Seaworld Revealed

So I woke up this morning in a great mood, I hadn’t snoozed my alarm and was already in my running gear. The day was looking to be on track. Then I went on Twitter.

My great morning took a downward turn. My Twitter feed was filled with comments from people admiring Seaworld on their new advert on television. I have posted the advert below for you to watch and make your own opinions first of all:

 

So my change of mood did not arise from Seaworld deciding to end Orca breeding, I mean that’s what we’ve wanted all along – The issue is how they have stated it has made the activists seem like we have unachievable goals and that this is the best they could do.

First of all the advert opens with a sentence that the activists want to ‘Free the whales’. This sentence alone makes the collective group of people, whose hearts ache for these whales, seem naive and uneducated. That we believe it’s as simple as flying the whales to the coast, letting them go and saying goodbye. It’s not. No-one ever said it was. This is a tactic used by Seaworld to make them appear to know best about the whales well-being. It’s classic advertising and there’s nothing wrong with that, but with such a sensitive area people must make sure to fully analyse what is being said. To change the world you must take nothing as fact, “The important thing is to not stop questioning” Albert Einstein.

Seaworld declare that releasing the whales would be detrimental and cause fatalities, using Keiko as a reference. Keiko spent 5 years outside of captivity and his final year and a half in the open ocean. While he never found his original pod he was spotted with other orcas, interacting and socialising. Keikos death in 2003 was determined as pnemonia, a disease that kills many of the captive orcas. If you question the details of the Keiko case it seems unfathomable to call this a failure. After his release from captivity he gained 5 years of oceanic life, not full freedom as he was monitored and spent time in a sea pen, but the concrete walls were gone. He was in seawater and he was listening to the natural sound of the ocean. He socialised with other members of his species and he swam from Iceland to Norway regularily. In comparison to the remaining captive Orcas, in my opinion, Keiko had a great final chapter of his life – he was free.

Springer, a whale rarely discussed, was rescued from Puget Sound after appearing distressed from the abandonment of her mother. The whale was taken into captivity for 6 months to be fed and nurtured. Scientists were able to determine her original pod based upon the cries she let out, vocalisations were matched to a well known pod. After tracking them down Springer was put on a catamaran and taken to the pod. Despite the absence of her mother she was welcomed back and with the use of tags, monitoring determined her alive and well with a calf of her own, (Dodo.com, 2014). Springers case is entirely differnt to many of Seaworlds whales, for example Tilikum. It is obvious that rehabilitation is not an option for many of the older weak and sick whales however there are indiivuals that can be. Springer and Keiko should both be seen as succesful efforts for rehabilitation that can and should be repeated. Unfortunately, releasing the whales doesnt make money for the parks or for the directors. Bending the truth surrounding rehabilitation and sea pen feasibility has more to do with the numbers in their bank account and guests at the parks that it does the whales wellbeing.

Finally the advert ends with the big announcement – no more breeding. As a concept this is great, we are now in the era of the downfall of orca captivity. It actually makes me proud, I am part of the generation that has fought this it has paid off. However, with a pregnant Orca in the Seaworld family and many younger calves birthed in the last few years this claim to phase out breeding is maybe not as it seems. Today we celebrate captivity ending but the reality is that the whales about at the minute could still be there by the time my children are grown up. Life spans have reached 42 within the parks family tree meaning we have several decades left of captivity. With Orcas turning over the biggest profit for Seaworld I can be sure that following this announcement they will be upping vetinary care and sparing no expense to keep the older orcas they have in the best health possible to prolong reaping the financial benefits. A CEO of Seaworld in an interveiw expressed the length of Orca life spans as a success story going on to say that we can expect many more years of the possibility to visit orcas in Seaworld. This was said with a grin. They know they have scammed the system. Seaworld is a buisness and make no mistake everything they do is primarily for buisness  and financial success, and for the animals secondarily.

For the remaining 40-50 years that we can expect to see Killer Whales in the Seaworld parks they have assured us that there will be a change in direction. The shows are moving away from circus tricks and focusing on Orca encounters. Hmm already this strikes several questions in my mind. These orcas are confined to concrete tanks with no room to swim, in the company of orcas they cannot communicate with and now the trainers do not get into the water with them. The last area of mental stimulation they have to avoid spiraling into a deep depression is preforming. Yes, it’s harmful, the crowd/music/fireworks is an awful environment for these intelligent beings. The stimulation they gain from learning new tricks is invaluable to keeping them alert and interesting to the public. If you refuse to release them into their natural environment why would you expect them to behave like natural Orcas? They don’t now what is natural for them and we have seen in Tilikum since his ban from shows he spends all of his time floating. Floating is an exceptionally rare behaviour in wild Orcas reinforcing the fact that nothing about these parks is natural. Even when stripped back to simply letting the Orcas be it won’t be natural – it’s not the ocean.

I don’t think Seaworld are bad. I think they have made bad decisions. The reality is  that their Marine parks inspire young children to love the ocean and want to conserve it. My own dream of being a marine biologist started from wanting to train Orcas at Seaworld. As I got older, however, I started to question things and work out for myself if this is something I want to support. It is not. I changed my dream to something that I believe in. It’s ok to feel sad that Orca captivity is ending – for many it is a dream come true to see an Orca and it is hard to stop supporting something that you have always loved but if you question what is happening, question from different perspectives and don’t just take what they are saying at face value then your answers should form your own opinion instead of one someone has forced upon on you. Analysis of this one advertisement from Seaworld raises a number of questions that are crucial to defining your stance on captivity.

https://www.thedodo.com/why-one-orcas-stunning-return–587925978.html