Essay On Whales In Captivity

Killer Whales are a very large and strong breed of marine mammals that belong to the dolphin family that can grow up to ten meters long and can weigh up to six tons. Theses whales are a highly social species that are very intelligent with an excellent sense of hearing and have developed highly complex communication systems. Killer whales are immediately recognizable by their distinctive black-and-white coloring, when you see these magnificent creatures many people immediately get the idea of Shamu from SeaWorld and the tricks they preform, most people don’t remember that that captivity is limiting the whale’s freedom and life. Captivity is not only taking away and damaging these animals mental and physical health, it is also playing a role in taking the lives of the trainers that risk their lives swimming with killer whales just to make a profit for SeaWorld.
A very distinctive trait about all whales in captivity is that all adult male killer whales have collapsed dorsal fins. SeaWorld claimed that this is a very common condition, trying to pass it off as a genetic issue rather than a captivity issue, but that claim is false. If you …show more content…
This evidence goes to show the differences in living conditions of captivity versus the wild, and the cause of this aggressive behavior and attacks can be linked together because of one thing, captivity. In captivity, many of the whales suffer from poor physical and mental health. The tanks that these whales are being forced to live in are only twice their size, causing the animals swim in small circles or float aimlessly, compared to traveling an easy 50 to 100 miles per day in the wild. When these animals are put in an environment like this they tend to get uninterested and unmotivated in the things that are around