In February of 2010, a woman named Dawn Brancheau died while working as an animal trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. There has been a large amount of debate about the circumstances surrounding her death—some say she slipped and fell, while others say that she was dragged in by one of the orcas, Tilikum. The controversy over her tragic death brought this question to the surface: should parks like SeaWorld be closed down for safety reasons? While this argument has been going on for a long time, the death of Brancheau spurred a wave of debates about whether the park should be allowed to remain open. On one side, people believe the parks should be shut down and the animals should be released from captivity in an effort to protect the animals and the humans. On the other side of the argument, people believe the parks should be kept open because of the benefits they offer to the world in education and conservation. In light of SeaWorld’s recent transitions, I believe the park should remain open to the public. Opponents of SeaWorld claim that closing down the park is better for the animals and the people in terms of safety. However, …show more content…
Unless you live right next to the ocean, dolphin and whale sightings are extremely rare. Other animals, such as octopuses, tropical fish, and rays are barely ever seen in the wild. SeaWorld provides a unique experience by allowing us to watch these creatures along with many others and learn about them in an exciting way. For public schools, SeaWorld offers discounted tickets for field trips; the park provides ways for the guests to learn in an interactive way, which differs from a typical classroom setting, where children and adolescents struggle to sit still and listen to a lecture. If these parks were closed down, a valuable learning experience would be gone
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
It all began with good intentions. People thinking that they can control these animals and not expect any negative impacts. It was all due to wanting to explore and entertain with the animals. However, not all animals are meant to be taken from the wild to be show animals. After many years of unfair ways, SeaWorld is doing the right thing by closing down the whale exhibit even if it isn’t by choice because it is unhealthy for both the humans and animals involved.
I believe Seaworld should close down because the animals are kept in captivity, which is very harmful to all of these animals. Furthermore, at SeaWorld, the life expectancy of killer whales is 30-50 years, but the average death at SeaWorld is 13 years old. Also, these mammals are supposed to live with their pod their whole life, but at SeaWorld, they take baby whales from their pods and take them to be an animal for the orca show. Additionally, there have been at least 150 orcas taken captive, but 127 of these animals that got captured are now dead. Also, all captive male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, because they do not have enough room to move freely around in their cage, but SeaWorld claims this is a common condition in the wild, but it rarely happens in the wild. These whales are supposed to swim up to 100 miles a day, but to reach that goal they have to swim 1,208 laps each day
“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.
The fact that the animals in Seaworld are depressed and angered means that kids are going to see animals not only in an unnatural state. Unfortunately, they will also have the potential to see aggressive Orcas. Children are going to absolutely terrified by these animals when they are actually very calm. Peaceful animals. Plus, the facts that Seaworld gives their guests about all the animals are downright false! If we were going to compare Seaworld to anything, then I would compare it to a judge sentencing an innocent man to life in prison. Places like this truly show us that mankind is downright evil! Now, let's look back, what are our kids truly learning
When the park was created more than 50 years ago, SeaWorld was saving Orcas from being hunted ("A Vision for SeaWorld | SeaWorld Cares"). Now, with the love that society has created for Orcas, SeaWorld must change their policy and create a new atmosphere for the animals. The strategy from a PR angle was to use this new idea and vision as a stepping stone to a better relate to the generation of this time. SeaWorld also partnered with the Humane Society of the United States to help advocate for wildlife protection in their parks (Berlinger). These strategies are used to change the opinion of SeaWorld in the public eye from unethical to ethical, by creating and promoting safer environments for the
In conclusion, SeaWorld’s negligence to inform their employees resulted in dead orcas and dead people. Ways the nation can help cease this barbaric culture of watching animals in their sad aquariums is to legislate that imprisoning animals is wrong. The first step to do this is stop paying to see animals in zoos and aquariums. The next step is to write the country’s Congressmen and force them to make imprisoning animals for profit illegal—for Tilikum, other killer whales like him, and in memory of those like Dawn Brancheau. The last step would be to release all the healthy orcas back into the ocean, and the older whales can be released into a marine animal sanctuary where the orcas can live out their remaining days. Aquariums and zoos, like SeaWorld, should be shut down and have their animals released.
