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  • Essay / The issue of keeping orcas in captivity in the documentary Blackfish

    In 2013, Gabriela Cowperthwaile released her documentary Blackfish around the world, turning heads and flippers of everyone who watched it. His documentary delves deep into the disturbing lives orcas live at Sea World. It follows the life of a famous whale, Tilikum, involved in the death of 3 trainers. Sea World continues to claim that orcas live longer in captivity than in the wild, which is a lie. The orca also leads a very sad life, swimming in the same small pool, doing the same shows day after day, sometimes being refused food, no wonder some of them have gone crazy. Because of this documentary, Sea World lost a lot of money and attendance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Orcas live up to two to three times less in captivity than in the wild. Orcas in their natural habitat can live between 70 and 80 years if they are male and between 80 and 100 years if they are female. At Sea World or elsewhere in captivity, their lifespan is only about 30 to 50 years. It's heartbreaking because Sea World staff tell children and families who come to visit their park that the orcas are better cared for there because there are veterinarians to care for them. As early as 1961, orcas began to be captured for use in shows. Of the 166 captured, only 37 are still alive. This means that 129 of these precious orcas died in captivity. 1965 was a very big year for Sea World, they held their very first orca show. Shamu was the name of the star killer whale. When Shamu was captured, she had to watch her mother be hit with a spear and die. Ted Griffin, a professional orca hunter or cowboy sailor, was responsible for collecting wild orcas and shipping them into captivity. One of his workers later worked for Sea World and was responsible for bringing the whales to the sea world. At one point in his villainous career, he had his employees cut open the stomachs of four orcas and sink them to the bottom of the sea. It's just cruel and the fact that it didn't always been public news makes me sick. Male orcas residing at Sea World have dorsal fins dropped off when they are adults. Sea World advises customers that this is a normal condition and happens to the majority of orcas. If you were to see an orca in the wild, you would see that its dorsal fin is as straight as possible. Orcas spend the majority of their day swimming in circles in their small, shadeless pools. Day or night, their pools are not very well covered and therefore not protected from the sun or heavy rain. Back in their natural habitat, these whales spend at least 95% of their time underwater, where there is plenty of shade and almost no sunlight. The tank they are forced into in the sea world is only about 40 feet deep, which is nothing compared to the big blue sea. Because they have almost no shade, orcas get nasty sunburns. Zinc oxide is usually applied to the orca before shows so the audience doesn't see the burns, but it doesn't really help pre-existing burns. If Sea World really wanted to do something about the living conditions of orcas, it had the means. But they refuse to help these animals who have no way of expressing themselves. They continue to keep them in small ponds not sheltered from the sun. There have been countless accidents that could have been avoided if they had placed the orcas..