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Killer whales at sea world
the cons and pros of seaworld
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“You hear her just scream out, ‘somebody help me!’ It was such a bloodcurdling scream. She knew she was going to die,” commented John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld trainer. There has been 21 attacks on humans by killer whales in the last 10 years. SeaWorld was associated with 12 of them. In 2013 SeaWorld was worth $2.5 billion, they would do anything to protect their business. They target adults and teenagers; or anyone who can pay. The purpose of the Blackfish documentary was made to inform people how wrong it is what SeaWorld is doing. Animals in captivity do not live as long and depending on the animal there is more complications. Seaworld is an unacceptable place to live, for orcas and any other animal. They do not have animals’ best interests in mind. Jane Velez-MItchell says, “If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don’t you think you would get a little irritated, maybe a little psychotic?” Orcas are usually about 23 to 32 ft long, at night they are stored in a 20x30 foot steel box. The pools are the size of a bathtub for a killer whale. The captive Orcas are constantly in small spaces. Orcas are so beautiful, the viewer can see why people would want to go to SeaWorld. However, supporting SeaWorld means you support what is happening to the Orcas there. Statistics and stocks …show more content…
Every adult male at SeaWorld has a collapsed dorsal fin. Obviously, that is unhealthy. Dorsal fins help stabilize the animal. Orcas are supposed to swim up to 100 miles a day, and it’s not very likely they could do that at SeaWorld in a pool that’s like a bathtub. This is a cause of collapsed dorsal fin. SeaWorld lies about the collapsed dorsal fins and says they are normal. Seaworld has a list of excuses for collapsed dorsal fins, but the excuses would happen in the ocean as well and it’s very rare in the ocean. Orcas do not need their dorsal fin to live, but this shows that SeaWorld is not good for these
John Crowe, one of the hunters, is interviewed and tells the story of “the worst thing he’s ever done”. He appeals to the appalled emotions of the audience by admitting to the inhumane way they captured the baby whales. He uses an analogy when discussing the capturing, claiming it was like “kidnapping a kid from its mother”, which pulls at the heartstrings of any parent watching the film, establishing a sense of relatability. The film uses juxtaposition by examining how Crowe, a tough looking man, can be brought to tears by this horrific act. Blackfish then moves to discussing the reason behind Tilikum’s outburst by running a montage of news reports ambushing SeaWorld on the inhumane treatment of whales. The use of the rhetorical question “If you were in a bathtub for 25 years don’t you think you’d get a little irritated, aggravated, maybe a little psychotic?”, grabs the audience’s attention by creating a scenario they can understand. These events create an accusing tone that convinces the audience that SeaWorld is the antagonist of the film. Along with accusations from reporters, SeaWorld has fought many lawsuits against OSHA- the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, due to the way SeaWorld treats their animals. A court hearing is held regarding Tilikum’s behaviour due to pulled video footage of Tilikum lunging towards one of the trainers
Since whales are normally peaceful in the wild and they only seem to attack while in captivity, the argument is that captivity is wrong and dangerous for killer whales. This argument is supported by detailed facts about how the whales are tortured and agitated by other whales with no outlet. Both female and male whales are confined to a swimming pool where they are in a way being forced to try and mate. The female whales tend to abuse the male whales, which leads the whales to become mentally and physically unhealthy resulting in attacks on trainer. In the interviews with Corinne Cowell and Nadine Kallen, they mentioned that when they visited Sealand of the Pacific that three whales were confined to a “dingy pool”. Another appeal to pathos is when a neurologist that has studied killer whales mentions how the animals are very intelligent and are well-aware of what is going on around them. (SeaWorld) Killer whales have similar brains to humans, but have a bigger part of their brain where emotions are processed. With this, whales are more aware of their emotions and the bonds they make with humans and other animals. (SeaWorld) With the huge amount of raw footage, first-hand accounts, and true information, the film is able to grasp the attention of the viewers with the amount of emotion that is shown from the former trainers and the whales themselves. With these tactics, the film effectively appeals to the
The captivity of large, wild animals is accepted for theme parks all around the world. Tickets are sold for people to come and watch these animals live and even preform in an exhibit that almost resembles their natural environment. It is impossible for parks and zoos that use animals as attractions to provide the same resources and space they would have in the habitat they are usually found in. They can, however, help injured or ill animals that cannot survive in the wild. This is where I believe they should draw the line for keeping animals in captivity. SeaWorld has gotten a lot of attention in the last few years, especially since the Netflix documentary, Blackfish, was released. This film targets the company for the mistreatment of their orca whales. In particular, it told the story of one named Tilikum and shows the problems he and the other orca whales face while living under the care of SeaWorld. Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the director
A reason why SeaWorld shouldn’t keep the orca exhibit is due to the amount of space that the animal is given while in captivity is not nearly the amount it should have. In SeaWorld the whales don’t have very much room to move around, so the tanks aren’t deep enough for them to dive down. SeaWorld’s tanks are 40 feet deep, 180 feet long, and 90 feet wide (“Hammond 203”). The whales need deeper tanks because they can’t get deep enough to shield themselves from the harsh rays of the sun. In order for them to hide this from the public they apply black zinc oxide: this acts as a sunscreen for the animal but
SeaWorld’s biggest pool is forty feet deep, may seem large to us, but not when you’re a twenty foot whale that is used to swimming hundreds of miles a day. Keeping Orcas in captivity is not in any way healthy for their
SeaWorld is best known for premature deaths for orcas. From the article “8 Reasons Orcas Don’t Belong at SeaWorld” states “Orcas in the wild have an average life expectancy of 30 to 50 years—their estimated maximum lifespan is 60 to 70 years for males and 80 to over 100 for females. The average age of death for orcas who have died at SeaWorld is 13 years old.” Furthermore, these mammals are irreplace, and when their life expectancy goes down
The film focuses on one orca, commonly referred to as a killer whale, in particular by the name of Tilikum. The documentary begins as a group of contract fishermen hunt a family of killer whales off the coast of Iceland. The hunters are attempting to capture the whales so that they can be put on display for entertainment purposes at various aquatic parks around the world. They succeed in catching Tilikum, a large male orca, along with two other females, and almost immediately, an important question is raised in the viewer’s mind: What gives humanity the right to incarcerate and separate these animals from their natural environment and their families? As the documentary progresses, Tilikum begins to exhibit frustration and aggressive behavior at the amusement park due to the fact that he is being kept in a small underwater storage container when not on display. Eventually, this treatment leads Tilikum to kill his trainer by dragging her to the bottom of the performance tank and forcing her to drown. At this point, another question is presented: Is Tilikum’s aggressive behavior a product of nature, and the nature of orcas as a species, or is it due to his coerced captivity? Over the course of the documentary, a...
