
Orcas and dolphins have been living on earth for millions of years, much longer than us humans so they have had to adapt to a lot more than us such as echo location, very good hearing, and a four chamber heart as opposed to two for more blood flow throughout their body to be able to survive today. Unfortunately, there is no way for them to create an advantageous trait for living in captivity because they are not supposed to live in that manner. The first orca to be captured and showed for live display was in at the San Diego SeaWorld in the 1960's. Since then, orcas and dolphins have been hunted down and captured by people for amusement of the theme parks. This was the start to a huge controversy regarding the treatment of these captive cetaceans. To this day, there are activists that want to see SeaWorld shut down and all of the marine animals to be released into the wild (WDC & WCA). The research question that interests me the most is; what are the physical and mental affects of orcas and dolphins living in captivity? 

Orcas are very social and loving creatures in the wild and this can be proven by studies that show how orcas usually live in pods with their immediate family for their entire lives along with hunting. This loving relationship is most prevalent between a mother and her offspring. The mother raises her young offspring just like a human mother would. Orcas teach their young how to communicate and hunt. The baby stays by its mother's side for many years until it is mature enough to branch out and do things on its own. 

When babies are taken away from their mothers in the wild, there have been cases of the mother orca following the boat that took it for miles. There are stories of the crew hearing the cries of the mother trying to get her baby back. While in captivity, the orcas do not have the luxury of choosing who they spend their time with so they do not usually get along for long. To compare the orca's situation living in captivity; it would be like putting a group of people into a room of all different races, languages, and cultures and telling them that "this is who you have to live with for the rest of your life, so you better get along.". Being put in this situation makes for a lot of stressful situations within the tank, along with the mental deprivation of being taken away from their family. Another negative psychological effect for orcas living in captivity would be the confinement that they undergo when they are not doing performances. The orcas are fed for performing well, and punished with a lack of food for not being perfect. After the shows end, the orcas are put into holding pools with the other orcas where there is no way to escape. In turn, this causes them to become aggressive toward one another. These aggressive tendencies put stress not only mentally, but also does severe physical damage to the orca (Marine Mammals in Captivty). 

In the wild, orcas can swim up to 100 miles a day, whereas in captivity, they can only swim a fraction of that distance. For orcas to swim their average amount in the wild, they would have to swim 1,208 laps around the largest tank at any SeaWorld (PETA2). Orcas live in large groups known as pods. They are tight knit family groups who stay together for their entire life times (Marine mammals in Captivity). Capturing just one wild orca disrupts the entire pod (Marine Animal Exhibits: Chlorinated Prisons). These animals do not belong in a shallow tank at an amusement park, they belong in the wild living their lives peacefully with their families. Orcas communicate in the wild to hunt large schools of bait fish through echo location. They create strategies within their pods to filter the fish into their fellow pod members for them to feed, and then they switch so everyone can get their fill.

Physical damage can occur to captive orcas due to being around fellow orcas, the tank itself, and the chemicals that are put into the shallow tanks. For example, because of high chlorine levels in their tanks, dolphins at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida lost the ability to open their eyes and their skin began to peel off. The Oklahoma City Zoo was forced to terminate its dolphin exhibit after four dolphins died within two years due to bacterial infections (Marine Animal Exhibits: Chlorinated prisons). The orcas have become so frustrated with living in captivity that they seemingly commit suicide. There have been instances where orcas have repeatedly rammed their heads into the side of the concrete tank causing severe head trauma and leading to their death. In other cases, orcas have risen to the surface of the tank and began chewing on the side of the tanks until they grind down all of their teeth. Other cases inform us that some orcas refuse to come up for air so they drown themselves in the pool to end their misery of being captive (Marine Animal Exhibits: Chlorinated Prisons). 

You would think that orcas living in captivity would have a longer average life span than the orcas in the wild because they are free of predators and pollution, but the reality of the matter is different. On average, orcas living in the wild usually live between 30 to 50 years, where as orcas living in captivity are lucky if they make it to their 13 years (PETA2). Every captive male orca has a collapsed dorsal fin due to their tank confinement and the inability to swim freely for long distances (PETA2). 

There are currently 2,360 cetaceans in captivity worldwide. More than 5,000 cetaceans have died in captivity since the 1950's (Work for Whales and Dolphins in Captivity). If these cetaceans continue to parish while being in captivity, why has there not been legislation passed to free these tortured animals back to the wild? The answer is money. SeaWorld is a one-billion-dollar corporation that brings in millions of tourists every year. Although there are multiple activists pushing to get legislation passed for their freedom, their numbers just aren't high enough to have an impact at this time. The people who have the authority to make a change is the governments around the world. They have the power but not the support to free these animals. Activist groups such as the WDC (Whales and Dolphins Conservation) and WCA (World Cetacean Alliance) are trying their hardest to gain support with government for them to support their cause. For example, in 2012 the WDC took 30,000 origami dolphins to present to the European Parliament in support of their campaign to end captivity across Europe. Croatia and Slovenia have already banned the capture of whales and dolphins in their countries (Captivity). Hopefully in the future, everyone will come together and take down these large corporations and free the captive orcas and dolphins living in their imprisonment.

