

Since 1961, orcas have been captured and kept in captivity for the entertainment of humans. People go to SeaWorld to see how these cetaceans act in their "natural" environment. The only problem is that holding such a large animal in a small tank is not anywhere close to their natural environment. Beloved orca, Tilikum was captured in 1983 and lived in captivity for over 30 years. In his span of captivity, Tilikum has taken the lives of three trainers. First, in 1991 trainer, Keltie Byrne fell in to the tank and was dragged down to the bottom of the pool where she was tossed around by all three of the orcas in the tank until she drowned. It took her fellow employees two hours to retrieve her corpse from the orcas. The next incident occurred in 1999, when Daniel Dukes was killed by Tilikum. The final straw for Tilikum was when he murdered SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010. Tilikum pulled her into the tank by her pony tail and began to swing her around in his mouth causing fatal head, neck, and torso trauma (Rechburg). Following this incident, the public decided it was necessary for SeaWorld to provide answers as to why this orca had become so aggressive. Thus, the debate on whether or not orcas should be held in captivity began. Advocates against SeaWorld have been trying to come up with a plan to end live performances and the capturing of wild orcas for years, but in 2014, the Animal Welfare Institute proposed the Orca Welfare and Safety Act in California to end captive breeding and capturing wild orcas which is a major legislation attempt that could change the way captive animals are treated in captivity. San Diego SeaWorld should adopt this bill to better the well being of captive orcas. 

The goal of this policy proposal is to protect the welfare of captive orcas and keep SeaWorld's trainers free from harm. Four deaths have been accounted for by captive orcas, three of which were caused by Tilikum, the 22-foot long 1200-pound cetacean. Robert Bloom introduced AB2140, the Orca Welfare and Safety Act, which would "make it unlawful for orcas intended to be used for performance or entertainment purposes, to breed or impregnate an orca in captivity, or to export, collect, or import from another state" (California legislation). It was first introduced at the Committee of Water, Parks, and Wildlife in April of 2014. There was no vote and the bill was referred to interim study, so that the members could learn more about the bill and decide on their final verdict whether to pass it or not. Since the bill was brought up at the committee, over 1.2 million online signatures have been collected in favor of the bill, and the number continues to rise (Rose, voice of the orcas). The bill will be reintroduced in 2016, so there will be a decision this year according to the committee.

This legislation would ban the public display of orcas, captive breeding, and the export and import of orcas from other states (California Legislature). If this bill was to be passed the orca entertainment business would die out in a couple years due to the strict regulations put upon capturing and transporting orcas. The orcas would benefit from this because they would not have to do live shows roughly eight times a day, seven days a week, resulting in lower stress (SeaWorldofHurt). Experts believe that the reason Tilikum was so violent was because he was exhausted from performing so many times a week for thirty years, and he became very agitated. Another solution coming from this bill has to do with the ending of captive breeding. Orcas will no longer be artificially inseminated by an unknown source for the continuation of live orca shows for generations to come. Therefore, since the breeding will cease, the number of orcas living in captivity will decrease as well. Also, the mother orca will not have to see her calves get taken away from her to be moved to a different tank. If captive breeding was to stop, then the calf will not have to grow up and spend its whole life living in inadequate conditions. Overall, if this bill was to be passed in California, the San Diego SeaWorld would have to abide by it, and the other SeaWorld's around the country will ultimately follow suit by popular demand of the public.

Although the Orca Welfare and Safety Act presents a strong argument, and a reputable plan to better the lives of captive orcas, some people believe that the bill will do more harm than good. Critics believe that the problem of adequate living conditions is the major issue that must be addressed, but they believe they should still be able to capture orcas from the wild and take calves away from their mothers for entertainment and financial gain. Their argument relates back to educating the public about animals that they may not ever see in the wild. They also believe that if the bill was passed to shut down San Diego's main attraction, then the California economy will suffer (Nguyen, DailyTitan). Marine biologists say that orcas could not survive outside the park without human due to their dependence on humans. For orcas who know nothing other than what humans do for them, it will be difficult for them to adapt and fend for themselves in the wild (Masunaga, L.A Times). The story of Keiko is the most relevant example of this phenomenon. Keiko was captured in 1979 off the coast of Iceland and performed in theme parks until she was relocated to a sea pen in 1998. Keiko escaped the sea pen and swam up an inlet in Norway and was found playing with children and fishermen. A few months later Keiko died due to acute pneumonia. This occurrence is why some SeaWorld trainers believe that sea pens were not a safe environment for orcas (Masunaga, L.A Times). Though the critics critics of this bill do make some relevant points, the fact is that the less orcas living in captivity, the better off the species will be as a whole. I believe natural selection should take its course for these orcas, because dying in captivity basically as a prisoner after roughly 20 years is one much worse than dying in freedom in the same amount of time. Orcas have been on this planet adapting to their natural environment for millions of years acquiring advantageous traits to help them thrive; they have no such trait for the adaptation for living in captivity. 