“Blackfish” has had people thinking about the tragic events happening at SeaWorld and the reasons behind it. SeaWorld tried to cover up the deaths of trainers but, there are always people that find out the truth. The trainers who
For 50 years SeaWorld has entertained park guests with numerous stunts involving the majestic sea creature, the orca, also referred to as the killer whale, and their human trainers. What the on-lookers don’t see at these shows is what goes on behind the scenes: how the whales got there in the first place, and the conditions in which they are housed.
SeaWorld a leader in the captivity and use of killer whales for entertainment has counterattacked the points made by the documentary Blackfish, which brought many points to light. For example, SeaWorld asserts “that while research suggests that some wild killer whales can live as long as 60 to 70 years, their average lifespan is nowhere near that,” (source). In the wild, average lifespan is 30 for males, 50 for females, and can live up to be 80-90 years old. In captivity, in such environments as those at SeaWorld, most orcas die in their teens or 20s and only a handful survive past 25. The annual mortality or death rate for orcas is 2.5 times higher ...
Not to mention but here’s something that really caught my attention. Did you know that in captivity, Orcas live shorter lives? Orcas in the wild are expected to live for about 30-50 years. 60-70 years for males and 80-100 years for females. At Seaworld, most Orcas only live for about 13
Out of the 156 whales they have taken into captivity from the wild, 129 are dead. Including orcas bred within SeaWorld, at least 165 have died in their facilities (Schelling). Another falsehood SeaWorld claims is that collapsed dorsal fins are completely normal and common of all male orcas. It is actually quite rare to find in the wild, while every single one of their male whales has a collapsed dorsal fin (“8 Shocking Facts…”). SeaWorld also guarantees that they never separate a calf from its mother and even have posted a picture of a baby and its mother as proof. What they didn’t tell the public was that soon after that picture was posted they shipped the calf off to Spain alone to a different park. A past trainer even said that there had been at least 19 separations of mother and calf that he knew of at his location. All of these factors previously stated added up have a large influence on the whales mentally. Many whales are afflicted by psychosis and anxiety and in turn are given drugs such as Valium to keep them performing in shows. There have been various occasions, often swept under the rug by SeaWorld and away from the public eye, where the drugs didn’t work enough (Schelling). There
There they have the freedom they were destined to have instead of being locked up. The documentary, “Blackfish”, discusses the controversy over having orcas in captivity and the fatal encounters SeaWorld trainers have while interacting with orcas. It states, “Whale-on-whale aggression was just a part of your-- you know daily existence...In the wild, whether they have got thousands of square miles to exit the scene… you don't have that in captivity,” says John Jett PhD. This is significant to my argument because orcas are wild animals, therefore they are not designed to be held active in small, concrete tanks.
Despite the orcas being trained in captivity, they are still wild animals and have the potential to be unpredictable in their personal behavior and actions. For example, during February, 2010, one of Sea World Orlando, Florida's most experienced and valued trainers, Dawn Brancheau, was attacked and killed by the park's largest orca that she had a close relationship with. The whale "grabbed her hair pulled her into the pool and brutally killed her." (Court). In addition, there have been records deaths of Sea World trainers in 1999 and 2006, both resulting from the whales' playful and social attitudes and lack of sense the fragile nature of a person and size difference between themselves and the humans.
If you have ever been to Sea World, you may have noticed the orcas’ collapsed dorsal fins. The trainers will tell you that this is normal. While it’s true that all captive adult male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, in the wild, less than five percent of adult males have this condition. It is caused by their unnatural environment and is the sign of poor health (Rose). In the wild, orcas dive to depths of nearly 200 feet; however, their deepest tank at Sea World is only 40 feet deep. Spending so much time near the water’s surface causes the orcas to have constant sunburn (8 Reasons). Incompatibility among captive orcas leads to bullying and aggressive behavior. Aggressive orcas are known to “rake” their teeth down the side of other orcas causing open wounds. Captive females have been known to act aggressively or even reject their newborns. This behavior is not common in the wild. It may be caused by poor psychological development due to unnatural social grouping