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SeaWorld: My Recommendations

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SeaWorld is making changes, that is a fact. In my book, these changes are good. Clearly, they could not provide an environment that closely mimicked a spacious ocean with depth that whales thrive in. While they couldn't just get rid of the whales, they could have made better environments. While I do admit that SeaWorld gained a lot of knowledge about these animals and their behaviors through this program, the whales have indeed suffered. I also understand through my research why they must keep their current killer whales. Since they were born in captivity, they will not thrive or survive in the wild. I do believe that if they continue to foster these animals as they are, they will die prematurely. I believe that they should build bigger tanks to help mimic their known habitat. They should also install more habit breaking activities to keep the whales from boredom and hurting themselves. Once the shows stop, hopefully the whales are more receptive to the calmness of their live...
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SeaWorld: What do other people have to say?

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A lot of people from around the internet, animal right activists (PETA), and in business have given their reactions of SeaWorld's response to the rumors and requests. We'll also be exploring how news outlets and the public responded when SeaWorld announced it was done breeding killer whales and phasing out it's killer whale shows. Voice of San Diego, a reputable nonprofit news organization, starts off their article by saying SeaWorld's response to the accusations have been a, " long, strange series of responses". This source says that Blackfish  was a catalyst to launch the wide spread outrage of SeaWorld's tactics. The article continues to point out how SeaWorld's responses to the outrage caused by Blackfish  change and are outrageous at times. They point out that one of their more blunt statements, " This ticket price cut and decline in visitors has nothing to do with Blackfish ". SeaWorld was defensive on all fronts and seemed to be ...
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SeaWorld: What do they have to say?

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After Blackfish  came out, SeaWorld had a lot of turmoil to work through. Blackfish  revealed more information about Tilikum (the killer whale involved in the trainer's death) and SeaWorld's treatment of animals. SeaWorld of course, justifies these accusations for various reasons. I'll examine some of the accusations and then how SeaWorld responds. Accusation #1 : Killer whales' dorsal fins are an indicator of their overall health.  Several resources online claim that a bent dorsal fin (the top fin) indicates that a whale is in poor health. SeaWorld releases a statement on their website along with this short informational video (see below).  Accusation #2 : SeaWorld drills killer whales teeth without anesthesia when they become broken (read more about why they break here ). SeaWorld does not provide shade for the whales and even though they get sunburned, they pigment their orcas to cover it up.  SeaWorld responds to this by beating around th...
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SeaWorld: The History

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SeaWorld is part of a larger organization called SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. SeaWorld has three locations with amusement parks. They are located in Orlando, Florida, San Diego, California, and San Antonio Texas. They once even had a park in Ohio, but due to the inclement weather it closed in 2001.  SeaWorld originally opened in 1964 in San Diego and had over 440,000 visitors in their first year. They employ over 23,000 employees worldwide. SeaWorld's Animals SeaWorld Parks are known for the exotic animals visitors can view and sometimes even touch. They own thousands of animals of all varieties, not just aquatic. However, this does not consist of any animals that they have or are treating outside of the parks. The main attraction at any of the SeaWorld parks are the killer whales (also known as orcas). They currently have 22 killer whales in their parks and you can read more info about each of those whales here  (including their location and birth date). Below, yo...
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SeaWorld: The Captive Dilemma

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Sea World was established in San Diego opened up in March of 1964. The early Sea World park consisted of dolphins and sea lions. The Orlando location opened up in 1973, the Texas brand opened in 1988. While Sea World has been around for many years, they have faced several ethical dilemmas. Sea World is the main event when it comes to the ethical issue of keeping animals in captivity. The Issue The issue with animals in captivity is that it the environment in which the facility creates is typically not exactly like their natural habitat. Especially with aquatic animals, it is hard to mimic the spacious ocean they are meant to be living in. In Sea World's case they defend their purpose of keeping animals captive by using scientific research goals. At the end of this post I have included several links that discuss Sea World's actions and effects on the animals.  How it Came into the Spotlight Sea World hasn't been a spotlight in the media in a couple of years, ...
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