Pros And Cons Of Keeping Killer Whales In Captivity

In todays day in age, there are many American issues that seem to be on a never ending vicious circle. A recent American dilemma is the debate about keeping killer whales in captivity. Although retaining these majestic creatures may provide statistics and data for scientists and present entertainment for the public, others have very dissimilar views on this riveting situation. Orcas have been captured and retained in captivity for over fifty years. Whether it be for entertaining the public or allowing scientific studies to be made, many people do not agree with this way of treatment to cetaceans. Killer whales have been withheld in captivity since 1961(WDC,1). This initial whale was captured by Marineland of the Pacific located out of
The first killer whale show featured a young, fourteen foot orca, known as Shamu. The show took place at Seaworld San Diego in the mid 1960’s. April 19, 1971 Shamu was retired after a horrifying incident where the orca bit down on the legs and hips of a Seaworld performer. It wasn’t until other workers came to the rescue, prying the jaws open with a pole, that she was released. There has currently been seventeen orca shows from the 1960’s to the present day. The name Shamu was trademarked by Seaworld and has been given to various orcas to perform in the “Shamu Shows”. These shows take place in the Shamu stadiums which seat 5,500 people. Many people enjoy the shows, while others see the cruelty in the confinement of these majestic
Although numerous people believe confining orcas is cruel, there has been benefits of the confinement. Multiple scientific discoveries have been made about the species. One main discovery is the discovery of the varieties of different breeds. Three main types consist of the Offshore whale, the Resident whale, and the Transient whale. The dorsal fin and white spot patterns are the main way of identifying the different breeds. In addition to this they recognized the different preys killer whales feed on. Offshore whales mainly feed on Antarctic minke whales, Resident whales mainly eat seals, penguins and some fishes and Transient whales are known to dwell on Antarctic toothfish. Scientist were also able to conduct range tests on whales to understand more clearly how well the hearing of a killer whale is. Scientists then came to conclusion that these majestic creatures had different dialects. There are many repertoires of codas within the killer whale species. Just as in human life, people have different accents, it is the same for these cetaceans. These tend to be very regional. Being that there has been many scientific discoveries, some of these whales don’t compensate from the procedures. Cetaceans spend 80-90% of their time underwater in the wild while they’re surfaced 80% of their time in captivity. In the wild they are naturally very active and playful but in captivity they tend to get bored in the enclosed space.