Mr. Pohl
College Prep 1
28 Monday 2017 SeaWorld: Home of the imprisoned Killer Whales When you thought of SeaWorld as a child, you thought of it as the water version of Disneyland. You saw how happy trainers were to be in the water with the animals, you felt the magic of the shows put on, and you saw all the tricks and neat things the killer whales could do and you thought, “how awesome is this?” Of course you noticed the bent over dorsal fins, and scratches all over the whales, but you were told that it was normal and although it gave you a strange feeling, you didn’t think much of it anymore. Well, that strange feeling you got every time the whale swam around the pool close to where you could see, was your gut telling …show more content…
Female orcas can live in between 30-100 years and males can live anywhere from 30-70 years in the wild. SeaWorld claims, according to Samantha Berg former SeaWorld trainer, and the SeaWorld cares website, that the average lifespan for orcas is 19 years for males and 30 years for females. SeaWorld also claims that orcas live longer in captivity, which is completely wrong. The drooped over dorsal fins that all the whales in captivity have, are NOT normal. In a clip shown in Blackfish, an informational guide at SeaWorld is shown explaining that all orca dorsal fins will eventually bend over like shown on the whales in their parks. THIS IS NOT TRUE! The dorsal fins are bent over due to small swimming spaces and a poor nutritional diet. The orcas are fed small portions of frozen fish and are fed when they perform tricks correctly. SeaWorld of course denies this, regarding the proof as “false information.” SeaWorld’s reasoning for orcas living longer in captivity is because they receive veterinary care. Let’s get one thing straight, wild animals, know how to survive in the wild. They do not need constant veterinary care, and this fact is completely false anyways! According to orca researcher, Howard Garrett, this is completely …show more content…
But according to Ray, this was strictly a business deal and SeaWorld management didn’t care much that they were destroying a mother's heart.
Continuing on the hard facts SeaWorld’s corporate place doesn’t care about any of the whales, they also don’t care about trainer safety either. You would think that because these trainers have such a dangerous job already, precautions would be put into place to prevent awful accidents such a the accidents that have occurred within the last 15-20 years. These accidents were caused by the now deceased whale Tilikum.
Tilikum was placed in SeaWorld Orlando’s park in 1992 shortly after being in a similar park called Sealand in Victoria, Canada. During Tilikum’s stay at Sealand, he had pulled a trainer into the water after she slipped and tried to pull herself up. After this incident, Sealand closed and SeaWorld jumped at the chance to have the largest Orca in captivity, regardless of his aggression and killing of a trainer. SeaWorld had assured Sealand owner that Tilikum would not be used in shows but used for breeding purposes only, which, is completely false. Samantha Berg, former SeaWorld trainer, stated that when Tilikum arrived at SeaWorld, they were told about the accident but were told Tilikum had nothing to do with the trainer dying and that it was the other whale’s fault. That right there is sign number one that SeaWorld isn’t very concerned with trainer safety. SeaWorld was aware Tilikum was responsible for a trainer