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Autumn Amick Ms. Russell Advanced Compostion 19 March 2014 The Truth Behind SeaWorld On March 21, 1964, four UCLA students’ dream came to life when their marine park, SeaWorld, opened in San Diego, California. Once the park’s popularity increased, the SeaWorld brand began to expand their locations and their sea life, thus introducing killer whales to the park. Since the park opening in 1964, SeaWorld has become one of the largest visited theme parks in the United States and is loved by children and adults alike. However, SeaWorld has been under speculation since a recent killer whale attack and the release of the documentary film, ‘Blackfish’ causing SeaWorld to suffer from the accusations. In 2013, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s documentary, ‘Blackfish’ was presented at the Sundance Film Festival. The film featured a SeaWorld killer whale, Tilikium, and his involvement in three deaths that were claimed to be “accidents.” Former SeaWorld trainers were interviewed in the film and shared their recollection of events and how little was told to them by the parks. The film received most of its attention when the CNN network introduced the documentary. SeaWorld responded to the film by stating that the film was “inaccurate and misleading.” Tilikium has been in captivity since 1983, when he was captured outside of Iceland. Since then, Tilikium has experienced harsh conditions during transportation to and from parks and during his time at Sealand Canada. After Tilikium’s first attack, Sealand shut down and put Tilikium up for sale. SeaWorld found Tilikium’s large size, 12,000 lb, appealing and purchased him with the intent to use him in their breeding program. Tilikium’s weight also allowed him to be used for the “big splash” portion of ... ... middle of paper ... ...le Attack at SeaWorld: How It Happened.” Time U.S. 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 5 March 2014. Kirby, David. Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2012. Print. Kuo, Vivian. "Orca trainer saw best of Keiko, worst of Tilikum." CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2014. . MacDonald, Elizabeth . "SeaWorld of Problems." Fox Business. N.p., 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2014. . “SeaWorld defends itself against whale abuse charges.” Fox 5 San Diego.N.P. 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 07 March 2014.
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
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
Blackfish is a documentary based on the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that has taken the lives of several people whilst in captivity. This documentary underscores problems within the multi-billion sea-park industry, describes man's relationship to nature, and how little has been learned about these highly intelligent mammals.
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 number of killer whales are caught and brought to different aquatic parks where the viewer gets a behind-the-scenes look at what happens to these animals and their families upon imprisonment.
I believe that killer whales held hostage, should be retired and allowed to live freely because of the unnatural punishment and torture that Seaworld is putting them through. There has been 151 cases of aggression between Orcas and their trainers. Also 100% of male Orcas in captivity have a collapsed fin compared to the 0.01% in the wild. In fact, every single mother within captivity has had its calf taken away around age 2. This isn't going to stop without your help. So, here are some more facts to convince you to SAS ( strike against Seaworld. )
"8 Reasons Orcas Don't Belong at SeaWorld." SeaWorld Of Hurt: Where Happiness Tanks. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. .
SeaWorld San Diego opened in March 21, 1964. This was the first SeaWorld park to be established. There three parks all together the other two being SeaWorld San Antonio, and SeaWorld Orlando (Ask Shamu). The profitable park was founded by George Millay, Milt Shedd, Ken Norris, and David DeMott, four UCLA fraternity brothers. The park was originally planned to be an underwater restaurant but the concept grew into the idea of a marine park sitting on 21 acres along the shore of Missions Bay in San Diego (History). The park started out with 45 employees, several dolphins, sea lions, and a couple aquariums. Now that Anheuser-Busch owns the park new attractions were added including several thrill rides and its Shamu stadium (History of SeaWorld).
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.
When I was six years old, my parents took me to SeaWorld for the first time. I remember clearly watching the Shamu show and sitting in the splash zone ending up soaked in water by the end. But I also distinctly remember wondering how an animal so big and beautiful could ever be happy in such a small tank, so far away from home. The animals could never possibly experience the joy they would out in the wild where they belonged. And even a six year old wasn’t blind to that fact.
“… 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 captivity. Killer whales have no record of ever harming a human being in the wild. In captivity, there have been many incidents of killer whales harming or even killing their trainers. What would cause them to do this in captivity, but not in the wild? They have been known to resort to aggression toward themselves and each other, in what scientist believe to be a stress induced behavior. (Animal Legal and Historical Center, 2014) Evidence against having these wild animals in captivity is increasing and we need reevaluate the value of capturing and holding killer whales for our educational purposes, enjoyment, and profit.
These killer whales are massive creatures living in these cramped pools not doing what they want to do when they want to do it. Mr. Jett and Mr. Ventre also said “...Typically spending their entire lives within tight family groupings, orcas captured from the wild, have been traumatically extracted from the security, comfort and mentoring which these groupings provide. Captured animals are confined to small, acoustically-dead, concrete enclosures where they must live in extremely close proximity to other whales with which they often share no ancestral, cultural or communication similarities.” Seaworld ends up throwing these animals in random groups of whales that are not their families, having whales that have never been outside of the concrete wall, to whales that all they know is the wild. The Documentary Blackfish states that one of the killer whale
Thesis Statement: Closing SeaWorld’s doors would be unjust, however; SeaWorld can repair its image by providing excellent care for its current residents and by shifting the business model from entertainment to rescue, rehabilitate and release at all locations.
This argument about Orca whales is very important. The abuse that these animals go through is unbelievable and uncalled for. They face starvation, dorsal fin damage, and withdrawals from not seeing their family if they were taken from the wild. Orca whales love to play but it is hard when they are being abused. Whales in the wild have dorsal fins that stand straight up (Killer Whales Don’t Belong In Captivity). The whales at any marine park have dorsal fins that
“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
"SHARK - Investigations and Campaigns Against Animal Abuse." SHARK - Investigations and Campaigns Against Animal Abuse. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.