Orca's lifestyle in captivity is inadequate for their normal behavior. Orcas live in tight nit family units known as pods in the wild (Marine Mammals in Captivity), and when one is plucked away from their family, it causes severe turmoil for the whole pod. 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 causing severe aggression and fights between the orcas living in captivity. In captivity, orcas are fed for performing well and it all depends on the trainer for whether or not the orcas get fed or not. Obviously this is not natural, but neither is just about anything else that happens at SeaWorld. Forced breeding is another unnatural phenomenon that occurs behind closed doors at these theme parks. Breeding success is an indicator of how well a species can handle captivity and in all aquariums in all the years that sexually mature pairs of orcas have been in captivity, only four births have happened before 1986, three of which with the same parents, all dead within a month (Randall, 449). Also, orcas in captivity "show repetitive rubbing against tanks, some have teeth worn down to a pulp ...  that results in pain in their teeth having to be flushed out everyday to avoid infection. It becomes a whole cycle of harm for these animals" (Lori Marino). In captivity, orcas receive little to no stimulation of any kind, they just swim in circles around their tank or float on top of the water until they are called to perform. After Tilikum murdered Brancheau, marine activist Colleen Gorman, observed SeaWorld's treatment and she claimed him to be the loneliest whale in the world. She observed that he was kept away from the other whales, fed rarely, and received very little attention from the zoological staff. This isolationism may be the reason for Tilikums violent actions towards trainers. He was simply bored and looking for anything to stimulate himself so he turned to aggression for that means. Life expectancy is also a major reason why orcas do not belong in captivity; the average for orcas in the wild is 30- 50 years with a maximum expectancy of over 80 years. While in captivity, the average life expectancy is only 13 years old (PETA, SeaWorldofHurt). Living in captivity is inadequate for their normal life style.

Studies show that orcas are highly intelligent and emotional animals. "Neuroscientist Lori Marino explored the brain of a dead killer whale with an MRI and found an extreme potential for intelligence" (Spear, Phys.org). Orcas have the second largest brain among all ocean mammals.  "Scientists use brain-weight-to-body-weight ratios as a rough measure of intelligence." "Orcas' brains are 2  one-half  times average  --  similar to those of chimpanzees" (Spear, Phs.org). It is known that chimpanzees are humans closest relative to the animal world, and there has been legislation passed to remove chimps from captivity along with laboratories for testing (Silverstein, 541). With scientific analysis we now understand that chimps and orca's have very similar intelligence so why shouldn't orcas receive the same special treatment that chimps now receive? Another similarity between whales and humans is that we share the same five senses; touch, taste, hear, smell, and sight (Friedrich, WashingtonPost). Since chimps are our closest relative in terms of intelligence and orcas and chimps are very similar in terms of intelligence, then orcas should receive the same benefits that chimps do now, either being released into the wild, or being placed in a wildlife sanctuary where they can live a more natural life than being trapped in a cage, or small holding tank. 

An orca's life in the wild is the only way for an orca to live to their full potential. Performing in front of large crowd's multiple times a day, everyday is not considered showing potential. They live an artificial lifestyle, inside an artificial environment, being fed artificial dead frozen fish, and being surrounded by an artificial family. In the wild, orcas are free to live how they want and not on a set schedule. Orcas are very emotional animals and usually live within their pods for their entire lives. Even when a male reaches maturity, he may still be right by his mother's side. Each pod uses a different communication method; the main method is echo communication which has been perfected over millions of years. They use this mainly to hunt in groups and take down large amounts of prey using this same technique (Marine Mammals in Captivity). Orcas in the wild hunt in groups and eat a variety of fish and invertebrates, but in captivity they are fed a limited variety of dead frozen fish, usually for positive reinforcement during training. Orcas from many different pods with many different forms of communication can not communicate well with one another, therefore aggressive tendencies are likely to follow.  The fact that a known orca has been discovered that lived 140 years in the wild and the average life expectancy in captivity is merely 13 years old no matter what age the orca was captured is appalling. Scientists believe that the reason for this is, diseases that are spread throughout the tank between orcas in captivity. These diseases may result from stress, boredom, or loneliness which are three basic understandings of orcas living in captivity (Randall, 449). 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). With the evidence presented, the Orca Welfare and Safety Act will absolutely be a step in the right direction for the ultimate enhanced well being of captive orcas, along with the ending of entertainment based shows and captive breeding of orcas.

The solution for the proposal created by the Animal Welfare Institute will positively affect the orcas now living in captivity, along with the future diminishing of holding orca's captive at aquariums and theme parks. The bill will ban SeaWorld from using orcas at shows in its San Diego theme park. It will make it illegal to "hold in captivity, or use, a wild- caught or captive-bred orca for performance or entertainment purposes" (Kirby, DeathatSeaworld). These news accommodations will help captive orcas by lowering an orcas stress levels because they will not have to perform shows consistently on a daily basis. Thus, disease will not be as abundant within the tanks. The bill also will ban the artificial insemination of killer whales in California and ban the import of orca semen from other states (California Legislature). This will help the orcas because there will no longer be orca's born and raised in captivity. Calves will not be plucked from their new mothers while in captivity which causes severe stress on both the mother and her calf. These solutions alone will drastically change the health and well being of orcas living in captivity

 Just having this bill passed by the California Legislature would be a huge step in the right direction for ending all marine mammal performances and captivity. This bill would just be the start off point for other bills to be passed to enhance the well being of captive marine mammals. "There is no justification for the continued captive display of orcas for entertainment purposes," Robert Bloom said in a statement. "These beautiful creatures are much to large and far too intelligent to be confined in small, concrete tanks for their entire lives" (Bloom, 2014). Bloom, being the lawmaker who created the Orca welfare and Safety Act proves some very critical points with those two quotes. There is no jurisdiction except for SeaWorld to take its customers money by offering them a "natural showing" of marine mammals. Studies show that orcas are just as intelligent as chimpanzees who are humans closest relative, and now chimps have been taken away from their cages and released to sanctuaries, just like orca's should be doing now. Orcas are far too large to live in such tiny tanks, and living with multiple orcas from different pods from around the world destroys any social interaction that could be salvaged between the species in captivity. The only interaction to be had is violence. Life expectancy for orcas living in captivity is a merely 13 years in U.S theme parks where as the life expectancy of wild orcas is over four times that amount. 

