Black Fish Argumentative Essay

“Killer” Whales Over thirty years and three deaths have occurred at the marine park SeaWorld, Keltie Byrne, Dawn Brancheau, and Daniel P. Dukes. The media blew up about the aggressive behaviors of the whales; killing innocent trainers. SeaWorld San Antonio alone is responsible for fourteen deaths of Orcas in the past thirty years. Where is the media's articles for the deaths of Winnie, Kahana and Kortar? Three orcas of the fourteen that have died in the care of SeaWorld's facility. There are two sides of every argument, in particular SeaWorld. Should animals be held captive for research and entertainment or should they be only held for rehabilitation purposes and released? SeaWorld currently holds twenty-two Orcas in each of its three
parks. Releasing the whales who have been held in captivity for a long time have an almost impossible chance of survival due to its health conditions from living in captivity, and it being treated as a house pet instead of letting it prey on its own food. An example of an Orca being released back into the wild is Keiko. Keiko was the star of the movie “Free Willy”, who was in captivity for twenty-one years before the media went on a rant about whales needing to be free. “ The wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage, he is in front of it.” Axel Munther quoted. SeaWorld took action in setting Keiko free, babysitting him for two years before letting him go wild in a cove in Iceland. Within fifteen months Keko died from Pneumonia from going from warm chemical tanks to icy, frigid waters. “They really do die quickly and there was nothing we could do. ... It’s a really sad moment for us, but we do believe we gave him a chance to be in the wild,” Nick Braden, a spokesman of the humane society said. In other words, SeaWorld claims to have no take in the death of Keiko. In the wild Orcas are expected to live an average of thirty to fifty years and a maximum of sixty to seventy years.
The average age of death of an Orca at SeaWorld is thirteen years.“No Aquarium, no tank in the marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions in the sea.” Jacques-yves Cousteau said in the film, “Blackfish.” Who would want to go to marine parks knowing that the animals captive there are dying more rapidly than those in the wild? In other words, SeaWorld's tanks cannot compare to the ocean, the tanks at SeaWorld are approximately three-hundred and fifty feet long. The average size of an Orca is twenty to thirty feet long, though in the wild an Orca travels more than one-hundred miles a day. A whale would have to swim one thousand two-hundred and eight laps a day in a tank that size to reach the amount of miles an average Orca swims in the wild. “Life in cramped tanks is no prize for Orcas and Dolphins, who want to be free with their families in the ocean,” Bob Barker quoted. The male Orcas in SeaWorld all have collapsed dorsal fins, which is not common in the wild. A collapsed dorsal fin is a sign of a unhealthy or injured Orca. Most of the whales are injured from the other whales that live in the tanks along with them. Living in such confined spaces creates tension among the whales which leads to attacks against each other. In the ocean, there is a vast amount of space for the whales to eventually flee. Although in the tank,
there is a limited amount of space which leads to injuries and sometimes even death. Tickets at SeaWorld for an average family of four for three days alone is at least four-hundred dollars or more, not including food, gifts or entertainment. Entertainment is about sixty dollars for seating in the shows, not including the rides. Taking the average dollar spent for the marine animals is around six-hundred dollars, just for an average family. SeaWorld makes over a billion dollars per year for the shows alone. When thinking about a facility that makes over a billion dollars a year on only one part of it's entertainment, it’s easy to believe that the Orcas are living in these conditions. The media boasts about the beautiful shows that the Orcas perform , saying how everyone should go to SeaWorld to be apart of the experience. “Shamus last performance, a must see experience.” Times Magazine quoted in it’s article about Orcas. With the media boasting the great features of the park, the audience is going to continue to grow. In conclusion, SeaWorld makes most of it’s profits from the Orcas. Even though the Orcas are mistreated, underfed, neglected proper social and medical sessions, the main concern is the audience. With the income they make, the whales will continue to perform until the media and the people realize it is time to stop the neglect that occurs at Marine parks such as SeaWorld.