Seaworld Should Be Closed Down As Soon As Possible

“There’s been an accident at the Florida park and a trainer was killed and he still has her.” Is what one head director of SeaWorld announced to all of his staff one day. Dawn was one of the three people that the infamous Tilikum (Tilly) had killed. Tilly was just one whale that was being held captive at SeaWorld for about 39 years. While some arguments state that SeaWorld should be kept open because they actually save more animals then they do harm, this amusement park needs to be shut down immediately because the new habitats the whales are being forced to live in are nothing like the ocean, the capturing of these Orcas compromises their family matters and finally, the mistreatment of these whales receive is completely and utterly unacceptable Orcas in SeaWorld have been captivated and mistreated for years on end.

Just like humans, these whales get mental side-effects such as depression and suicidal behavior.

Orcas that live in SeaWorld live about thirty years less than orcas in the wild.

When the show whales are not doing the tricks they are being taught or have bad behavior they trainers will not feed the whale being taught along with the other whales so that they are trained to do so. Whales will get frustrated will act out and not cooperate with the whale trainers. SeaWorld of Hurt specifies eight reasons why SeaWorld should be shut down and states “All captive adult male orcas have collapsed dorsal fins, likely because they have no space in which to swim freely and are fed an unnatural diet of thawed dead fish.

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SeaWorld claims that this condition is common—however, in the wild, it rarely ever happens and is a sign of an injured or unhealthy orca.” Whales will become extremely sick and depressed living in these conditions.

Jennifer Kennedy states the fact that “All killer whales have a dorsal fin on their back, but the male’s dorsal fin is much taller than a female’s and can grow up to 6 feet tall.” So the fact that all of SeaWorld’s orca’s dorsal fins are collapsed is a major red flag. Employees will continue to tell all visitors of the park that ask about the dorsal fins being collapsed that is is normal as an orca comes to age and gets older. This is a lie and it is so wrong to say these untrue things to people. One other lie that the workers at employee do not tell but hide are whale sunburns. Whales get sunburn and it is noticeable and painful but workers will cover this with black zinc oxide so no one actually knows the pain and burns that they have.

“They live in shallow pools with chlorine-filled water, leaving them susceptible to sunburn, due to their inability to hide from the sun. In fact, the orcas at SeaWorld get a lot of sunburns. Of course the workers can’t let visitors see the burns which is why they cover them up with black zinc oxide, to match the orca’s skin color.” Whales in the wild live much longer than whales in captivity which is expected. Orcas in the wild have an average life expectancy of 30 to 50 years—their estimated maximum lifespan is 60 to 70 years for males and 80 to over 100 for females. The average age of death for orcas who have died at SeaWorld is 14 years old. The workers at SeaWorld continuously neglect the animals and do not give them the medical attention they need. They leave animal wounds open and let their animals fight against each other which lead to many injuries about the animal. This is one of SeaWorld’s biggest problem and most all people see the injuries.

“Kasatka lives at the San Diego SeaWorld Park and she was diagnosed with a bacterial infection last year. The company has denied that these spots are real, claiming the photos have been photoshopped, which of course haven’t. If you look closely you can see that these are real spots on the side of her body, spots that prove this dolphin is sick and in need of medical help. But what do you expect when these animals live their lives in tiny, cramped, chlorine-filled tanks and survive on a poor, unnatural diet? Sickness is inevitable.” Mental effects within orcas and other animals at SeaWorld are serious and devastating. There has been a suicidal orca, a polar bear who died of heartbreak and many orcas to get frustrated and try to escape. “Orcas in captivity gnaw at iron bars and concrete from stress, anxiety, and boredom, sometimes breaking their teeth and resulting in painful dental drilling without anesthesia.” Free Morgan Foundation 7 “Morgan, an orca who’s been living at SeaWorld for seven years, tried to beach herself at the side of her pool in attempt to kill herself.

But this wasn’t her first suicide attempt. Only weeks earlier, Morgan was found repeatedly banging her head against a metal gate in her enclosure in a bid to end her miserable existence. It just goes to show how dire her life is and how unhappy she must be for her to attempt suicide on more than one occasion.” “Life is lonely for animals in captivity but for a bear named Szenja, her life was a little less lonely at SeaWorld’s San Diego Park because she had her friend Snowflake, another polar bear. After 20 years of living together, SeaWorld shipped Snowflake to Pittsburgh Zoo for the sake of breeding. And of course, Szenja was left heartbroken. She no longer had anything to live for without her friend by her side. Three months later, Szenja gave up. She died of a broken heart. You can see in the image above that she looked miserable. It really is heartbreaking to see what they do to these poor animals, forcing them to endure such a solitary existence.

