Sea World
This is something that is close to my heart. I remember going to Sea World Florida when i was 7. I clapped with glee watching Shamu splash the crowd and breach in the air. But then after the show my parents took me to the orca exhibit where i saw a large male with his dorsal fin bent swimming round and round. My parents thought i was in awe but I was crying inside. When asked why I was so quiet I can remember saying "he's sad". Ofcourse my folks tried to reassure me but for the rest of the day I felt numb.
This memory sprung back to me when i watched Blackfish and I burst into tears. I did alot of research and I was shocked to see the aggression orcas show eachother, their health problems and how young they pass on. None of these problems occur in the wild. Orcas have such strong family bonds and each pod have thier own clicks and whistles. Basically putting all these orcas from different pods into a tank is like putting people with different languages in a locked room. They can't communicate and thus aggression emerges.
One of the more horrifying whale deaths at Sea World: “Kandu slammed her head into Corky, severing a major artery in Kandu’s upper jaw. A ten-foot geyser of crimson spouted from Kandu’s blowhole. Over the next forty-five minutes Kandu bled to death as Sea World staff and the audience looked on in helpless distress. In the wild, these whales travel hundreds of miles with the whole ocean at their disposal. When enclosed in a small area, there is nowhere to run.”
Also Sea World breeding programme is quite frankly scary. Tilikum who has been involved in three deaths is the sire of 21 orcas. Does this not just scream alarm bells? Due to it thankfully being illigal to capture wild orcas Sea World have to artificailly inseminate their females using sperm from other captive males. Due to this there is quite alot of inbreeding in the orca lines which has resulted in still births and alot of calves not surviving very long.
It angers me also at how Sea World not only cares for its animals but also staff. After countless attacks during shows and behind scenes Sea World continued to put their staff at risk by swimming with the orcas.
You can watch Blackfish on Netflix. I must warn you this is hard to watch.
This is how it should be.