Killer whales in captivity: Sea World tragedy tells us something is not right here
Ob...@real.com
Killer whales in captivity: Sea World tragedy tells us something is
not right here
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/killer-whales-captivity-sea-world-tr
Posted: 26 Feb 2010 04:00 PM PST
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http://crooksandliars.com/medialoader/11990/d96aa/wmv/KillerWhales_2-26-10.wmv
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Marine parks like Sea World can be great places to take your kids and
introduce them, in a safe way, to the wonders of marine life. I took
my daughter to Sea World twice while she was a toddler, and her first
up-close view of an orca so thrilled her that she remains, six years
later, utterly enamored of them.
But there's also something profoundly disturbing about them,
particularly the orca displays. Part of what makes us gasp in
amazement at the Sea World shows is watching comparatively frail and
puny humans seemingly in control of these five-ton creatures that
could crush them like a grape if they so pleased. Fundamentally,
they're simply another display of human dominance over one of the most
powerful and intelligent species on Earth.
But unlike other large, intelligent predators we keep in captivity --
say, grizzly bears -- we're actually able to create these displays
because the orcas permit us. They are the only alpha predator species
in the world, in fact, that in all of recorded history has never
attacked a human being in the wild.
In captivity, however, is another story. The incidents have been few
and far between, but captive orcas have killed humans in the past.
These incidents, like the one Tuesday in which Tilikum, a Sea World
bull orca, grabbed and drowned his longtime trainer, Dawn Brancheau
while spectators watched, seem always to arise not out of malicious
intent on the animal's part, but because they seem not always to
understand their ability to harm their human companions.
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20100224/US.SeaWorld.Death/
At least, that was the case with Tilikum,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_%28whale%29#Tilikum
a whale who was captured from the waters off Iceland when he was two
years old. Tilikum in fact is the largest orca in captivity, weighing
12,300 pounds. He was involved in the last incident in which orcas
killed their trainer -- in 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria,
B.C.
http://www.theprovince.com/Orca+from+Victoria+kills+trainer+SeaWorld+Florida/2608249/story.html
And as with this incident, he (and two other whales) drowned the
trainer by "playing" with her. Tilikum, in fact, has a history of
behavior indicating he does not understand his own power. (None of
this fazes the lizard-brain element among us; today on Fox, Megyn
Kelly told her audience that someone wrote in wondering why Tilikum
hadn't been put down, the same as we do a dog that kills someone.)
Part of this history is why, when Sealand sold Tilikum, it was with
the caveat that he not be used in performance displays. And indeed for
years he was primarily kept at Sea World for breeding purposes.
However, in recent years he has been used in performance shows, such
as the "Believe" show in which he douses audience members. At some
point, Sea World will have to explain why it chose to ignore its
original agreement and use Tilikum in these shows.
But these are minor, legalistic issues. The real issue that the
Tilikum incident raises is a larger, ethical one: Why are we in the
business of keeping these animals captive?
Because the power dynamic in which we appear to dominate them is
ultimately an illusion, a product purely of the orcas' intelligence,
their willingness to socialize with us rather than eat us. Not only
are orcas large and powerful, they are incredibly intelligent
creatures with huge brains. And like all sentient creatures, their
mental health ultimately affects their behavior.
And there is no situation more likely to negatively affect a killer
whale's mental health than being locked up in a comparatively tiny
pool of water surrounded by blank cement walls.
For a human, it would be akin to locking someone in a white,
featureless padded room with maybe a couple of other people and
getting fed by doing tricks for your captors. How long before you
think people would start cracking and acting erratically in those
conditions?
For orcas, it's even more acute. You know the big bulge on the front
of their heads? That's not their big brain, which is located behind
the whale's eyes. That's a sound receptor -- probably the most
sophisticated of its kind in the natural world, though it mostly is a
large sac of extraordinarily fine oil.
While eyesight is probably the most important of our primary senses,
the chief means we have for perceiving and understanding our world,
for orcas, it is at best No. 2 on the list. Their eyesight is
reasonably good, roughly comparable to that of humans, but underwater
-- which is where they spend 99 percent of their time -- it's of
limited utility, since the farthest anyone can see underwater in even
the clearest of conditions is a couple of dozen yards.
Killer whales' primary means of sensory perception is their
echolocation, and it is a true sixth sense. We're only now beginning
to delve just how sophisticated it is, but it's become fairly apparent
that orcas are capable of seeing with remarkable clarity for hundreds
of yards underwater, and their sound receptors and the brain attached
to them are capable of "seeing" with remarkable detail and clarity
through this sonic sense.
