Monday, June 1, 2015

Facts About SeaWorld's Killer Whales | SeaWorld®





I've been seeing this commercial on TV lately. The SeaWorld corporation has made this commercial after the continuous backlash it has received in the recent years. I have a hard time personally understanding how these people working at SeaWorld with the animals on a daily basis can make these claims for the sake of a corporation at the animals' expense. I am absolutely not a fan of captivity. I used to love SeaWorld when I was younger and when I didn't understand what was really happening. But after reading facts of actual orca whales in the wild and seeing documentaries such as Blackfish and Lolita, I realized the impact of captivity on these highly intelligent animals. Seeing these people that work at SeaWorld make claims such as "our whales live as long as the whales that live in the wild" and that they "wouldn't work there if they didn't have the highest standard of animal care" is unnerving to watch. I'm not sure what everyone else's take is on captivity but I honestly find it unfair. It isn't right and it should not be justifiable. That's just my opinion.

2 comments:

  1. I find it quite ridiculous for these people to claim that they love these animals when there are so many glaring problems with how they treat them. The enclosure they live in is minute in area comparable to the entire oceans wild orca whales are meant to roam. Freedom is taken away, and things that they do in nature are available for them to do at SeaWorld. Things like hunting and migrating are not an option, and social interactions like mating and territorial disputes are drastically changed.
    My main problem with this situation is that SeaWorld views orcas a commodity rather than an equal. If the fore mentioned living conditions of orcas were the same in a setting where they were being studied and rehabilitated into the wild, then I would not have as many reservations towards it. This is because those orcas are viewed as something that needs to be saved and nourished, rather than holding monetary value.

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  2. Upon seeing this article, I was filled with the same disgust and discomfort as my peers. This unsettling commercial inspired me to do further research on the injustices committed to orcas held captive at Sea World. I came across an article (linked below) that addressed some facts that were very upsetting. I learned that in order for the Orcas to end up at Sea World they face an incredibly emotionally and physically traumatic journey. During the process of catching the Orcas from the ocean, many Orcas are killed as a result of emotional trauma or physical injury. Also, in order to hide from the public the sunburns the Orcas obtain from being in an unfit environment they put black zinc on the orcas skin.

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