The Importance Of Whales In Captivity

At the main Seaworld branches in Florida and California, scientists and park owners are arguing in favor of captivity, saying that they could go extinct in the wild, and keeping them in captivity enables people to selectively breed whales that would otherwise not have found mates. Things such as pollution (biotic and abiotic) can make them ill or kill them, but the water in their tanks is always being filtered and kept fresh, free from pollutants. Dangerous encounters with fishermen who only care about bringing in their catch can injure them if they get tangled up in their nets, or even if they’re just around the boat the can get hurt from propellers. Their food sources are quickly being depleted, such as the Chinook Salmon which is extinct from overfishing. When held in captivity, they have better health care and frequent check ups in captivity, keeping infections …show more content…
Premature death, occurs frequently; male orcas should live to an average of 30 years (maximum 50-60 years) and 46 years for females (maximum 80-90 years), but the median age for whales in captivity is 9 years. Orcas sometimes exhibit neurotic behaviors such as swimming in endless loops around their tanks, bobbing up and down at the surface for hours, and staying low to the bottom of the tank and not moving. They have hearing much like a dogs, and the sound of the filtration system in their tank can be an irritation, and gradually drive them crazy. The babies, or calves, are taken away from their mothers at an early age, which contributes to the number of calves dying. The whale’s dorsal fin sometimes collapses when held in captivity, which is believed to be caused by spending so much time at the surface of the water, or from the cartilage caving in on itself from swimming in so many circles. The tanks aren’t large enough- they’re less than 1% the size of the whale’s natural range, which makes it an improper