Baby Killer Whale San Diego Zoo (Seaworld Library) Board book – October 3, 2005

Amazing! I love whales!

SeaWorld claims to be a venue of education, but it is really exploiting animals for money. It claims to inspire people to care about marine life by getting them to perform demeaning tricks. A lot of people I know who are working to stop the dolphin slaughter in Japan have never seen a captive or wild dolphin, yet they still care. What SeaWorld will not tell you is not a single one of their orcas has ever died of old age, and they die at half the age a wild orca does, same with the dolphins.Do you know how SeaWorld convinces their animals to perform tricks? They hold back food to keep them hungry.There is no record of an orca harming a human in the wild, but at least four have been killed by captive orcas, three by the same one. Tilikum has been implicated in the deaths of three people from 1991 to 2010. He had already killed once when SeaWorld bought him.Orcas at SeaWorld routinely must have their teeth drilled because they are always biting on the metal bars. There is a lot of aggression among the whales, likely induced by stress. Sometimes, this aggression has been fatal.Whales and dolphins cannot even use their sonar in captivity, as it just bounces off the concrete walls.Furthermore, the methods of acquiring marine animals for the captivity trade are extremely cruel. Up until a few years ago, SeaWorld got their dolphins from Japan, where the dolphins are rounded up and the more desirable ones are taken into the captivity industry, and the rest are stabbed to death. A live dolphin will earn the fishermen more than the meat will, so the aquarium trade is heavily subsidizing the slaughter. It is extremely devastating for dolphins to watch their family members taken away. In fact, their bonds are so strong that the fishermen intentionally wound a few members of the pod, as dolphins never abandon wounded family members. When being taken into captivity, mothers and babies cry out in distress as they are separated.Orcas fare no better. Bombs, nets and boats are used to herd a pod into a cove where they are all trapped, and the babies are taken. Orcas have very, very strong family bonds. Even when the nets are removed, the rest of the family will not leave the trapped babies. They will even try to follow the boat that takes them away. They are likely never to get over this tragedy, as they have excellent long-term memories.SeaWorld also routinely separates mothers and babies.Captivity simply does not work for marine mammals. Those tanks may look large to us, but they are the size of a bathtub to them. SeaWorld says that they are fed, and therefore have no need for space. I ask this: if someone put you in a cage, with nothing for you to do but perform stupid tricks meaningless to you, but fed you regularly, would that be enough?When researchers did an MRI on an orca brain, they were astonished. They actually have a part of the brain that humans don't. They found an extension of the limbic system, the part of the brain responsible for emotions. Dolphins have this too. These are intelligent, extremely emotional animals. Their emotions may even be more vivid than a human's. We have no right to put them in a small jail cell for our own amusement and financial gain, and make no mistake, that is why it is done.Please, visit seaworldofhurt.com and watch the blackfish trailer to learn more.[...][...]