whales

Baig 1

Emily Baig
Watkins
Language Arts Advance Period 5

Tropicana Speech

“Those who become trainers because they love the animals, usually end up leaving for the exactly the same reason.” An anonymous ex SeaWorld trainer once said those words. Many people think that orca whales should not be in captivity. But others think it is a good idea to have orcas in captivity so that people who can’t go out in see them in the wild can learn about them in theme parks or aquariums. In my opinion, I think it is a bad idea to have orca whales in captivity. For one thing the orca whales that are in captivity tend to have many problems. Also, many of the amusement parks like SeaWorld tell many of their employee’s lies about the whales. Last, the way the parks get and treat their orcas is not good. I agree that it is amazing to see orcas but it is not fun to see the population of orcas decrease in the wild.

Baig 2

The orcas that are kept in captivity tend to have more problems. Studies show, that in the wild orcas estimated maximum lifespan is 60 to 70 years for males and 80 to over 100 years old for females. But orcas in captivity only live up to 30 to 35 years of age. Many male orcas have a collapsed dorsal fin, it is because they have no space to swim freely and are feed an unnatural diet of thawed dead fish. It can also be a sign of depression. The tanks the orcas are put in are too small for them. An orca at SeaWorld would have to swim 1,900 times in one day to swim the same distance they swim in the wild. With these facts, it is obvious that life in captivity is not good for orca whales.

Many trainers are excited to work with the orcas at the amusement parks, but little do they know, those amusement parks are most of the time telling their workers lies. For example, in the movie Black Fish many former SeaWorld trainers say that the amusement parks tell them lies about the orcas and how all of the problems that they have from being in captivity is normal. They tell them that the whales are better off in captivity and they have fewer problems when they are with the amusement parks. They tell them that it is safe for them to interact in the water with the whales. Well, there have been three human deaths from one of SeaWorld’s male orcas, Tilikum. Many people think that the orcas in captivity tend to kill their trainers because they are in depression or they think their trainers are a threat to them. Trainers need to be told the truth upfront when working with these animals!
Baig 3

Amusement parks may seem like they treat their orcas well but the way the get the whales or the way they treat their whales at the park. Many people don’t know how they get their whales; they track the whales and follow them with speedboats and helicopters. Once they get to the whales, they put a net around the baby whales and they put them on to the boat. The amusement parks also don’t treat the whales the right way. If a whale has a baby orca and the park thinks it is distracting the whale from the shows they will take the baby whale away from the mom. Last the orcas in the wild eat, fish, squid, seals, sea lions, penguins, dolphins, porpoises and large whales like the blue whale. But in the amusement parks the whales tend to eat dead thawed fish as their diet. If keeping a dog outside is animal abuse then taking a whale from its natural habitat should be too.

An anonymous ex SeaWorld trainer once said, “Those who become trainers because they love the animals, usually end up leaving for the exactly the same reason.” Orca whales that are in captivity tend to have many problems. Also, many of the amusement parks like SeaWorld tell many of their employee’s lies about the whales. Last, the way the parks get and treat their orcas is not good. I agree that it is amazing to see orcas but it is not fun to see the population of orcas decrease in the wild.