The Dangerous Effects of Captivity on Orca Whales
From 1994-2010, SeaWorld Orca Whale Trainer, Dawn Brancheau went to work every day loving her profession. She swam with 8,000-12,000 pound whales every day. She was SeaWorld’s best trainer, always looking for ways to enhance her performances and interactions with the whales. However, on February 4th2010 Dawn’s life was ended by the aggression of a whale. Upon reviewing a tape of the show, it becomes clear that many mistakes were made by the whale, demonstrated by his failure to complete certain commands. Despite these mistakes, the performance was not stopped. As the live show continued, the 12,500 pound male whale named Tilikum went over to the edge of the pool and grabbed Dawn’s ponytail. He dragged her into the pool and violently killed her (Blackfish). At first glance, one might assume the fault of Dawn’s death to be on the whale, but upon closer examination it becomes clear that Dawn’s death had more to do with the internal corruption in SeaWorld and their treatment of whales. SeaWorld and other similar organizations around the world make millions of dollars by exploiting Orca Whales. The Orca Whales in captivity are not given theproper space, nutrition, and social interaction in order for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle, leading them to develop aggressive tendencies against trainers and other whales; therefore, it is imperative that captive breeding is stopped and that trainers are no longer allowed in the water with whales during performances.
Orca Whales are extremely social and intelligent animals and are shown to be very similar to humans in this way. They travel in pods or family groups that number from 30-100 whales. Orcas have strong family ties and stay with their mother their entire lives. Each pod has its own dialect or language. These whales are born to be social and stay with their families their whole lives, but in order for these organizations to acquire these whales they had to capture the babies from the wild. Hunters would go out and trap entire pods then kidnap the calves. The Orca’s family ties are essential to their lives. In fact, a calf isn’t usually just raised by its mother, rather it is raised by the entire pod. These animals have an emotional part to their brain, this sets them apart from many other species. The stress they face in captivity is detrimental to their health. Many male whales at SeaWorld have a flopped over dorsal fin, which is extremely abnormal for Orcas in the wild, according to the documentary Blackfish. The flopped over dorsal fin means that these whales have faced traumatic experiences and are stressed. Captive Orcas are mistreated and don’t have control over their situation, leading to them expressing violence against other Orcas and humans.
SeaWorld amusement parks around the country have whales participate in around 5 shows a day. When they are not staging themselves for a crowd, the whales are placed in human pool-sized holding tanks. Tracy Staedter is an advocate for Orcas and wants to tackle SeaWorld’s corruption and rid whales of the captive lifestyle. In an enlightening article written by Staedter she argues, “Captive Killer Whales held in concrete tanks about 1/10,000th of 1 percent the size of their natural habitat and mothers give birth without their crucial social network — situations that can cause low levels of stress and make them susceptible to disease” (Staedter). She expresses concern for these captive whales and their lack of proper space. Also, she states that they are ripped from their natural family environment then placed in tanks where they are bored and have no stimulation, which adds to low levels of stress. Staedter continues to explain certain events that have occurred within SeaWorld that contribute to the diseases many of the whales develop. It is rare if you ever see two whales of the same pod together in captivity. Even if a whale has a calf, SeaWorld will usually sell the calf because the baby isn’t as cooperative and may mess up shows. All these acts increase the toxic environment the whales live in, and it take a toll on their physical and mental health.
Not only are whales living in poor conditions and dying due to disease, their overall lifespan is shortened in captivity. It is shown that whales in captivity tend to live half the lifespan of those living in the wild, though SeaWorld lies and states the opposite. Orca advocate Hilary Wiseacknowledges the poor treatment of animals in captivity. In her article she says, “These conditions include high levels of stress, fungal bacterial pneumonia, bleeding ulcers, myocardial fibrosis, heart failure, chronic colitis, agranulocytosis, pseudomonas, and shortened life spans” (Wise). Researching Orcas kept in captivity, she recognizes tremendous differences shown in their behavior, live-span, and overall health compared to those living in the wild. She explains that SeaWorld’s dangerous policies keep the public and whale trainers in the dark about Orca’s aggressive behaviors. Wise provides various facts that validate her position and explains that there is no documented evidence of any Orca Whale harming a human in the wild, yet in captivity there are 70+ cases of Orca Whale violence.
To enhance the argument further, Robert Anderson, a common visitor who established a bond with a few Orcas, wrote an article on the dangers of the conditions the whales are in. Anderson presents the idea that the trainers are also at risk because they are continuously being placed in the water with these Orcas. He establishes the idea that Orcas are social animals and form bonds with humans, many trainers, and visitors. When they are deprived of the people they form bonds with, they become upset and angry resorting to aggression. Anderson writes, “The petting pool Orcas and some of their offspring exhibited such aggressive incidents at a noticeably higher rate than any other grouping of incident prone orcas” (Anderson). This statement shows that the Orcas receiving more interaction are the ones who are more attached and therefore, have greater withdrawal. This is why they are more likely to participate in aggression toward the trainers. In the wild, these animals are typically around family 24/7. In captivity, they get bored easily because they are deprived of social experiences with whales related to them. He also hints at the idea that SeaWorld has records of all the whale aggression toward trainers, yet they continue to allow trainers to be in the water and work with the whales. SeaWorld does their best to hide the fact that these are dangerous interactions and many trainers had no idea of all the records of aggression until after the release of the documentary, Blackfish. Blackfish exposes SeaWorld by interviewing employees who previously worked in the park. A former trainer explained that on one tape, a whale was recorded lunging at a trainer. He was immediately instructed to destroy the tape. SeaWorld told him the tape was unusable and he needed to get rid of it.
