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Orcas in Captivity

            Close your eyes and imagine that you are swimming along peacefully in the ocean. Your family is at your side and everything is going fine, when all of a sudden you"re entangled in a net and dragged up on to a boat. Now open your eyes. This happens almost everyday to whales and dolphins around the globe. Innocent whales and dolphins are ripped away from their families, most likely never seeing them again. My name is Brandy Alexander; today I will be informing you on the conditions that Orcas live in while they are in captivity, how these conditions affect them for the worst, and lastly how this confinement is mostly for entertainment instead of research.
             These whales live in tanks of artificial salt water. Some marine parks do pump natural salt water from the ocean to their facilities and filter this for use in their pools however in most marine parks fresh water is usually used to house dolphins and whales which are ocean dwelling creatures. Ocean water is made by mixing salt with the.
             fresh water however there is no way this can replicate the richness of natural water from the oceans where the wild populations live. Some of these animals are also held in chlorinated pools, which can result in skin rashes and diseases. The tanks are usually 40 feet deep (being the deepest) many can be 18 feet deep though. Tell me how can this be suitable when a whale can grow up to be as long as 30 feet. The pool is usually only 80 feet long. In Puget Sound, where many of these whales are from, not even 20 feet from shore, the water is 118 feet deep.on an average. It goes to hundreds of thousands of feet as you move into the straight, so how do whales adjust to this lack of distance? They are forced to swim circles around their tank. Food deprivation at marine parks is not an unusual occurrence. Some trainers do withhold food if an animal refuses to perform. A former trainer for Sea World has reported that dolphins that would not perform were sometimes denied of food during or after shows.


Essays Related to Orcas in Captivity

1. Whales in Captivity

Statement of Need The Orcas being held in captivity are constantly being physical and emotionally abused and this will continue until they are set free. ... Orcas that are held in captivity are abnormally aggressive because many of the marine parks use the "punishment" technique to train their Whales. ... Orcas need to be removed from captivity to give them a chance at a better life. ... Also, the captivity of these Orcas is causing premature deaths. ... According to PETA the median age of orcas in captivity is only 9, and they rarely make it to their life expectancy of their wild ...

  • Word Count: 1672
  • Approx Pages: 7
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  • Grade Level: High School

2. Orca (Killer Whale)

Description The Orca also known as the Killer Whale or the scientific name Orcinus orca is really not a whale. ... Unfortunately most almost 50% of the world population of Orcas live in captivity for health or safety reasons. And sometimes they spend out there entire life period in captivity. Scientists even added the captivity of Orcas to the list of habitats. ... Orcas use sound to "talk" to each other. ...

  • Word Count: 717
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3. Blackfish - Orcas in Captivity

The documentary "Blackfish," directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite brings to light the many issues that involve orcas being held in captivity at certain aquatic parks such as Seaworld as well as others. Throughout the film, the directer mainly focuses on one orca named Tilikum. ... While living in captivity, Orcas are often subjected to living conditions that are less than ideal. ... Though orcas seem to be generally happy animals, being held in captivity caused them to become unpredictable and in a few cases, aggressive towards trainers. ... This shows that keeping the orcas in captivity can end...

  • Word Count: 703
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Tilikum and Whale Captivity

Is it any wonder that the Orca became aggressive? ... The executives sold the Orcas that remained in their captivity. ... In captivity there is nowhere to flee. ... He was not the only whale in captivity to suffer these injuries. ... The most important lesson we can learn from seeing killer whales in captivity is that such creatures, used to the vast expanses of ocean and no human contact, do not belong in captivity. ...

  • Word Count: 1287
  • Approx Pages: 5
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5. Animal Captivity at SeaWorld

Recently addressing the controversy regarding Seaworld's captivity of Orcas, is the award nominated documentary Blackfish, which clearly presents the hidden issues behind many killer whale attacks at Seaworld theme parks, the primary cause being the immoral captivity of animals that are simply too large to adapt to Seaworld's profit driven environment. ... "All whales in captivity have a bad life. ... An Orca researcher states in the film, "Till this day there is no record of an orca doing any harm to any human in the wild." (Blackfish) So why are these Orcas harming...

  • Word Count: 1271
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Killer Whales and SeaWorld

Orcas that were born into captivity would have an incredibly hard time readjusting their living arrangements. Seven out of the 10 Orcas at SeaWorld were born into captivity and it is believed that they would not survive if let out into the sea. ... Two that are better known are the kidnapping of the Orcas from their homes and the many reports of Orca aggression in the park. ... Orca aggression is very common with these animals due to being kept in captivity and this is unsafe for the trainers that work with them. ... Due to the sensitive hearing of the Orcas, these sounds are very harmful towa...

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7. Summary of Endangered Animals

Sadly, such species as the snowy owl, hippopotamus, manatees, duck time -billed platypus, and orca whales have all been added to the list of endangered animals. ... The snowy owl, hippopotamus, duck-billed platypus, manatee, and the orca whale are all on the endangered animal list due to their own extenuating circumstances. ... To make a dent in the amount of endangered animals there are, we must as a people band together and figure out the correct way to preserve the population of animals such as: the duck-billed platypus, hippopotamus, manatee, orca whale, and snowy owl. ... It was a genera...

  • Word Count: 4178
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8. Blackfish - Problems at Seaworld

To this date, there has been three reported deaths of trainers because of killer whales that live in captivity. Some people say that these killer whales should not be kept in captivity but there is also an other side of people that say the killer whales are not dangerous and should be kept in captivity. ... In the article "Bitten by Blackfish" they state that "The Blue World Project, the new orca environment will be nearly double the size of the current pool. ... Killer whales should be allowed to stay in captivity because the movie Blackfish lies to its audience and wants you...

  • Word Count: 626
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Zoo Animals - Captive for Life

Going to the zoo is a fun outing for many people, but the real question is should those animals be kept in captivity? ... "(Ostendorff) As seen in the eyes of people against animal captivity any zoo is like prison, even though those animals did nothing wrong. ... Again, take the Killer Whale for example, "The experience of Keiko, the orca who starred in the three Free Willy movies, shows how difficult it is--when he eventually was freed in 2002 he was never able to find a pod and only lasted 18 months, before dying off the coast of Norway. ...

  • Word Count: 553
  • Approx Pages: 2
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  • Grade Level: High School

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