orcas

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Nika Butera
Professor Meredith
English 1302
4 May 2016

Free World not Sea World
Although marine parks like Seaworld are loved around the world, The animals
held captive there should be released from captivity and into the wild, due to unnatural
living conditions, risk to trainers, and inhumane care. People will be discussing this tpic
in 10 years because they will realize how inhumane it was to hold orcas captive to do
tricks for entertainment. The animals at Seaworld, especially orcas and dolphins, are
very mistreated and looked at as a form of entertainment and not animals. Big companies
like Seaworld are against setting the animals free because they are just “in it for the
money”. For years, Seaworld has amazed the world with their marine mammal shows,
but what goes on behind the scenes isn’t what they make it out to seem. “Seaworld was a
coorperation that viewed orcas and trainers as mere commadities for making money”
(Hangrove 1). With only profit in mind, Seaworld mistreats animals and puts trainers
lives in danger everyday. It is unnatural for big marine mammals like oras and dolphins
to be looked at as a form of entertainment instead of animals. To take these animals away
from their homes in the ocean and put them in small pools, where they are fed a diet of
dead frozen fish, live in filtered and treated tanks, and are withheald food if tricks arnt
performed right, should be considered animal cruelty.
Orcas and dolphins are placed in a setting where they cant communicate properly,
which is a very unnatural living condition. Seaworld should be thought of as intelligent

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creatures and not just animals. Both of these creatures are very vocal animals. Orcas are
the only animals that actually have an advanced language so “putting a group of newly
captured orcas- traumatized after having been torn away from their families- into a small
enclosure, and asking them to “socialize” with one another could be seen as the
equivalent of forcing a group of human strangers who speak different languages and
come from different cultural backgrounds into a small room, and informing them that
they must now spend the rest of their lives together” (Hoyt 1). This is referring to how
orcas cant communicate with each other if they came from a different region. In some
cases pods have their own way of communication as well. Like humans, orcas have
languages in different dialects. This is an issue for orcas in captivity because not all of the
orcas in captivity can communicate with each other, unlike dolphins who use sonar and
echolocation to communicate. This causes many conflicts between the orcas that are
captive. It can be frustrating for the animals when they are unable to understand each
other.

Another example of unnatural living conditions for marine animals at seaworld
are the tanks they are forced to live in. Unlike the ocean, a tank at seaworld needs a
filtration system so that the water can be safe and clean for the animals. Unfortunantely
for orcas and dolphins and many other marine life living at Seaworld, this is a major
problem. Lots of the animals have a very strong sense of hearing so the fitration system is
very loud and distracting to the animals, “Cetaceans must listen to filtration systems,
pumps, music, fireworks, and people clapping and yelling every day, their concrete
and/or glass enclosures also reflect sounds, so a poorly designed enclosure can make
artificial noises worse. Echolocation is rarely used, as a tank offers no novelties or

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challenges to explore” (Animal Welfare Institute 1). Unlike in the wild where orcas can
swim very deep, orcas in captivity are very close to the surface of their tanks. This causes
the orcas to become sunburnt. Zinc oxide is used to cover the blisters from the sunburn.
Zinc oxide doesn’t heal them, it only covers the damage so people will not see. The size
of a tank for an orca is the equivelant of putting a human in a bathtub. Orcas get
frustrated because of this so “they often break their teeth from chewing on the concreate
sides and metal gates in their marine park homes, resulting in serious gum infections”
(Kirby 1).

Not only is the captivity of marine mammals harmful to the animals, it is also
“harmful and risky to the trainers who work with them” (Hangrove 1). Many trainers
have been injured by these animals both by accident and on purpose. The animals they
work with are very large in size so broken bones and brusies are casual injuries for a
whale or dolphin trainer. There are known cases of dolphins biting people visiting
Seaworld. Also When the animals get too stressed out they take their aggression out on
each other or the trainers. Some things that an orca will do to show aggression is lunging,
biting, or killing. In many cases, an orca will lunge at a trainer during shows.

The health of these animals are horrible compared to the health of animals in the
wild. One of the most common indicators of health in a male orca is his doral fin. All
captive male orcas have a collapsed dorsal fin, which is a “phenomenon that is rarely
seen in wild orcas”(Hangrove 3). This collaped dorsal fin can be from an unhealthy diet
and an overload of stress. The diet they have in captivity is very unnatural and harmful to
their health. They are never fed any live fish and when a fish is dead and frozen, they lose
most of their nutritional value. Because of this, they are put on different dietary

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supplements to make up for the lack of nutrition. Since they cant hunt their food, they
can’t obtain the liquid that is in the fish leading them to become very dehydrated so “to
keep them hydrated, they have to be fed immense amounts of gelatin” (Kirby 1). This is a
very unnatural thing in an orcas diet. This is very unnatural for the animals and is not
apart of their diet in the wild. Orcas in captivity tend to have shorter lifespans than orcas
in the wild as well. In fact according to Kirby, “orcas at Seaworld die at a rate two and a
half times higher than orcas in the wild” (Kirby 1). This is due to the poor care provided
at Seaworld parks. Seaworld doesn’t tell this information to guest, in fear of what they
may think of the care provided to these animals.

Seaworld is a company that only has money in mind and not the actual well being
of their animals. Slowly they are being recongnized for the way they mistreat their
animals yet a big portion people still support them as a company. To make an amusement
park filled with wild animals as entertainment is cruel and inhumane. If Seaworld cant
properly care for their animals, the marine life should be returned to the wild or placed in
sea pens where they belong.

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Works Cited

Adler, Jerry. “History, Travel, Science, People, Places | Smithsonian.” History, Travel,
Science, People, Places | Smithsonian. Smithsonian Magazine, Mar. 2015. Web.
20 Nov.

"Former Orca Trainer For SeaWorld Condemns Its Practices." NPR. NPR, 28 Mar. 2015.
Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Hoyt, Erich. “The Ethics of Keeping Whales and Dolphins.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 20 Nov.
2015.

Lewis, Helen. "Out Of The Ordinary." New Statesman 143.5237 (2014): Web. 4 Nov.
2015.

Mark, Jason. "Conversation: Ric O'barry." Earth Island Journal 26.2 (2011): Web. 4 Nov.
2015.

Palmer, Mark J. "Captive Time Bombs." Earth Island Journal 27.3 (2012): Web. 4 Nov.
2015.

Palmer, Mark J. "Seaworld’S In Deep Water." Earth Island Journal 30.2 (2015): Web. 4
Nov. 2015.

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