The documentary Blackfishalso showcases SeaWorld’s exploitation of Orca Whales. The film provides evidence of their systemic cruelty to the animals and their dangerous practices of allowing trainers to be in the water. The documentary provides statistics and video evidence of whale aggression toward trainers, which is caused by the unnatural, toxic environment they live in.Blackfishcontains interviews with former trainers and scientists who explain their negative experiences at SeaWorld and the problems that occurred while they worked with the Orcas. The movie shows SeaWorld’s extended use of propaganda and how SeaWorld pressures trainers to deny facts about whale aggression. It also includes videos that depict whale aggression along with animated scenes including real dialogue of how court cases went with SeaWorld owners and directors. Lori Marino, a neuroscientist explains her research on Orcas, she mentions, “It’s becoming clearer that dolphins and whales have a sense of self…much more complex than in other mammals, including humans” (Marino). This quote emphasizes the idea that whales are intelligent and social, making it a form of inhumane punishment to place them in small pools and deprive them of social interaction. Blackfish exposes SeaWorld’s true intentions of making money rather than caring for the whales and even caring for their employees’ safety. This proves that holding whales in captivity and using them for shows not only affects the health and lifestyle of these wild animals but also the humans working with them.
Finally, in an article written by David Grimm, a vocal advocate for Orcas, he pursues the idea that captive Orcas need to be placed in ocean sanctuaries for the rest of their lives. He explores the problem that they are held in pool-sized tanks and have nothing to do for majority of the day, other than float. Orcas born into captivity do not have the ability to survive in the ocean and do not have the social support of their families. He gives a real-life success story in 2002 of a whale named Keiko who was placed into an ocean sanctuary. Eventually Keiko got to the point where he was strong enough to be released. Grimm explains that, “a sanctuary won't be able to replicate Orca social life, Marino admits, but at least the whales could communicate acoustically with wild orcas, as Keiko did” (Grimm). He explains that many Orcas in captivity today have been born into captivity, so they therefore would not know how to survive in the wild, but for some they could return to the wild. Otherwise those who have only lived in captivity could experience a lifestyle better than what they are currently in. A lifestyle in open water with more space to swim rather than constantly floating. He states that it is immoral to place them in tanks all day and instead they should get to experience the ocean and be able to swim around. The evidence of success stories helps promote the idea these whales can be rehabilitated if they are treated humanely.
In order to make an impact and improve captive Orcas’ quality of life the public needs to be educated and made aware of this issue. Personally, I can continue to educate people on the topic. I can educate others and inform more people, so they know not to support Sea World and similar groups that exploit Orcas. I can create social media pages to spread the message to those involved online, especially teens. I can form an Instagram and Facebook page and create a twitter account. These social media pages can expose SeaWorld, support Orcas, and advocate for ocean sanctuaries. It is important to spread these messages to teenagers today because the more informed they are the more they will learn to critically analyze advertisements all around them. Also, teenagers are willing to repost and promote messages that help the world, many teenagers just are uninformed about the issues. Using social media could be a large turning point in our battle to stop captivity. In the documentary BlackfishJohn Jett, a former SeaWorld trainer explained, “I’m not at all interested in having my daughter grow up thinking that it’s normalized to have these intelligent, highly evolved animals in concrete pools” (Jett quoted in Blackfish). This quote puts into perspective the idea that this can and will affect children growing up today. We need to take the environment of our next generation into consideration. By spreading information about captive whales, our communities will be more aware, and will stop buying tickets to Orca shows. By hurting the profit of SeaWorld and voicing our concerns, they will be forced to find another solution. As a state and nation, we can join and support events such as protests. We can try to start petitions and with enough signatures we can gain attention of others, such as the news and our politicians. Finally, we need to be a society that can think for itself and critically analyze the harm we impose on these magnificent creatures and the dangers we create for their trainers just for entertainment and profit. We need to act now in order to make a difference and put an end to captivity of Orca Whales.
Works Cited
Anderson, Robert, et al. “Orca Behavior and Subsequent Aggression Associated with Oceanarium Confinement.” Animals (2016-2615), vol. 6, no. 8, Aug. 2016, pp. 1-21. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3390/ani6080049.
Blackfish.Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Produced by Manuel V. Oteyza, 2013. Netflix. www.netflix.com/watch/70267802?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C4a0f804a54723 5a2e1440a40153aca9290e55551%3Ab2e3ad95d6f0d4bc3f9a2894dda273f9f456df66%2 C%2C
Grimm, David. “An Oasis for Orcas.” Science, vol. 352, no. 6286, May 2016, pp. 641-643. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1126/science.352.6286.641.
Staedter, Tracy. Orca Calf Dies at SeaWorld: Why Killer Whales Get Sick in Captivity.Live Science Contributor. July 27, 2017. https://www.livescience.com/59965-why-killer -whales-die-in-captivity.html. November 8, 2018.
Wise, Hillary T. “All Is Whale That Ends Whale? The Deficiencies in National Protection for Orca Whale in Captivity.” Akron Law Review,no. 4, 2016, p. 925. EBSCOhost, proxy- ship.klnpa.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao &AN=edsgcl.467658336&site.
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