The Pros And Cons Of Captive Killer Whales And Orca

On Friday, The California State Legislature approved a historic bill that banned the breeding of captive killer whales and orca performances in the state, the only exception would be for educational purposes and not entertainment, display, or performance purposes. The bill also prohibits the export or collect captive orcas coming from any place in California to another state or country, unless approved by federal law, and importing their semen or embryos of any orcas held in captivity for artificial insemination. The legislation passed 26-13 with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposing. The bill required that the killer whales be sent to sea sanctuaries for retirement in the United States or Canada. Sea World are actively lobbying against the bill, calling it unnecessary since they had already planned to do this and had announced that they would
The bill also allows for Sea World to rescue and rehabilitate stranded killer whales, as long as they plan to release them back into the ocean, but the federal government determines whether the whale gets released or not. Violators of the bill would face fines up to a hundred thousand dollars.

Killer whales have been kept in captivity for many years, especially in Sea World. In the wild, Orcas have an average life expectancy of thirty to fifty years, the estimated maximum lifespan is sixty to seventy years for males and eighty to one hundred years for females. But for killer whales in captivity, their average lifespan is thirteen years, much shorter than the average due to the harsh conditions they are kept in.