Why orcas should not be in captivity

Last month, a new book was published that dives even deeper into the subject, making Blackfish look like a shallow swim by comparison. When I turned to the first page of Beneath The Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish , I expected to read an account purely written to tug at the heart strings, not appeal to a rational brain. I was pleasantly surprised to read a book featuring a healthy mix of gripping narrative and science-based evidence.

It has convinced me that killer whale captivity must be radically changed or perhaps ended entirely. Killer whales, also known as orcas, aren't really whales at all. Though in the same infraorder, Cetacea , they are actually dolphins -- the largest dolphins, in fact. They generally weigh between 6, and 15, pounds when fully grown and stretch 30 feet long from fluke tail to rostrum nose.

In the wild, they are apex predators, hunted by no animal apart from man. In captivity, however, the tides are turned on man.

In the half-century that humans have kept orcas in tanks, there have been dozens of documented incidents of aggression, resulting in six deaths. In the book, Hargrove's personal experiences, including many firsthand accounts of orca aggression, take center stage.

Though she only lasted a few days, it is believed that she died by smashing herself against the glass walls of her tank. The next whale to be taken was Moby Doll. In , The Vancouver Aquarium had decided it wanted to be the best in the world by introducing a new Killer Whale exhibit. At the beginning it was supposed to just be a model, not a live animal. At the time it was believed they were too dangerous to study alive so the owner, Murray Newman, took his rifle and planned to go kill one himself and use to help build his model.

It took a while to get one but eventually one was caught, but it did not die from the shot. Newman decided that it would be more valuable to him alive so a makeshift cage was built to hold the whale until a proper pen could be constructed. Fairing better than Wanda, Moby lasted a few months, unexpectedly as the keepers thought since the whale had been eating it was healthy. However, according to NOAA, in just the first decade of capturing killer whales the population dropped 30 per cent.

The life span expectations of killer whales differs based on the gender. I hope that people are able to release the killer whales. There is a lot of hate for aquariums, and for a good reason. We need to help save our marine life!

First the orcas are untrained so they would go through a complicated life and secondly the marine park would have to take down the orca pool and replace it which would take alot of money. Get thousands of vegan, allergy-friendly recipes in the palm of your hands today!

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