You applaud at amazement at the tricks and huge splashes as it is being fed a small treat for its obedience and retrieves back to it's kiddy pool only to be squished with no opened space. An orca is held hostage in captivity for amusement with no guarantee of ever being freed back to the ocean and we are to blame for this. Is your 30 minutes of entertainment worth an orca's life?
Orcas belong in the wild. Period. Humanity sucks. I came across the documentary Blackfish after I saw the media wanting to boycott theme parks like SeaWorld to set the creatures free so I was intrigued right away. For those that have not seen the psychological film, *Spoiler Alert* shows the scary truth of negligence towards the orcas and ultimately the revenge with mankind. The film stretches a history of captivity with these mammals of 39 years following with the story of SeaWorld trainer, Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by the 12,000 lb orca, Tilikum.
To apply this to a spectrum:
A killer whale's life span is 30-60 years and for those in captivity it is an astonishing nine years.
Then there's the collapse dorsal fin. During the film, SeaWorld trainers claimed that this condition is common, however, in the wild it has not happened. The collapsed dorsal fin can be due to unlikely having any room to swim and/or an unhealthy diet.
Let's not get started with the tanks. I can't stress this enough but to a killer whale, they are living in a bathtub. There is not enough room.
"I think 12 feet [3.7 meters] is the minimum depth requirement [for the pools]. Tilikum [the whale featured in Blackfish that killed Dawn Brancheau] is 22 feet [6.7 meters] long. Kai was pushing 20 feet [6.1 meters]. They need more space." says former SeaWorld trainer, Bridgette Pirtle.
Orcas are social animals and have strong family bonds which make them work collaboratively as a team and swim in pods. In captivity, there hardly are none due to members constantly being departed and transferred to other marine parks. Since they are forced to live with other units, they may not speak the same language, causing anxiety and tension. Not to mention the poor dental and dietary they face.
"Captive orcas routinely show damaged dentition, primarily broken and worn teeth with the pulp exposed. This is in contrast to wild orcas: many show little or no tooth wear, while those who do tend to specialize in prey with abrasive morphology. Broken teeth in wild orcas are rare." says David Neiwert.
Now for my two cents; relatively speaking on Tilikum, it is already too late for him. Tilikum, if freed, won't be able to adapt let alone survive in the wild for he was taken at the age of two, there is no experience on hunting and no family for him to roam about with. Tilikum shows unnatural behavior. Not being able to have any interaction with others, Tilikum hardly ever moves in his pool and sometimes is captured motionless floating on the water.
This behavior is a sign of mental illness as some marine mammal scientist depict. Captive orcas are essentially couch potatoes which is inequivalent to those in the wild that are very active. I'm hoping that we have the opportunity to boycott SeaWorld and other marine parks that capture and destroy the lives of these beautiful creatures. Though it is essential to free them, many won't be able to adapt well in the wild, like Tilikum. Unfortunately, Tilikum is there to stay but will set a primarily example of the consequences of captivity and essentially the killings of trainers. We set this upon ourselves.
There has not been a report of a killer whale killing a human in the wild, they're actually friendly and curious :)
So the main concept of this blog entry is one: go see Blackfish if you haven't already. And two: do not encourage an orca's captivity by seeing them at any marine theme park.
I'm planning to see them but in the wild, I believe the view is a lot more better.
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