Humpback whale

Chris Crutcher’s Whale Talk tackles a lot of important issues and topics facing teens and young adults. One of those is abuse. He tells about how different characters deal with and overcome their abuse through theme, tone, and modern connections. It is important to know that not everyone deals with abuse the same way, and that not everyone has someone to help them deal with their issues. Two characters in Whale Talk have been abused and they dealt with it in very different ways. One of the…

In January of 1997, a “very young California gray whale was rescued near Marine del Rey, Los Angeles” (Stewart). This poor wounded whale had been “severely infested with whale lice, and had numerous cuts and ulcers over her body”. SeaWorld’s dedicated animal care specialists immediately began providing lifesaving support. Within a few months, the whale now called “JJ” was thriving from SeaWorld’s intervention. After another short period of time, JJ…

Navarrete 1 When most people are told to think of a whale, they do not immediately think of a whale swimming in the ocean with the rest of it’s pod. Instead, they usually imagine a whale inside a compact glass tank or performing in front of a huge crowd of people who are on vacation. Killer and Orca whales have been found in captivity since the early nineteen sixties and are still found in captivity to this day. Although many of these amusement park and aquarium visitors would agree that these…

Since Tilikum the killer whale killed trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 at Sea World Orlando, there has been a great outcry over the topic of whether whales should be in captivity. So much so, a film in 2013 grossed $2,063,312 [1] by negatively depicting Orca whales in captivity. However, since 2010 there has been 197 [2] human deaths by ‘domesticated’ canines, but yet there is no emotional uproar or million dollar documentaries shaming domestication of man’s best friend. Why do we have particular…

With the documentary there also came lots of questions as to if everything seems to be correct and every fact can be backed up with specific evidence to prove that SeaWorld is in fact engaging with their whales the way that Blackfish states. One of the top questions that has remained unanswered is if SeaWorld says that things in Blackfish documentary were false and they used fallacies then why did SeaWorld not offer to give an interview and declined them…

trainer. A few incidents of when an orca acted out were when Orky crushed John Sillick while he was riding another killer whale or when Orkid pulled Tamari into the whale tank. Ken Peters was one of the lucky trainers at SeaWorld. Kasatka dragged him to the bottom of the pool. After continually being let go of and grabbed onto again by Kasatka, Ken Peters eventually convinced the whale to let go of him (Cowperthwaite). “Orcas have not gone crazy, but are frustrated and have no outlet,” as one of…

In 2013, the documentary Blackfish premiered. The director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, says that she was interested in learning why the orca whales would “bite the hand that feeds it”. She also claims that she did not start the documentary as an animal activists but started the production in order to understand the death incidents. Blackfish follows the story of Tilikum the movie explains his…

Effects of Orcas in Captivity Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes of the killer whale shows at SeaWorld? So much preparation goes into the shows at SeaWorld. This causes frustration within the whales that can result in whales acting out on other whales and SeaWorld trainers. So, is captivity good for the orcas? Despite the fact that millions of people go to SeaWorld every year to see the killer whales, the animals are actually mistreated. If SeaWorld doesn’t change their ways, then orcas…

Orca whales, also known as killer whales, should not be kept in captivity. Since 1961, hundreds of orca whales have been taken from their natural habitat and placed into captivity at aquariums and aquatic parks around the world for the sake of public displays, theatrical shows, and business profit. To date, more than 127 captured orcas have died (Whale and Dolphin Conservation, n.d., figure 3). The capturing and confinement of orca whales is clearly unethical and inhumane. It poses a…

The Tomistoma crocodile “estimate is less than 2500 mature individuals, with continuing decline of at least 25% within 5 years or two generations.”(TomistomaTomistomaschlegelii, Bezuijen). The crocodiles are becoming extremely vulnerable and unfortunately, they do not mate as much as they should. Because of this, our group believes that if we extract the pheromones of a male Tomistoma and place it around the enclosure then the other male crocodile will want to mate with the female because the…