I first visited Seaworld in San Diego, California in the early 1980s, long before there was any controversy about keeping killer whales or orcas in captivity. I had visited the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts on several school trips as a child. I was expecting the same kind of thoughtful scientific presentation of marine life at Seaworld.
As I walked through the entrance to Seaworld that morning, I was struck by how much of a theme park Seaworld was complete with costumed figures of Hanna-Barbera’s Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound walking around the park. It was sort of like a Disneyland for animals. The audience got sprayed, of course, with pool water when we sat down for the killer whale show. The sound of the trainer’s voice came over the loudspeaker as she instructed the orcas through their daily routine. I remember feeling uncomfortable as we walked by a small petting pool of what must have been stressed-out dolphins and starfish with children petting the captive dolphins, who had no place to go, and children picking up the helpless starfish and throwing them back into the pool. Passing by shops full of stuffed killer whale and dolphin toys, we made our way to the exit. I never felt the need to return to Seaworld. I like my exhibits in a more natural setting, such as the San Diego Zoo.
Now, nearly three decades later, I know the background of what I saw that day and I understand now why the experience felt so contrived. I watched animals stripped of their natural environment and forced to live and perform stupid pet tricks in small pools. Killer whales, which are top predators in the wild, are trained to roll over on their side and wave a flipper at the audience for some fish out of a bucket that a trainer throws at them. I now know that when the park closes its doors at the end of each day, the orcas are crammed into small metal cages for 12 hours or more until the park reopens the next morning.
The documentary film, Blackfish, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013, and was acquired by CNN. Blackfish has been shown many times on CNN; most recently last weekend. What troubles me and a lot of other people is that despite the well-documented evidence in Blackfish with many interviews from personal trainers who worked for many years with killer whales, Seaworld has never admitted any wrongdoing or taken responsibility for their treatment of orcas in captivity. In fact, Seaworld fought OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in court to keep trainers in the water with orcas, despite the numerous injuries and even deaths of trainers that have occurred over the years. Fortunately, OSHA prevailed and the trainers are now safely behind a barrier when they work with the whales.
Seaworld has recently embarked on a new advertising campaign, both online and in television commercials, trying to discredit the well-documented findings of Blackfish. “Our whales are healthy. We love these whales and we know you love them too,” says the trainer in a recent commercial. All of Seaworld’s hard-working trainers have not gotten much support from Seaworld through the years when they were injured or even killed as Seaworld claimed that the injured trainers were not following park protocols. Seaworld denies that the whales were frustrated by captivity and taking their aggressions out on the trainers. The film points out that whales and dolphins thrown together in close quarters are often aggressive with each other resulting in severe, even deadly, injuries. The small petting pools at Seaworld have since been eliminated due to dolphin bites of human hands.
The recent commercial states that Seaworld has not taken animals from the wild in 35 years. What they are not telling the public is that they have been using Tilikum, who was captured and torn from his mother at two years of age some 30 years ago, to artificially inseminate most of the female whales in the park. Tilikum, a large male with a drooping dorsal fin unlike the majestic bull whales with straight dorsal fins that travel and hunt together in the wild, is one of the most aggressive whales in the park and to-date has killed a total of three people in 1991, 1996, and 2010, respectively, while in captivity. Critics fear inbreeding and the passing on of aggressive genes to future generations.
The powers at Seaworld like to point out that orcas in captivity cannot survive in the wild. How could they after years of languishing in small barren pools with no chance to exercise and build up their strength? There was some talk not too long ago of Seaworld building larger pools for their whales, but so far, nothing has come of it. The whales continue to float or swim listlessly in small pools. Tilikum and the other whales have suffered from broken teeth and teeth worn down to nubs from chewing on the metal bars of their cages. They have endured endoscopies through the years due to swallowing the lining of poorly-maintained deteriorating pools. They suffer from skin lesions and eye problems due to long-term exposure to chorine. They are given a daily cocktail of drugs, including antibiotics for their depressed immune systems and chronic infections, as well as anti-depressants and sedatives, to manage their frustration and boredom in their cramped pools.
There is also the tragedy of Lolita, a killer whale, who has lived alone in a small pool at the Miami Seaquarium since 1970. Efforts are underway to try and win her freedom from people who believe that they have the right to condemn a killer whale to years of boredom and loneliness in captivity. In 2012, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and other groups sued the Miami Seaquarium claiming the tank that holds Lolita violates USDA standards and therefore, Seaquarium’s license to operate under the Animal Welfare Act should not be renewed. The case continues to wind its way through the courts.
We can help killer whales by refusing to visit Seaworld and other marine parks that exploit these magnificent animals for greed and profit. We can demand that killer whales be housed in more specious quarters or better yet retire these animals to coastal sanctuaries for possible transition to the wild. For more information, visit www.seaworldofhurt.com
— Val Philbrick works in the production department of the Journal Tribune as a pre-press person. She is a member of PETA and the National Humane Society. She is a regular contributor to Animal Sounds, Wednesdays at 1-1:30 p.m., on WMPG radio at 90.9 &104.1 FM.
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