Hey I have an idea!! Call it short term brilliance, call it Jesus talking, call it what you will, but last night it happened. My brilliant idea.
How about if we stop allowing human beings to get into giant tanks with creatures that weigh over TWELVE THOUSAND POUNDS!!
Tilikum’s DORSAL fin is taller and weighs more than most grown men. Why are we getting into tanks with these creatures? To put on a show? I *kind of* understand the concept of learning about wild animals in order to keep them alive:
“The SeaWorld in-vitro planted, they can now take sperm and eggs and have a baby killer whale. Let’s say 20, 30 years from now, there’s 200 killer whales left in the wild. Let me tell you where we’re going to go: We’re going to go to SeaWorld and see what to do to save this magnificent creature. That’s how valuable it is for what we’re doing with research. I hear all these other people commenting with killer whales. Give me a break. Seaworld are the ones that know more about killer whales, and the millions of dollars they spend this rescuing whales is unbelievable. And we put them back out in the wild. So no one hears about this.”
(CBS News with Jack Hanna)
I understand that keeping whales captive and training them to put on shows attracts people like US who then pay money to see the show and a portion of that money goes back into whale research and rescue. Researchers have already figured out how to artificially inseminate female whales which means we can start doing that instead of plucking more whales from the oceans. Which is nice. I guess. But apparently the captive born whales do not live as long as the wild born ones. I wonder if that’s because they’re NOT SUPPOSED TO BE CAPTIVE. I don’t know. I’m not super smart. That thought just came to me.
Apparently we’ve been plucking whales from the ocean since the 60′s. Can you just imagine what we did to those animals knowing as little we did back then?
Read this:
Ted Griffin, owner of the Seattle Public Aquarium, had dreamed for many years of befriending a killer whale. Killer whales are the largest of the dolphin family, and he was convinced that such a relationship was possible. When Griffin heard of the captured killer whale, he jumped at the opportunity and bought the whale for 8,000 dollars, the cost of replacing the net. He named the whale Namu, after the town if its capture.
The main problem was how to transport Namu 450 miles from Namu B.C. to Seattle, Washington. He solved this problem by building a 60 foot by 40 foot by 16 foot deep floating pen that could be towed by boat to Seattle. The journey southward started in July 1965. When Namu was being towed southward he emitted various scream-like sounds and on the 4th day of the trip, 30-40 killer whales overtook the floating pen and seemingly tried to help Namu. They repeatedly charged the cage, but warned by their built-in sonar they stopped just short of hitting it. After several hours, most of the killer whales disappeared, all except a female and two calves. These three whales were probably Namu’s mother and siblings, and they stayed with Namu for 150 miles.
(Rock Island)
The idea of upsetting thousands of Orcas over the years by killing them, capturing them, “training” them, transporting them, and breaking up their happy families all for the sake of research so that IF they need our help surviving one day we’ll be able to save them strikes me as a little counteractive. In fact these whales tend to live much longer in the ocean: “The lifespan of wild females averages 50 years, with a maximum of 80–90 years.[37] Males become sexually mature at the age of 15 but do not typically reproduce until age 21. Wild males live around 29 years on average, with a maximum of 50–60 years.” (Wikipedia). Wanna know how long captive whales live? “Captive killer whale lifespans are typically significantly shorter, usually less than 25 years, however there are numerous individuals in their thirties, and a couple in their 40s. In many instances, the lifespans of killer whales depend on the will of the animal.” (Wikipedia).
I don’t know about you, but I think the Orcas were doing JUST fine before we started poking our noses in their business.
I was shocked to learn that most of the 42 whales in captivity today were taken from the ocean at 2+ years of age. I guess I just thought they were all having babies in their tanks and we were no longer doing that. I don’t know what the laws are regarding whale capture these days, but Tilicum was two when he was taken and after three human deaths he’s clearly not happy about his new ‘life plan’.
I don’t have all the answers kids. I don’t think we can just toss 42 captive orcas back in the ocean….but maybe we can stop taking them out?? And maybe we should stop treating the ones that ARE captive like giant puppy dogs.
I feel awful for the trainer who was recently killed. I don’t think any of this was her fault. It’s not like she leaped into a tank with that massive creature. I’m sure the trainers love and respect the Orcas they care for, but something went terribly wrong. Warning signs and previous instances of aggressive behavior were ignored so that Sea World could put on a show. Horrible accidents happen, the trainers probably had established trust with Tilicum over the years, possibly justified his previous attacks, whatever the reason…something needs to change.
