Not only does SeaWorld separate the mothers from their calves, but they also force incest among the whales. Like our own species, incest is seen as taboo to whales. Hargrove explained that one female whale Katina was mated with her son Taku, creating the calf named Nalani. Katina refused to accept Nalani after her birth. Another instance of this was with a whale named Kohana who bred with her uncle Keto two different times. Kohana rejected both of those offspring (Hargrove). It is clear that incest has an impact on the whales. SeaWorld forces this upon them in order to produce more whales for more entertainment. However, it is immoral to demand that these whales go against their values of incest.
Whales from separate regions are forced to cohabit …show more content…
First off, similar to the skin of humans, whales are subject to sunburn. Since the whale pools are shallow and very transparent, the whales are basking in the sun practically all day. This does major damage to their silky skin. In the wild, the water is much deeper and darker, so they are protected from the strong rays. UV rays are also known to damage the animal 's eyes. Some of them have developed cataracts from sun exposure. On top of that, there is at least one trainer injury recorded due to the whale’s problematic eyesight …show more content…
In the article “SeaWorld’s Weird Science” it is stated that of the four dozen orca whale papers funded by SeaWorld, only 7 have been published in the past 5 years. The majority of the articles were published before 1990. It is evident that not much research is being produced from SeaWorld’s parks. On top of that, most of them focused on free whales opposed to captive whales, meaning that their captive whales are not much help in research. One marine mammal specialist at the Animal Welfare Institute, Naomi Rose, says that the research is irrelevant. “‘The issue isn 't that we don 't know how much fish they need to eat each day,’ she says. ‘The issue is we 're leaving them with nothing to eat.’” SeaWorld’s research does not cover topics that would actually be beneficial to helping orcas in the wild, like overfishing, pollution, and climate change. One researcher argued that SeaWorld 's reproductive technology could help the species survive in an instance of "drastic population declines." However, others say that captive orcas must be trained to donate or accept sperm. No one has ever tried to impregnate a wild whale. In addition, orcas are not having trouble breeding. Ironically, the article states that, “Only the population of killer whales off British Columbia and Washington is considered endangered, in part due to the capture of its members by SeaWorld and
Whales from separate regions are forced to cohabit …show more content…
First off, similar to the skin of humans, whales are subject to sunburn. Since the whale pools are shallow and very transparent, the whales are basking in the sun practically all day. This does major damage to their silky skin. In the wild, the water is much deeper and darker, so they are protected from the strong rays. UV rays are also known to damage the animal 's eyes. Some of them have developed cataracts from sun exposure. On top of that, there is at least one trainer injury recorded due to the whale’s problematic eyesight …show more content…
In the article “SeaWorld’s Weird Science” it is stated that of the four dozen orca whale papers funded by SeaWorld, only 7 have been published in the past 5 years. The majority of the articles were published before 1990. It is evident that not much research is being produced from SeaWorld’s parks. On top of that, most of them focused on free whales opposed to captive whales, meaning that their captive whales are not much help in research. One marine mammal specialist at the Animal Welfare Institute, Naomi Rose, says that the research is irrelevant. “‘The issue isn 't that we don 't know how much fish they need to eat each day,’ she says. ‘The issue is we 're leaving them with nothing to eat.’” SeaWorld’s research does not cover topics that would actually be beneficial to helping orcas in the wild, like overfishing, pollution, and climate change. One researcher argued that SeaWorld 's reproductive technology could help the species survive in an instance of "drastic population declines." However, others say that captive orcas must be trained to donate or accept sperm. No one has ever tried to impregnate a wild whale. In addition, orcas are not having trouble breeding. Ironically, the article states that, “Only the population of killer whales off British Columbia and Washington is considered endangered, in part due to the capture of its members by SeaWorld and