The topic of whales in captivity, specifically at SeaWorld, has recently become a very controversial topic in the media after the release of the 2013 film Blackfish. It is interesting that something once brought people so much joy and entertainment is now being recognized as something extremely negative. I have always been a person that loves animals and I believe that they deserve to live out in their natural habitat. The thought of an animal as majestic as a whale being forced into a confined space is personally heartbreaking and unfair to the giant creatures. As someone that has always taken a great interest in the well-being of animals, I have spent much time researching the effects of captivity of whales and what it will not only do to the whales specifically, but also to the environment as a whole by reading many articles and also by watching the film Blackfish which focuses on the danger of captivity.

The first source that I found takes a stand against the captivity of orca whales by describing the consequences that orca whales face while in captivity by giving the facts of how they are treated. It also discusses how keeping these creatures in captivity affects the entire species. The Fate of Captive Orca's article is partially presented, only showing the negative effects of captivity. The Fate of Captive Whales article was written in December of 2015, giving the most recent and updated facts. There is no author mentioned but it is published on us.whales.org, a credible organization with the reputation of collecting proper facts about conserving marine life. us.whales.org is an organization that works towards preserving marine life, specifically dolphins and whales. Since they work so hard to fix this issue, they are clearly biased against the captivity of these killer whales. My second search I knew I needed to find opinionated news, so us.whales.org was perfect. "Negative effects of whales in captivity" led me to the argumentative article.

Coming in the following year, there will no longer be killer whale shows as a result of SeaWorld's attempt to send a message based on conservation. It discusses how the company has struggled to attract visitors since the release of the film Blackfish and how they plan to try and get back on track. The SeaWorld San Diego Ending Controversial Killer Whale Shows article is an informative piece that shows the complete focus of the situation at hand for SeaWorld. The SeaWorld San Diego Ending Controversial Killer Whale Shows article, written in November of 2015,  gives recent facts but since the killer whale shows were not supposed to end until 2016, it does not give a realistic view of what SeaWorld is actually doing to improve their situation or the situation of their animals. Natasha Geiling is the author and since she has been selected by thinkprogress.org, a reliable source itself, she becomes credible due to association with the organization. thinkprogress.org is strictly an informative website that just puts the facts in front of the reader with little to no bias. I first searched for "Whales in captivity" which led me to the thinkprogress.org website. I figured with such a prevalent issue that I would have no issues finding the meat of the issue rather than opinions. 

My third source talks about the ruling in California that states that SeaWorld may not breed animals in captivity. Representatives from SeaWorld discuss how the park will be affected in the future due to this decision. The main claim of this article is that it is unfair that these animals in captivity cannot breed because it is natural for them to do so.  The SeaWorld barred from breeding whales in captivity article was written in October of 2015 which gives recent facts but since the killer whale breeding had not been put into effect when the article was written, it does not give a realistic view of what SeaWorld is actually doing to about their breeding situation.

I am against the captivity of whales which makes me side in with thinkprogress.org news. This research showed me SeaWorld's effort to decrease the deaths of orca whales held in captivity. If I were to change this project I would've collected information which fuels both sides such as other organizations that work to preserve whales lives. The source from the us.whales.org could be useful to present and then uncover the exact reason for those specific actions. For example I could find a time where a whale in a show died only hours later. 

