Copyright: Wolcott Henry

You may recall in 2008, IDA reported about a juvenile female whale shark rescued by the Atlantis Hotel off the coast in Dubai.  IDA supporters along with local environmental and animal protection groups called for her immediate release in light of the hotel’s reputation for exploiting animals for profit.  Last Thursday, the Atlantis Hotel announced they had fitted her with a satellite tag and released the juvenile female whale shark known as “Sammy” into the Persian Gulf.

The hotel stated that the reason behind their decision to release her was because of the outpouring of local and international support calling for her freedom.  Her welfare, inability to forage, or thrive in the confines of captivity are among the many reasons why pelagic species (especially the world’s largest fish species) do not belong in hotels or any other captive enterprise. While Sammy is back in the wild, other animals at the hotel are not so lucky.  In 2007, despite wide spread international protest, the hotel imported wild caught dolphins from the Solomon Islands, flew them 30 hours to exploit them in their ever cruel, swim-with-dolphin attraction.

The only circumstance where marine species should be held in captivity is when they are injured or sick and need care in captivity before they can be returned to the wild.  Helping them to heal after their rescue, build strength under rehabilitation and then releasing them back to the region they were found, contributes to the survival of the species in the wild. SeaWorld is a prime example of an establishment that gained credibility by employing scientists who developed a noble record of rescuing stranded, sick and injured marine mammals and rehabilitating them to survive in their natural environment.  This activity was consistent with their mission statement “To work with purpose and passion on behalf of wildlife habitats worldwide, encouraging sustainable solutions through support of species research, animal rescue and rehabilitation and conservation education.” Obviously, they no longer live by this mission and infact work against it by capturing animals from the wild, holding animals captive in cramped, artificial pens and forcing them to perform unnatural stunts for food and for amusement of people and commercial gain.  SeaWorld has 50 venues in Japan alone.

One of Sea World’s worst offenses is their determination to hold on to Tillikum, a wild caught male orca from Iceland. His emotional welfare is so poor he continues to kill people. SeaWorld justifies his enslavement as well as other marine mammals with buzz words like “conservation” and unsubstantiated phrases such as “we are contributing to the conservation of the species” in response to protests from people about Sea World’s use of marine mammals for entertainment and profit.  Rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing animals back into their natural environment works truly towards conservation of animals.

SeaWorld needs to stop capturing marine mammals, and refocus their work back towards fulfilling their mission statement. As a first step, they must immediately discontinue their demeaning circus-style shows with animals. They also need to stop the captive breeding of marine species like orcas because they cannot be held humanely in captivity.  It is paramount that they begin the rehabilitation process of the individual captive animals and prepare for their release back to the regions of the world from they were originally caught.

Tillikum preforming at Sea World - Photo Credit : Reuters: Mathieu Belanger

Reporters are calling it a sad day at Seaworld. For the animals, everyday is a sad day at Seaworld. Tillikum, an orca (commonly known as a “Killer Whale”), attacked and killed his trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando on Wednesday. While IDA has the deepest sympathy for the trainer’s family and their tragic loss, the ongoing misery these intelligent, long-lived, socially complex animals cannot be comprehended.

Killer Whales travel long distances each day, sometimes swimming in a straight line for a hundred miles, other times remaining in a certain area for hours or days, moving several miles along a coastline and then turning to retrace their path. These marine mammals can dive up to several hundred meters and stay underwater for up to half an hour. They spend only 10 to 20% of their time at the surface.  In captivity, Killer Whales must spend up to 80% of their time at the surface of the water seeking scraps of food and attention.

This is theprobable cause of the dorsal fin collapse, because without the support of water, gravity pulls these tall appendages over as the whale matures. Collapsed fins are experienced by all captive male orcas and many captive female orcas, who were either captured as juveniles or who were born in captivity.  They have been observed in only about 1% of orcas in the wild.

In captivity, killer whales must swim in circles or constantly peer through the fences (stereotypical behavior) or floating listlessly on the surface of the water. These behaviors indicate that the animal is bored and psychologically stressed. Wild Killer Whales rarely lie still and with the entire ocean at their disposal, they would have no need to swim in circles!

This particular orca, Tilikum, has an especially bad situation.  He is the oldest living captive orca which means he has suffered the most psychologically and physiological stress of all. The park plans to adjust the protocol with which to handle him, and is not ruling out using him in shows and will continue to use him as a stud.

A 12,000 pound orca should not be in a concrete and chlorine tank coerced to give “kisses” and do tricks.  SeaWorld seems to have no problem exploiting animals by confining them permanently and putting their employees and the public at risk to make money- lots of money.
I do believe that most of the trainers love the animals they manipulate. Somehow the trainers and the aquaria justify what they are doing with words like “conservation” and “education”, but ripping these majestic creatures from the vast oceans, separating them from their families, and forcing them to swim circles till their dorsal fin droops from lack of deep diving is heartless. If only they could wake up to the reality of exploitation as Rick O’Barry, the trainer of the famous dolphin Flipper did. O’Barry has since denounced keeping marine mammals in captivity and has dedicated himself to end the dolphin slaughter in Japan.

When orcas first arrive into the tank, they attempt to use their sonar, but it just bounces off the walls and becomes maddening, so they cease using sonar for communication. It is well known that emotional and psychological factors play a huge part in the behavior of these sentient animals who are able to exhibit cognitive abilities similar to us, humans. It has also been observed that confining such intelligent animals with complex social systems in small spaces leads them to exhibit neurotic behaviors. One can only imagine how the stress of captivity in completely unnatural surroundings compounded by the abnormal demands from training and performance could lead to tragic results.

It’s time to put a stop to snatching such majestic animals from the wild for unnecessary exhibitionism. It’s time to honor their undeniable right to freedom and end the breeding of such animals in captivity for the animal’s well-being , as well as for our own human safety.

Please click here to send an e-mail to Hamilton James, the President of The Blackstone Group, which operates SeaWorld. Urge SeaWorld to get out of the cruel business of keeping marine mammals in captivity.