It has brought to the attention of millions of people the fact that a household name such as SeaWorld may have significant problems with one of the things it is renowned for doing - display of orcas for public entertainment
2. Do you think "Blackfish"'s portrayal of SeaWorld was accurate? Why or why not?
Yes. It talked about a lot of things groups like WDC have been trying to raise awareness of for many years and it's based on trainer testimony and footage of events
3. SeaWorld recently filed an appeal against the new ruling that trainers must be behind a barrier while interacting with the orcas- how do you feel about this law and what do you think the chances of SeaWorld winning the appeal are?
We support what OSHA is trying to do - address safety concerns for trainers interacting with captive orcas. It's difficult to say whether SeaWorld will win its appeal or not. OSHA has a very good case.
4. In what physical and/or psychological ways are orcas affected by captivity?
Orcas fare particularly poorly in captivity. Captive orcas suffer much lower survival rates than their wild counterparts, with an annual mortality rate which is more than two and half times higher in captivity than in the wild. Furthermore, captive orca survivorship has actually grown worse in the last decade, in spite of any improvements that might have been made in terms of husbandry and veterinary care. Even captive-born orcas have only reached a maximum age of 25 years. In the wild, male orcas live to an average of 30 years (maximum 50-60 years) and females, 46 years (maximum 80-90 years). At least forty-four orcas have died at SeaWorld parks, including four within four months in 2010.
The most common causes of death among orcas in captivity are pneumonia, septicemia and other types of infection. Information is now coming to light about how these lethal infections may be a result of poor dental health caused by gnawing on concrete walls or steel gates due to aggression towards other animals or boredom. These kinds of problem are not seen in wild orcas, nor is another cause of death of some captive orcas which is now being revealed - mosquito borne viruses from mosquito bites suffered as the captive orcas "log" at the pool surface.
Orcas cause physical harm to one another and to their trainers, they live shorter lives than their wild counterparts and they are subject to mental and physical illness and disease not seen in the wild.
5. What social effects can you imagine the public experiencing if animal captivity ceased to exist? In your opinion, would this be a negative or positive change and why?
Zoos and aquaria are popular family activities and without them families would have to seek other forms of entertainment such as responsible wildlife viewing or artificial animal displays such as IMAX, animatronics, dry dive experiences and others. With these kind of displays educating people about whales and dolphins, for example, there may actually be more of an opportunity to educate people about wild whales and dolphins versus seeing a captive whale or dolphin who is a very poor portrayal of their counterparts in the wild. So I think this would be a positive change. And there is so much that can be done with all the fantastic footage and other technologies we have available to us, without the need for live whale and dolphin displays.
6. What are some positive steps SeaWorld could take to improve the quality of life of the captive mammals?
Commit to ending its displays of whales and dolphins and instead investing in sanctuaries that would see them retired from performance and entertainment in a more natural environment or even rehabilitated for release into the wild.
________________________________________
Cathy Williamson
Captivity programme manager
No comments:
Post a Comment