It is no life for an animal or for anyone.” Orcas suffer from mental side effects that are similar to humans. Imagine the orca is now a human doing the exact same thing, Would we still keep it going on with this abuse for so long Animals are born into families and meant to stay with them and their breed but, SeaWorld steals and practically steals these animals for money and entertainment purposes. “In some populations, children stay with their mothers for life. In captivity, orcas are forced to live with orcas from other family units who speak a completely different language than they do and are constantly moved between facilities for breeding and to perform.” These orcas are being forced to live with now new “family members” which will result in many of them not liking each other and have serious fights and acts of violence against one another leading to injuries and even death. Baby orcas are stolen and with no mother figure their to guide them it can lead to premature deaths. “They didn’t care when they separated Kyara and her mom Takara when Kyara had pneumonia.

Critically ill, this was a time when she needed her mom most. Without her, it places a lot of stress on both the mother and her baby. It was announced, only days ago, that Kyara died. After the pneumonia, her health continued to decline and eventually her body gave in.” When orcas are breeding SeaWorld will typically send the child or mother to a different park for money and this again will cause distress and depression within the mother. Blackfish shows videos of mother orcas in this time of despair and it is absolutely heartbreaking to watch and to hear the blood-curdling cries. Oceans have no barriers or walls so a wild orca can roam free while in SeaWorld the orcas have very little room to go. On average an orca swims up to 140 miles a day. Where is a whale in SeaWorld gonna get that? Besides circles and circles and circles. “It would take an orca more than 4,280 laps in her tank to swim the distance she might in the wild.”

Being in tight conditions can lead to orcas getting angry and they will start to get frustrated with other orcas. Dr, Rally says, “When dolphins and orcas are held in captivity, aggressive dominance hierarchies are a common occurrence,” she explains. Nakai is a heartbreaking example of this. This killer whale suffered a severe injury on a sharp metal edge in his tank while trying to escape an aggressive encounter with two other whales.” When these fights occur there is nowhere for the victim orca to go and escape there for leading to may more injuries and deaths upon these orcas. Orcas in SeaWorld are based upon an extremely unnatural diet as well of pig and cow bones. “In captivity, orcas are unable to hunt and obtain water from their prey, so SeaWorld gives them gelatin, a substance that is not natural for them, in an attempt to keep them hydrated. Tilikum, who weighs 12,000 lbs., alone consumes 83 pounds of gelatin every day.”

This is so disgusting and heart-wrenching. Yes, there are some people who believe that SeaWorld should be kept open and not shut down. SeaWorld claims that they help more animals then do harm like saving Keiko and nurturing back to help and giving that penguin a wetsuit to help the little guy to regulate his body temperature. “The Free Willy/Keiko Foundation was formed. Keiko, who had been captured in Iceland in 1976, underwent two years of rehabilitation in Oregon and when he was healthy again was transported by cargo plane back to his native waters. He was trained to eat live food—having been fed dead fish from buckets for most of his life the change was something he had to get used to—taken on numerous open ocean swims, and after being tagged with a tracking device, released into his native seas.” “ So SeaWorld decided to help by creating a wetsuit that would keep her warm. The fact is, if she was in her natural habitat she would not need to wear anything of the sort. So while they claim they’re doing her a huge favor, they actually aren’t.

They’re just once again proving to us that wild animals do not belong in captivity” SeaWorld always says that orcas are not a significant danger to humans yet there have been three deaths at SeaWorld due to an orca encounter and many more injuries over 70! So once again SeaWorld is caught in another lie. Some people believe that SeaWorld is a good place and should be kept open yet, it is quite the opposite. SeaWorld should be closed down as soon as possible because the new habitats the whales live in are nothing like the ocean, it compromises whale family matters and finally, the mistreatment of these orcas is extremely unacceptable. To help these poor animals being held against their will there are several things you can do, “Read about SeaWorld and watch Blackfish, let SeaWorld know how you feel, spread the word, take it to the public, and rock a SeaWorld kills t-shirt!”

Works Cited

“15 Outrageous Images That Prove SeaWorld Should Be Shut Down.” TheThings, TheThings, 29 July 2017, www.thethings.com/15-outrageous-images-that-prove-seaworld-should-be-shut-down/3/?v=6&n=f.
“5 Things You Can Do to Help Shut Down SeaWorld.” PETA, 10 Jan. 2019, www.peta.org/action/five-things-can-help-shut-seaworld/.
“8 Reasons Orcas Don’t Belong at SeaWorld.” SeaWorld of Hurt, www.seaworldofhurt.com/features/8-reasons-orcas-dont-belong-seaworld/. Kennedy, Jennifer.
“What Causes a Killer Whale’s Dorsal Fin to Collapse?” Thoughtco., Dotdash, 24 Jan. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/killer-whale-dorsal-fin-collapse-2291880. O’Sullivan, Catherine.
“Why Shutting Down SeaWorld Is Not the Answer.” L.A. Weekly, 4, 2 Apr. 2016, www.laweekly.com/news/why-shutting-down-seaworld-is-not-the-answer-5031091.