Combined with the sophisticated communication system of their "calls",
or their language, their universe is primarily a sonic one. And so
putting them in relatively featureless concrete tanks is akin to being
in a blank white soundproof room for a human.
You can make these tanks fairly large, and Sea World's tanks are not
cramped, but it's still an incredibly confining and limiting and
sense-depriving existence for an animal like a killer whale. Even if
the facility were huge -- and none of them are -- it could not come
close to matching what orcas naturally experience in the wild.
Sea World loves to boast of its educational mission, and that's
undeniable, as my own daughter can attest. But what it really does is
make lots of money -- LOTS of money -- off the performances of killer
whales. Without the orcas, they would be just another aquarium.
And there are other ways of letting children experience the
wondrousness of killer whales that doesn't simultaneously promote an
illusion of dominance over them. If you travel to Washington's San
Juan Islands in the summertime, for instance, it's possible to see
killer whales as they should be: in the wild.
I'm fortunate enough to live near these islands, and instead of flying
down to San Diego, in the intervening years since our Sea World
visits, I have taken my daughter numerous times out to see the orcas
in a kayak, usually off the west side of San Juan Island. I also take
along a hydrophone (I picked mine up from Cetacean Research
Technology) and we listen to them.
http://www.cetaceanresearch.com/discount.html
A couple of years ago, with my daughter helping me with the sound
equipment in the kayak, we had an up-close encounter with a large pod
of about 30 whales. I made a slide show featuring some of the sounds
we recorded:
Download WMV
http://crooksandliars.com/medialoader/11991/d96aa/wmv/OrcaSong2008.wmv
Download Quicktime
http://crooksandliars.com/medialoader/11991/d96aa/mov/OrcaSong2008.mov
Of course, kayaks are a great way to see orcas, though it's important
to be ethical and keep your distance, unless the whales approach you,
as they did in this case (we were out of their way in a kelp bed). But
there are lots of ways to see whales in the San Juans without them,
too; without a doubt, the single best way is to pack a picnic basket
and spend a day hanging out at Lime Kiln State Park.
http://www.thesanjuans.com/san-juan-island-places/sanjuan-parks-forest/lime-kiln-state-park.shtml
Here's a video taken from Lime Kiln -- a fairly sedate one, actually,
since at times the whales stop and play in these kelp beds, and even
more spectacularly, engage in play behavior like breaching here:
It's more time-consuming than a trip to Sea World, probably, and
there's no guarantee you'll see whales, just a high probability.
But is it more rewarding? Yes -- in ways you can't imagine until you
see them with your own eyes.
And once you experience killer whales this way, you'll never go back
to Sea World. My daughter is adamant about it. Because you see with
your own eyes that animals this powerful and magnificent do not belong
locked up inside a glass and concrete tank, swimming in monotonous
patterns all day. Nor should they be forced to perform stunts and
tricks with human trainers for the sake of our amusement.
Certainly, I can tell you that when you are on the water in a kayak
and are approached by a killer whale, there is no doubt about the
power relationship. You are completely at their mercy. And the
remarkable thing about killer whales -- both in the wild, and in
captivity -- is just how merciful they are.
That is what makes the thrill of encountering them in the wild so
profound. And what makes the business of keeping them captive for
people's entertainment so deeply wrong.
The folks at Orca Network have some similar thoughts.
-----
Oath Keeper
> Killer whales in captivity: Sea World tragedy tells us something is
> not right here
>
>
> Posted: 26 Feb 2010 04:00 PM PST
>
> Download WMV
>
>
> Download Quicktime
>
> http://crooksandliars.com/medialoader/11990/d96aa/mov/KillerWhales_2-...
>
> Marine parks like Sea World can be great places to take your kids and
> introduce them, in a safe way, to the wonders of marine life. I took
> my daughter to Sea World twice while she was a toddler, and her first
> up-close view of an orca so thrilled her that she remains, six years
> later, utterly enamored of them.
>
> But there's also something profoundly disturbing about them,
> particularly the orca displays. Part of what makes us gasp in
> amazement at the Sea World shows is watching comparatively frail and
> puny humans seemingly in control of these five-ton creatures that
> could crush them like a grape if they so pleased. Fundamentally,
> they're simply another display of human dominance over one of the most
> powerful and intelligent species on Earth.
>
> But unlike other large, intelligent predators we keep in captivity --
> say, grizzly bears -- we're actually able to create these displays
> because the orcas permit us. They are the only alpha predator species
> in the world, in fact, that in all of recorded history has never
> attacked a human being in the wild.
>
> In captivity, however, is another story. The incidents have been few
> and far between, but captive orcas have killed humans in the past.
