Carmen Smith
English 101
Begert
Each
year, more than 11 million people visit a SeaWorld Theme Park in the United
States (Barkham). SeaWorld provides its guests with an up close look at animals
not easily observable in the wild and dazzling performances featuring the
animals and their trainers. But, at what cost is this entertainment? As a
visitor in the park, it is easy to overlook the health of the animals when
SeaWorld puts its best face forward and you are in awe of the animals and their
tricks. However, we as a society must not support the captivity of orca whales
for the sake of our entertainment. Taking whales from the wild and keeping them
in captivity is detrimental to their physical and emotional health, leads to
aggression and abnormal behavior, which is dangerous not only for the whales, but
for the trainers as well.
Since 1961, at least 151 orca whales
have been captured from the wild and put into parks like SeaWorld. Of those 151,
127 are now dead. That is a nearly 85% mortality rate, and 162 total orcas have
died in captivity. Currently, there are 56 orcas in captivity; 24 captured from
the wild and the remaining 34 are captive born. The whales are spread out among
14 marine parks in eight different countries, with SeaWorld having 24 (WDC).
Orcas are highly intelligent and
social animals. In the wild, they live in tight, matrilineal pods, and even
when they reach sexual maturity, they chose to continue living with their
immediate families (Cronin). When a place like SeaWorld captures orcas, they
typically rip them away from their families at a young age, severing their
family bonds. Even if multiple family members are captured, they are normally
separated in captivity. Knowing that orcas are capable of making and
consistently do make these lifelong bonds, how can SeaWorld, or anyone for that
matter, say that the whales are not affected or harmed when the bonds are broken?
The orcas, already traumatized from being captured and taken away from their
families, are then forced into tiny pens with other newly captured whales and expected
to get along with them.
In the wild, the average lifespan of
orcas is between 30-50 years old, while males can live up to 60-70 and females
up to 80-90 years old. 92% of SeaWorld’s orcas do not make it to age 25, and
the average age at death is 13 years old (WDC). Although life span is a
complicated statistic to measure, and there are many factors involved, it is
clear that orca whales are living shorter lives in captivity than they are in
the wild. The question then becomes why. Why are whales living shorter lives in
captivity? It seems as though that in an environment with no predators, a
consistent food supply, and medical attention when needed, these whales should be
living longer and healthier lives than their wild counterparts. But, that is
not the case, and it is because captivity is detrimental to the health of the
whales.
In captivity, all male whales, and
most females have collapsed dorsal fins. The dorsal fin is the fin on the top of
their back that stabilizes them and assists in turning. SeaWorld claims that a
collapsed dorsal fin “isn’t an indicator of the animal’s health or well-being”
(Cronin). But, in the wild, it is extremely rare, and when a whale does have a
collapsed fin, it is typically a sign of poor health or an injury. In
captivity, whales spend most of their time swimming in shallow water in one
direction, causing the water pressure to weigh heavily on one side. Also, the
whales do not get the same amount of fluids and hydration from frozen fish as
they would get from live fish in the wild. These factors cause the dorsal fin
tissue to atrophy and for the fin to flop to one side.
A more serious health threat than
the collapsed dorsal fins is the poor oral health of captive orcas at SeaWorld.
This is more prominent in male whales; as they are stressed out and trying to
establish dominance by biting the steel gates that separate the whales, as well
as exhibiting threat behaviors, like barking and jaw popping. Out of boredom,
the whales also pick paint off the bottom of the pools or run their mouths
along the cages. These behaviors can result in cracked and broken teeth with
the pulp exposed. This condition rarely happens in the wild, as the whales are
not being moved from group to group, so there is less of a need to establish
dominance, and there is no boredom resulting from mundane life in a small cage.
At SeaWorld, to treat the broken teeth, a modified pulpotomy is performed.
Trainers drill holes into the teeth to remove the pulp and this is done with no
anesthesia. According to a former SeaWorld trainer, who prefers to remain
anonymous, “The whales are conditioned to ‘accept’ the noise, heat, vibration,
and obvious pain associated with drilling vertically through the tooth column
into the fleshy pulp below. Success is measured by blood spilling out of the
hole, in which case its apparent the bore is complete (The Orca Project). These
procedures leave the tooth, and the whale, susceptible to infection and
disease. Most of SeaWorld’s orcas have chronic dental problems, and whales
Kalina and Kenau died of Acute Bacterial Septicemia and Hemorrhagic Bacterial
Pneumonia, respectively, resulting from dental procedures. The poor dental
health of the whales is a direct result from captivity, and the inhumane
procedures used to remedy the problem only make matters worse by causing
infection, disease, and even death.
There is no record of an orca whale
killing a human in the wild. However, in captivity, there have been over 100
“aggressive acts” towards humans and four deaths (WDC). In particular, the
whale Tilikum, who has been involved in the deaths of three people, including
the violent drowning of his trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 at SeaWorld Orlando
that was heavily featured in CNN’s 2013 documentary Blackfish. Former SeaWorld Orlando employee Samantha Berg said of
Tilikum, “He reacts out of frustration and boredom after being cooped up since
he was two years old”. SeaWorld alone, since 1965, has had 95 aggressive
incidents with whales, ranging from a trainer just being pushed around to a trainer
being killed (Cronin). The whales are also aggressive to each other, due to
tensions and anxiety from living so close together. Although fights do happen
in the wild, the whales have room to flee, in captivity; they do not, which
results in serious injuries and death. Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld’s curator of
zoological operations stated, “We don’t put any animal in any stressful
situation” (Worrall). Just being in captivity is a stressful situation for an
orca, let alone having to live in close quarters with stranger orcas and being
forced to perform.
SeaWorld’s main claim to justify the
captivity of orcas is that it provides an opportunity for research, stating,
“We create a controlled setting for science that is impossible to replicate in
the wild” (Raja). However, SeaWorld affiliated researchers have published very
few studies. There have only been 48 studies published in the last 40 years,
and just seven since 2010, despite the researchers having 24/7 access to the
whales (Raja). Their production of studies does not support their claim that
they provide this rare opportunity for research.
According to former SeaWorld trainer
John Hargrove, the discussion about orcas in captivity is “part of a larger
debate on the ethics of humankind’s relationship with other inhabitants of this
planet” (Worrall). Reducing orcas to objects for human entertainment and
subjecting them to conditions that are bad for their physical and emotional
health is a tragedy and should not be tolerated, let alone supported.
Works Cited
Barkham, Patrick.
"Blackfish, SeaWorld and the Backlash against Killer Whale Theme Park
Shows." The Guardian. N.p., 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
Cronin, Aisling Maria.
"Killer Whales Don't Belong In Captivity." One Green Planet.
N.p., 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
Raja, Tasneem.
"SeaWorld Says It Has To Keep Orcas In Captivity To Save Them." Mother
Jones. N.p., Nov. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
"The Fate of Captive
Orcas." WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation. N.p., n.d. Web. 29
Nov. 2015.
"The Hidden Cost Of
Captivity." The Orca Project. N.p., 25 Sept. 2010. Web. 29 Nov.
2015.
Worrall, Simon.
"Former Trainer Slams SeaWorld for Cruel Treatment of Orcas." National
Geographic. National Geographic Society, 29 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
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