The Issue of The Captivity of Whales in The Blackfish

The documentary Blackfish brings attention to the captivity of whales as a form of entertainment. Sea World is filled everyday with thousands of people, whether it be adults or children roaming in excitement to see these amazing whales do tricks. What they don’t see is the suffering that whales go through on a day to day bases. These innocent animals shall not be kept in captivity because they face animal cruelty and animal depression.

Whales are one of the top attractions at Seaworld, and through the eyes of the people these animals are seen as happy, healthy, and playful animals that are enjoying themselves. However what no one is ever aware of is the animal cruelty that these whales face everyday in captivity. Whales don’t naturally know how to perform a show and wave at a crowd, they are taught to do these things. Nonetheless when they don’t perform what they’re ask to do they become punished. In the Documentary Blackfish, former director Steve Huxter says “Tilikum previous head trainer used techniques that involved punishment”. Tilikum would either be deprived food or become rake with teeth. This conveys that Whale trainers are intentionally hurting Tilikum and others whales, and that’s consider animal abuse. What people don’t understand is you can’t go to extreme levels to punish an animal that wasn’t born to be entertainment. At points Tilikum was covered head to toes with rake teeth all scratched up and bleeding. They are suffering just because they wouldn’t do a behavior or a splash, how is this fair to these animals? Killer whales are also massive animals that need huge amounts of space where they can move and swim around. Insead they are being kept in small confined spaces. In an air view image of Sea World you can compare the the size of the parking lot to the area where Killer whales are kept. The Size of the parking in Orlando, Florida, is about 50x bigger then the pool area of the whales. This illustrates how much Seaworld and whale trainers actually care about these animals. They rather give more space for a parking lot then more space to an animal who needs it. A whale can swim more than 140 miles a day and dive up to 1000 feet in only day. It would take roughly about 4348 times of swimming their tanks over and over to cover the distance whales swim in a day. Being kept in small areas is what causes an animal to become irritated and frustrated. This is other cause of they are exposed to rotting-skin infections. Having that said many people believe that captivity is a great way to care for whales and benefits the. Regardless that they believe that these whales aren’t getting the proper food diet they get in the wildlife..In the article “5 ways Seaworld can’t compete with the Natural World “, it states “In Seaworld parks, orcas are fed frozen-thawed fish and generally eat the same meal everyday with little to no variation.” This shows that Killer Whales aren’t receiving a proper diet that can later lead to deaths.A whales normal diet is composed of other sea mammals such as small whales, seals, and even sharks. Being kept in captivity is only harming the whales and they are not getting the basic needs such as dietary and the space they need.

Depression is a serious mental health issues that not only affects human but animals as well such as whales. Just because they can’t talk doesn’t mean they don’t show signs of depression.. Animal depression is more likely seen in whales that have been captivity for multiple years. In wildlife you will never see an orca that is not at motion even when it is a rest, they are constantly moving. In spite of that in the article “Seaworld gets super defensive about depression in orcas”, it is clearly stated that “ Wild orcas simply don’t stop moving. Yet at Seaworld, orcas will spend minutes- and sometimes even hours floating motionlessly in their pools.” This helps explain that captivity whales float as a result of depression because of chronic stress, boredom, and they are being kept away from natural resources Seaworld believes that this actions are norma and that whales need to rest just as we do. In contrast to that, whales are huge animals that need to stay in movement to maintain fit. Instead they are floating around in depression along with the risk of sunburns and insects bites. As a results of being put into these facilities, orcas are being taken away from their pod. These pods may include children and mothers that are being separated from one another. In the documentary Blackfish, a young baby orca was taken away from its mother to be sent away to other water park. For days this mother continue to make abnormal sounds that have never been heard. Researchers stated that it was a sign of depression and loneliness The bond between a mother and it’s child is one of the strongest connections to exist. When taken away from each other it triggers depression, which was a reason why this mother made these strange noises. The noises were an indication of her calling to find her child. In matter of fact Seaworld trainer still manage to say that these animals aren’t depress and that male whales are put inside tanks with female whales to bond. Little to people know that they are only place inside tanks with females for breeding purposes to grow in whale population at Seaworld. Tilikum especially was has many offsprings because they forced these animals to breed with other. How is this bonding? How are they making two whales that don’t know each other breed an animal. This is also one of the reasons why some mothers do not nurture their babies. Depression is an issue based on animal captivity that can easily be solved by letting these animals be in wildlife and not captivity.

In closure, whales should not be kept in captivity because they are being mistreated facing animal cruelty and being captivated can lead to animal Depression. They are wildlife animals for a reason, they weren’t created for the purpose of human entertainment. These animals have a life and shouldn’t have to live it being forced to do flips and wave to the crowds forever. They have just as much emotions and feelings as any other animal and even humans. The same way we wouldn’t want to be put in a circus by force is the same way a whale may feel. So why do it to them? Whales are the happiest when they are where they belong.