Answer: Sea World
Explanation:
Unfortunately, I’ve already been there, long before most Americans knew of the cruelty harbored there. I was very young.
In 2013, the documentary, “Blackfish,” was released. The film quickly gained notoriety for the distressing nature of its content, which uncovered the shocking, miserable truth that Seaworld withheld from the public for decades.
For anyone who has not seen “Blackfish,” I urge you to. It’s extremely interesting and well executed, but incredibly disturbing. “Blackfish” is currently on Netflix.
“Blackfish” is informative and covers everything from how the first orcas in captivity came to be, to the multiple human deaths associated with the whales. It also emphasizes the intellectual and emotional depth of the killer whale.
But after watching the documentary, it wasn’t the small tank enclosures or blatant lies that Seaworld spread that angered me so much, although both of those things are unacceptable. What truly shocked me to the core was learning about an Orca’s brain and that it is built unlike those of other mammals. Aside from being extremely large, the emotional processing portion of a killer whale’s brain is far more elaborate and proportionately greater to that of a human brain. Orcas feel and think in ways unimaginable to us. They aren't just intelligent. They’re biologically engineered to collaborate with others of their kind. In other words, socialization, as well as stimulation, are incredibly important to the well-being of these animals. In many ways they are like humans in that they are capable of expressing emotions and thinking things through.
After learning about an orca’s mental and emotional capacity, the tiny tanks, stolen babies, isolation, and lack of entertainment no longer seemed simply cruel. It seemed like unimaginable torture.
An account of one whale, who, after having her baby taken away, emitted long-range echolocation in an effort to communicate with her child— a sound never registered from an orca before — only further solidified my new feelings towards seaworld.
And, later, I heard news of an “Orca Suicide.” A male killer whale known for ramming his head into the walls of his enclosure all day long, had finally succumbed to an aneurysm. I just about broke down. (One Dolphin’s Story – Hugo | Dolphin Project)
Keeping animals as intelligent and sensitive as orcas isolated and locked up is wrong. Plain and simple. There is so much evidence against keeping killer whales in captivity that it’s practically a joke — most animals in captivity can expect to live longer than their wild counterparts, but the life span of a captive killer whale is significantly lower than the life span of a wild orca. If that alone isn’t enough evidence to keep such beautiful animals out of tanks and in the wild where they belong, I don’t know what is.
Seaworld has announced that this generation of whales will be the last generation. It’s a step in the right direction, and I am impressed by their initiative, but it still won’t change how many and for how long Seaworld’s past and present orcas suffered. It almost seems like a cruel science experiment. Likewise, Seaworld's current whales are still kept in the same living conditions. While rescue organizations have successfully retired orcas from other parks to sanctuary sea pens and closed off ocean coves, therefore giving the animals a much better life, Seaworld’s whales will still be housed in their small chamber-like tanks that are still on display for public viewing. Keeping the whales in their current situations, but no longer breeding them, is equivalent to Ringling Bros retiring itself elephants to a concrete “sanctuary.” Despite captive orcas having a mortality rate 2.5 times higher than their wild relatives, Seaworld may have its orcas for another 30 years or more. For the whales, that’s the rest of their lives spent in the equivalent of a kiddie pool.