>
> These incidents, like the one Tuesday in which Tilikum, a Sea World
> bull orca, grabbed and drowned his longtime trainer, Dawn Brancheau
> while spectators watched, seem always to arise not out of malicious
> intent on the animal's part, but because they seem not always to
> understand their ability to harm their human companions.
>
>
> At least, that was the case with Tilikum,
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_%28whale%29#Tilikum
>
> a whale who was captured from the waters off Iceland when he was two
> years old. Tilikum in fact is the largest orca in captivity, weighing
> 12,300 pounds. He was involved in the last incident in which orcas
> killed their trainer -- in 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria,
> B.C.
>
>
> Here's a video taken from Lime Kiln -- a fairly sedate one, actually,
> since at times the whales stop and play in these kelp beds, and even
> more spectacularly, engage in play behavior like breaching here:
>
> It's more time-consuming than a trip to Sea World, probably, and
> there's no guarantee you'll see whales, just a high probability.
>
> But is it more rewarding? Yes -- in ways you can't imagine until you
> see them with your own eyes.
>
> And once you experience killer whales this way, you'll never go back
> to Sea World. My daughter is adamant about it. Because you see with
> your own eyes that animals this powerful and magnificent do not belong
> locked up inside a glass and concrete tank, swimming in monotonous
> patterns all day. Nor should they be forced to perform stunts and
> tricks with human trainers for the sake of our amusement.
>
> Certainly, I can tell you that when you are on the water in a kayak
> and are approached by a killer whale, there is no doubt about the
> power relationship. You are completely at their mercy. And the
> remarkable thing about killer whales -- both in the wild, and in
> captivity -- is just how merciful they are.
>
> That is what makes the thrill of encountering them in the wild so
> profound. And what makes the business of keeping them captive for
> people's entertainment so deeply wrong.
>
> The folks at Orca Network have some similar thoughts.
>
> -----
Get real. SeaWorld is owned by Blackstone. They also own Holiday Inn
and Michaels craft stores. The Blackstone owners are hedge fund wall
street mega buck giants and they are not about to take a hit over one
killing.
Ob...@real.com
I always thought that the brainiacs running these aquariums
would have been compassionate enough to plan, for the
more intelligent animals, be released after just a few
seasons of shows and new ones brought in. After all, these
animals do communicate, so, if you're not compassionate
in your dealings with them, guess what they're going to
say to each other about us and how they've been treated?
I remember a news story, back in the 90's where this
great white shark was stalking a surfer, an Orca saw
this and, since Orca's love Great White Shark livers,
the Orca took out the Great White Shark. I'm afraid
that if this current story hit's the ocean waves, we can
kiss that kind of protection goodbye. In any event
we should be treating these animals more humanely.
Which means, since they range across thousands of miles
of ocean, swimming from pole to pole, we can hardly
compare life in a pool, even a few miles wide, as
anything akin to their natural habitat.
We shouldn't be taking the very young for a lifetime in
captivity. My guess is, since they communicate, the
more mature animals might just like to do a stint in
Sea World, and might just follow the ships that come
to collect them. Since they communicate, they'd already
know from those released, what they're expected to do,
how to put on those shows. Knowing that it's only a season
or two, might be considered as much fun by them as it
is for us. Clearly this horrible life in captivity thing must
end for the more intelligent creatures.
John Doe
Difficult to feel sorry for an animal that easily kills you when he
gets upset.
:D
Have you ever seen a killer whale throw a seal 30 feet into the air
just for the fun of it?
Save the seals!
John Doe
> Nor should they be forced to perform stunts and tricks with
> human trainers for the sake of our amusement.
That argument is horribly misled. The interaction with people is
probably what orcas live for in captivity. However bad it is,
their lives would be much worse without that stimulation. Also,
you appear to be ignoring the fact that trainers work with them
all day long when Sea World customers are not around.
As if you can force a killer whale to do anything... Besides, if
he gets upset, he eats ya.
:D
> Certainly, I can tell you that when you are on the water in a
> kayak and are approached by a killer whale, there is no doubt
> about the power relationship. You are completely at their mercy.
> And the remarkable thing about killer whales -- both in the
> wild, and in captivity -- is just how merciful they are.
Not according to the seals...
I agree that orcas are great animals that do better in the wild.
But there are zillions of defenseless animals being mistreated and
even tortured in the world. Killer whales are anything but
defenseless.
The issue is just another one-way media "see how much attention we
can get" story.
Chocolate Marble Caek.
><snipped Yada Yada Yada>
>Difficult to feel sorry for an animal that easily kills you when he
>gets upset.
We need more of it. Republican piles of shit should all be killed of the
creatures they torture.
---
Does belief in astrology cause insanity? http://www.skeptictank.org/edm.htm