Wild Vs Captivity Summary

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite in the documentary, Blackfish (2013), argues that captivity triggers aggression in killer whales. Cowperthwaite supports her argument by demonstrating shocking footage and emotional interviews to present a convincing case against keeping these animals in captivity and for human entertainment. The author’s purpose is to show the problems that are caused by captivity in order to aware the audience that keeping killer whales in captivity affects their behavior mentally and physically. The author writes in resentful tone to Sea World, the people who visited Sea World, and those who were present during the killer whale incident. Gabriela Cowperthwaite argues that keeping killer whales in captivity at SeaWorld affects their mentality due to how they are being treated. She makes this argument by applying pathos, ethos, and logos.

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.

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.

For thousands of years orcas, or killer whales, roamed the oceans in peace. Untouched by human hands until the freedom of some had to come to an end. The SeaWorld corporation captured multiple wild orcas until they were banned from almost every body of water. Since then, they have bred and shipped orcas between each of their parks around the world. However, this act did not go unnoticed. Animal rights activists have expressed their feelings on the inhumane living conditions of these majestic creatures and they have not and will not back down. Without hesitation, the SeaWorld corporation made many claims as to how their animals in captivity live more fulfilling lives

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.

As a young child there has been so many commercials about how SeaWorld is such an amazing place for marine life animals, yet what we do not know is that most of these animals have been held in captivity against their will. Just think about it, these animals’ are made to perform day in and day out for a huge crowd, yet we do not stop and think about what it would be like if we ourselves were held in captivity. Although awareness needs to be brought to this issue, it can make this situation a touchy subject. However, awareness does need to be brought to attention of people who support these amusement parks. The life of orca whales held in captivity are dangerous and have suffered a great amount of distress.

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.

When you are the one seeing the whale perform tricks its fun to watch but when the whale doesn't do the trick right it's punished. According to Blackfish when a whale did not perform a trick like the trainers wanted they would not be fed (Cowperthwaite). The opposition may also believe that keeping them in captivity also helps to learn about the whales but they are wrong because we've learned worse things about the whales than good. In the documentary Blackfish when a baby whale was taken from the mom the whale made sounds no one else heard before. These sounds were caused by SeaWorld taking away its child. Marine biologist have also found out that the bent dorsal Finn means its unhealthy (Cowperthwaite). Keeping whales in captivity has told us many things but none are

Whales in captivity are accessible to safer standards and care. SeaWorld trainers are well trained and are fit to help killer whales stay in shape. As told by Sea World, “The killer whales in our facilities benefit whales in the wild. We provide scientific research and data that would be difficult or impossible to get in the wild (Killer Whales). “SeaWorld provides “positive reinforcement training techniques and compassionate care with all of the animals (SeaWorld Cares)”. Sea World remains and world’s most respected marine zoological institution.

This causes aggression and mental, emotional, and physical stress that leads to a poor immune system, making them prone to disease. Even though captive whales are kept in an environment without pollution and predators, they die young. For infant whales in captivity, the death rate is much higher, which isn’t fair. Aggression is also a matter of grave concern. Some examples of actions whales in captivity have expressed towards their trainer are, butting, biting, grabbing, ducking, and even holding trainers at the bottom of the pool and preventing their escape

In recent years, animals in captive environments such as zoos and theme parks have grown more controversial. The literature I have reviewed focuses on a particular group of animals in captivity, cetaceans. Cetaceans include whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The literature includes a range of themes, from their unique level of intelligence to why they may mentally and physically suffer in captive environments. However, it all connects to how and why these animals live and behave differently in captive environments than their wild counterparts.

There are many reasons why the killer whales are declining in health while being in captivity at SeaWorld. For example, a sign of an unhealthy whale are the dorsal fins collapsing over on the side. All male whales in captivity have flipped dorsal fins unlike in the wild where there are very limited whales with this condition. Also the whales are living smaller lives in captivity then they do in the wild. SeaWorld whales are living up to the age 25, when the average whale in the wild lives up to 40. The health in the whales isn’t the only problem at SeaWorld.

Do you think that animals should be kept in captivity there whole life's. When people put animals in zoos or captivity that keeps the animal safe. Although keeping animals in captivity is bad because they don’t get to be themselves, they should keep animals in zoos or captivity because it helps them not go extinct, it brings happiness to families that go the zoo, and zoos bring in enough money to build better animal enclosures.

The zoo is packed with children, running everywhere. They laugh and smile as they watch the animals at the zoo sleep. What these children do not realize is that these animals are dying on the inside. Animals that live at the zoo are extremely depressed. These animals can suffer severe psychological disorders from being out of their natural environment. But others argue that keeping these animals in captivity will help keep endangered species alive. However, the disadvantages of keeping animals in captivity are becoming more and more serious, and more people are beginning to believe that animals should not be held captive. Animals should not be kept in captivity because of the negative impact it can have

Animals live differently in different ecosystems. Many live more comfortable in some areas than others and vise versa. Every location has its ups and downs when it comes to how it lives and adapts. Lions are a species that can relate to that, when it comes to living in the wild and living in captivity. Something that separates wild vs. captivity is the lion’s food, health, and living environment.