Blackfish

            Picture a majestic group of killer whales off the coast of Iceland undisturbed and peaceful. Now imagine a group of people who are going to destroy that by taking the younger whales and most likely never seeing their parents again. This is the harsh reality of how SeaWorld obtains their killer whales. This inhumane act has been going on for many years restocking their aquarium like livestock. We must combat this and stop using orcas for our entertainment.

            Killer whales are highly sophisticated animals and are very social. They travel in groups and stay with their groups for a large part of their life. Lori Marino, a neuroscientist as well as other researchers examined the brain of a whale with an MRI. They discovered that they have a paralimbic region where it processes emotions and thinking. Essentially, orcas are more capable of emotional depth than humans. Putting them in captivity where they are kept in small tanks start to take a toll psychologically for these whales. They start to suffer emotionally and become more aggressive as they are irritated. Marine biologist Nancy Black says that they get stressed out and start to display neurotic behavior. They are like a ticking time bomb; they can explode at any moment. With that many trainers have met their end as they were killed by these orcas.

Tilikum was an orca that was torn away from his family when he was two. He was sent to Sealand, a small public aquarium and lived with two other orcas both female (Haida and Nootka). He regularly endured attacks from both females and would also starve since they would deprive whales of food if they didn’t follow directions. He was put into a metal box for 14 hours at the end of each day. This drives him mad. He kills trainer Keltie Byrne in 1991. Sealand shuts down and SeaWorld purchases Tilikum despite his behavior (Blackfish). The stress of captivity drives Tilikum madder killing two other trainers at SeaWorld (Daniel P. Dukes 1999 and Dawn Brancheau 2010). Killer whales are meant to be kept in small quarters rather they should be out in the wild swimming with their social group. The stress that orcas experience in captivity shows that they can become aggressive and agitated attacking their trainers as a result. "Living in a tank and having to splash people with your tail every day for 27 years would make anyone go nuts," Marino said.  These accidents only happen because these orcas are kept in captivity.

            SeaWorld only cares about their profits. When Tilikum killed trainer Dawn Brancheau, SeaWorld claimed it was her fault for her death. The first statement they said was her ponytail was the reason why she died. They blamed it on human error rather than the whale’s aggressiveness. This shows how they value Tilikum even though he’s killed people in the past. SeaWorld uses Tilikum’s sperm to impregnate female whales so that they can raise those whales for shows even though they aren’t supposed to. Animals that have violent tendencies shouldn’t breed but SeaWorld ignored that and has contributed to 21 calves. Now his offspring carry his genetically susceptive aggressive tendencies. Also since SeaWorld wasn’t allowed to capture wild orcas, they resorted to inbreeding the whales which is morally wrong. All SeaWorld cares about is profit and not the animals that they keep for entertainment.

            When I was 8, I went to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Watching the orca show was the best part. I loved how the orcas synchronized with the trainers doing stunts as pushing the trainer high in the sky or simply the whale waving. Now I realize how horrific these animals go through at these marine parks. They are kept in tanks that are fractions the size of what a wild killer whale has. They only do the shows well so that they are fed. That is the only motivation, the orcas have. They aren’t fed if they don’t follow orders. It’s also inhumane that we are keeping these whales in containment so that they can do shows so that people can be entertained. Its morally wrong for a person to care for an animal so that it can do tricks and stunts for people to see. To these whales, this is very low. I used to think that these whales were doing these tricks because they liked it but it dawns on me now that they do it to survive.

            What can we do to stop it? Don’t go to SeaWorld and other marine parks that have orcas. By not going, they don’t get any profit from exploiting these poor creatures. We can create a movement more powerful than the others to stop the captivity of orcas at marine parks by shutting them down. Raise awareness. Once we have enough support and its nationally recognized, these marine parks will have to reconsider.

Bibliography

Blackfish. Dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Manny O Productions, 2013. Online.

Landau, Elizabeth. "Biologists: Killer Whales 'neurotic' in Captivity." CNN. Cable News Network, 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Spear, Kevin. "How Smart Are Killer Whales? Orcas Have 2nd-biggest Brains of All Marine Mammals." How Smart Are Killer Whales? Orcas Have 2nd-biggest Brains of All Marine Mammals. N.p., 8 Mar. 2010. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

"SeaWorld Park to Redesign Controversial Whale Tank - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.

Captivity. Digital image. BBC News. N.p., 16 Aug. 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.