Seaworld controversy

[blackdragon71]

Something I think that has been missing from this conversation is the fact that many of these orcas are thrust into social groups that they have no real means of fitting into. Orcas are familial and social animals, and each pod in the wild has its own hierarchy and language. The sounds that a Northern Pacific group makes are not what a North Atlantic or Antarctic group would make. The animals at Sea World and other containment areas are often a mishmash of orcas from completely unrelated pods and geographical areas, and therefore, the only reason these animals are together at all is because they have no choice. It is similar to people from different language groups and cultures being tossed together in a room with no doors and very little space to call their own- how will they learn to communicate or work together, unless they find some sort of common signal or language system.

Since humans at least have the capability to think around a situation like that by intelligent means, aggression and violence are probably a last resort. Orcas have no means of learning language and social behavior that is not taught to them from the moment they are born. Even young calves have already been imprinted by their mothers and their family pod by the time they are captured and removed, their instinct already to communicate with that particular group and live as they do. They have adapted to their current situation, but I don't believe it's been an altogether positive thing for them, because not only are they aggressive toward their human trainers, but toward each other. They get bored very easily. Some of the death caused by them may have been that "aggression" they take out on their prey, i.e., the playing with it, because play is a means of how they learn to work together to find enough food to feed the entire pod. How do you tell a six-ton predator the difference between showtime and downtime? How do you explain to your 'pod' that they have to learn to get along and play nice with each other, when they can't even speak to one another? Who of us wouldn't get a little frustrated in a similar situation?

Do I think that SeaWorld takes care of their hunger and medical needs? Sure. They have a lot of money invested in their star attractions, and it behooves them to do so. But emotionally and mentally, well, no. Who really can, when the bottom line is the entertainment of humans, rather than the conservation and study of said critters? That's what marks SeaWorld and other marine parks different from many zoos, in my mind. As another poster said, the only tank big enough to really contain the needs and instincts of these animals to hunt and socialize with their own kind, is the open ocean.