The buzz over the controversy of orca treatment in the SeaWorld resorts has been ongoing for nearly a year now. After the documentary Blackfish was released in January of 2013, the public has had its eyes opened to the veiled operations occurring at the resorts.
Currently the state of California is trying to pass a bill prohibiting orcas in entertainment.
According to CNN.com, “The proposed law would end performance-based entertainment for all killer whales in California, captive breeding programs and the export and import of genetic material…and orcas within the state.”
CNN continued, saying all currently captive orcas would be released into sea pens and allowed to be on display but not for performance.
An NPR story reported SeaWorld dismissed the Blackfish documentary, describing it as a “shamefully dishonest, deliberately misleading and scientifically inaccurate.” However, after they released that comment, the company refused to say more. Since then, SeaWorld has extensively avoided engaging with Blackfish and its supporters directly.
According to news source U-T San Diego, SeaWorld has hired Pete Montgomery, formerly the director of government affairs for BP North America, to defend their case.
I realize many of you are probably among the skeptical side of things, which in some cases can prove to be a good thing. However, believing this whole Sea World scandal is just another way for “tree huggers” to get a foot in the door is somewhat misguided.
Between the years of 1967 and 2012, there have been 115 documented incidents of orca violence against trainers. Four of the incidents have received significant media coverage, specifically trainer Keltie Byrne of the Sealand in the Pacific (a SeaWorld-like theme park) in Canada in 1991, Civilian Daniel Dukes at the SeaWorld in Florida in 1999, trainer Alexis Martínez of the Loro Parque Tenerife in Spain in 2009 and the most recent, trainer Dawn Brancheau of the SeaWorld in Florida in 2010, recorded by orcahome.de.
That leaves 111 incidents of violence kept from the public and an average of three incidents of violence from orcas in captivity per year between 1967 and 2012. In the span of nineteen years, there were four reported deaths from orca whales in captivity. However, no human deaths have been recorded with wild orcas, according to www.marinebio.org. Some may view it as a coincidence; nevertheless, many others, including myself, believe there is a strong correlation between captive orca attacks on humans.
Following the infamous death of Brancheau, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) declared that “trainers’ interaction with orca whales presented a ‘recognized hazard.’”
The Journal of Law and Public Policy said, “A judge ruled in favor of OSHRC disallowing SeaWorld trainers to come into contact with the whales during a performance show without being protected by a physical barrier.”
It is hardly a stretch to deduce why the violence takes place. Imagine a school bus occupying the deep end of your town›s public swimming pool. The minimum tank depth at the SeaWorld resorts is a meager 12 feet deep. Wild orcas grow anywhere between 23-32 feet in length, the famed whale Tilikum boasts a monumental 22 feet long. As a human being, imagine living in a tunnel three feet tall and 15-17 feet long, not just by yourself, but with a randomly selected roommate.
According to dolphins-world.com, an orca’s brain is five times larger than a human’s.
“They are very social, intelligent, and curious… [orca] brains have been studied with microscopes and have been proven to be as structured and developed as the human brain,” the website says.
Dophins-World also states orcas are extremely vocal in communication with one another. However, each pod has a unique accent to make it easy to identify it’s members. Each group also may prey on different animals and use hunting technique distinct to solely their pod.
As many people view them as a mere exhibit in a theme park, these animals with a mental capacity equivalent to that of a human being are being stuffed into miniscule tanks with strangers and fed chum from a metal bucket. Please note: orcas are not scavengers in the wild.
With orcas being squeezed into pools far too small with other whale species they cannot directly communicate with, tensions are bound to arise. When interviewed by the National Geographic, former SeaWorld trainer Bridgette Pirtle agreed.
“If you have two animals in a 20-foot by 12-foot pool, if something social happens and an animal displaces the other, where are they going to go? These animals are extremely socially sensitive,” Pirtle said.
In the wild, orcas are known to “get space” to avoid a conflict within the pods. With hundreds of thousands of miles of ocean water to expel, social conflicts are usually few and far between.
“More space gives them a place to go if something goes wrong socially,” Pirtle said.
With high stress situations among other whales and cramped living quarters, captive orcas are driven to release strain by acting aggressively toward other whales and trainers, along with gnawing on concrete pool edges and damaging their teeth, to name just a few.
These issues are demonstrated physically by male orcas in captivity. The renowned curved dorsal fin in male orcas is anything but a trademark. In captivity the healthy connective tissues and muscle are weakened from lack of activity.
In an article by the Orca Project, experts say, “In the ocean, lateral, torsional, and compressive forces generated by moving water typically sculpt erect dorsal fins… In all likelihood, these collapsed dorsal fins are caused by increased hours of surface floating (or slow circle-swimming) and a removal of these natural forces. Collapsed fins are very rare in the wild.”
The age of death for orcas in captivity is substantially earlier than that of those who live in the wild. Life expectancy for orcas range in a similar fashion to that of a human being. Males in the wild ranges anywhere between 50-60 years, and up to 90 years for a female, according to Dolphin-World. This is an astounding contrast to the 30 year old expectation for orcas in captivity. If this is not an indicator of the detrimental nature of captivation, then what is?
Many people may pose the question of zoos operating similar systems. However, most zoos are instituted to preserve endangered species and to initiate breeding among dwindling breeds.
According to zoosociety.org, “Zoos work together to protect the growing number of endangered animal species. By continuously shifting the animal populations, they also help to preserve the genetic diversity of each species.”
Currently there are 54 orcas in captivity: 34 were born there, but 20 were captured from the wild, the most recent occurring in 2013. Unlike zoo animals – who are bred to increase the number vanishing species – orcas are primarily bred and captured for sole human entertainment.
According to killer-whale.org, orcas are not considered an endangered species. Their numbers are dwindling, however, and placing them in breeding programs does nothing for their species because of their low life expectancy in captivity.
After all the explanation above, the answer as to why violence has been stemming from orcas in captivity is simple. It is because they are in captivity. There is no justifiable reason for SeaWorld, among other establishments, to be housing orcas and to continue breeding them into the entertainment industry.
