing shows for an audience, but the way they were caught and trained needed to be a lot more reasonable.