Although SeaWorld presents itself as a family establishment full of fun “educational” activities. However, these activities harm animals physically and emotionally.
"Hey mom!" "Yes, my dear?" "It's starting to look like that Orca wants to drown its trainer." "Oh no sweetie. It's just your imagination." But what if it's not?
I am sure almost all of you have either been to or heard of SeaWorld. Today I am going to tell you about what they do to their orcas that they are trying to hide. I chose this topic after watching a documentary called “Blackfish” that goes into the behind the scenes of how SeaWorld treats its animals. I have since done further research online to prepare for this presentation. This is an important topic because you should know what kind of company you are funding and behaviors you are endorsing when you go on your vacations to this destination. Today I am going to persuade you that SeaWorld is corrupt and maltreats its animals, specifically the orcas. First, I will talk about the specific way the orcas are treated and how it affects them
Throughout every human’s life in the United States, there will portably come a time when they take a trip to an aquarium or zoo. Do not get me wrong; it is incredible to see all those beautiful creatures up close and personal, but most people do not realize what actually is going on. Typically, when the day is spent at the zoo or aquarium, the day usually follows a schedule like this: You spend the day roaming the grounds, moving from habitat to habitat, break for lunch, and then once you’ve seen everything you want to see you return home and are free to do whatever you want to do. The harsh reality of these places is that while it is cool to spend the day there, you would never want to spend your entire life there. The animals are taken from
An orca, more commonly known as a killer whale, is currently one of the largest marine animals held in captivity. Countless arguments are being made, supporting and opposing captivity of orcas to be exploited as circus animals in theme parks around the world. Throughout recent history, Sea World trainers have been injured and killed by the orcas and the whales, and the whales themselves have been observed as severely depressed. If Sea World releases the whales, they would undergo an immense economic downfall and the whales would be too weak to survive in the wild if they were freed. Since the first Sea World park opened in San Diego, California in 1964, common questions have arose concerning the well-being of orcas in captivity, the dangers of humans training them, the physical capability of whales theoretically being released, and the psychological differences between whales living in the wild versus whales living in Sea World's confinement.
Millions of people come from across the world to visit Seaworld every day without thinking about the lives of the animals behind the scenes. Why would they have concerns? From Seaworld’s commercials to the website, they convince the general public that Seaworld is the place to go to see the happy sea animals perform. If Seaworld is such an ecstatic place, what excuse does Tilikum, their greatest well known orca whale, have for the three attacks on trainers? The documentary “Blackfish” was created by the director Gabriela Cowperthwaite because she questioned herself after realizing Tilikum's odd behavior over time in captivity, and if there was any indisputable parts to animal captivity?
The whale Tilicum who is responsible for multiple deaths of trainers is still in captivity and still performs in shows. He now has no life left in him and for hours will still sit in the same spot. This is no way to treat a living thing and in no way should wild animals like this be put into captivity. The bottom line is that these animals are living mammals and should not be put into situations where they are starved and kept in extremely small spaces to live out their lives. Companies like Sea World should no longer have whale shows and should release all of the whales that will be able to survive into the wild. Sea World would be able to survive without their whale show, and even though it is one of the biggest sources of revenue the park can make money in other endevures.
Most people think that zoos protect animals, but it can clearly be seen in the records provided by the Times that the zoos are doing the exact opposite of protecting animals. The American zoos, including the accredited ones, have led to the near demise of elephants. As if that alone isn’t enough to prove that zoos are cruel and unfair, there are many professionals and experts who gravely look down upon zoos too. Delcianna Winders, director with the PETA foundation, said “Renowned oceanographer Jean-Michel Cousteau reported that...