Ok... So Shamu, the KILLER whale, kills the trainer... PETA think this gives them an edge? I hope this is a joke...
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According to a recent report by Casandra Armour (http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978067010&grpId=3659174697244816), PETA is once again freaking out...
This time PETA is speaking out against Sea World for training and imprisoning their animals, stripping them of their right to freedom. PETA spokesman Logan Scherer says that the whales are angry and lashing out because they aren't free.
Their view supposedly "gained strength" (good joke), when 40 year old Dawn Brancheau was killed by a trained Orca at Sea World yesterday. PETA and Sea World audiences were both in shock of course. Now I'd just like everyone to remember... another name for Orca is Killer Whale!
Three Picture Orca Familiarity Album... Look Closely
Let the records show that the trainers are only fighting fate when they climb in the water with their Killer Whale Kin.
Killer Whales hunt dolphins and seals in the wild. So it makes sense that the trainers at Sea World wear wetsuits that both keep them warm... and make a great seal disguise...
...and why not? Lets train the Killer Whales to perform tricks where they balance seal disguised people on the tip of their jaws!
PETA, you stage more worthless arguments than a YouTube video's comment section. Your pathetic excuse of an organization needs to seriously re-evaluate the goals and strategies of the platform.
Sea World trainers know that they face danger when they come to work to... TRAIN KILLER WHALES!
These animals are treated well in captivity. The PETA argument that the whales, "are lashing out because they have been forced into subservience," is completely ludicrous. The whales lash out because it's in their nature... AS KILLER WHALES!
What does PETA suggest as an alternative to Sea World keeping live whales in captivity for entertainment? Robotic Orcas! Who wants to go to Sea World to see fake whales? Ha, maybe next year we will be taking a vote on whale's suffrage voting rights.
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wow these animals have an amazing bond with their owners you can tell that when you watch the show they love them and the trainers love being with them. Yeah it would be better for them to be in the wild but these animals are bred in captivity they are taken from their pod and they are loved and cared for every day with vets on hand in case the killer whale becomes ill, and an animal nutritionalist making sure their diet is healthy for them and makes sure they get plenty to eat
Killer whales are SERIOUSLY mistreated in captivity. Whether or not their trainers love them, the killer whales don't care. Killer whales are naturally socil animals and they want to be together. The emotional stress of being taken from a pod is awful for them.
And also, think about how big killer whales are. Killer whales are soooo much bigger than we are, and yet would we imagine living in a place so small as what we are forcing them to live in? Would you not fight back if you were them?
Also, previous comments say that to stop the killer whales from breeding would be a breach of their natural instincts. Scientists at Sea World and other places have been performing artificial insemination on the killer whales to keep breeding them so they have more and more killer whales in their facilities. Nobody can say that that's a breach of their natural instincts. Artificial Insemination is DISGUSTING, it's INHUMANE, and that's what they are doing.
Obviously, we can't stop the killer whales already in captivity from being trained. And we shouldn't stop them from mating with each other. (However, all this AI has caused inbreeding...) but no more killer whales should be caught from the wild and forced into these awful conditions. Killer whales are beautiful, amazing animals, and reducing them to this level of humiliation is sick.
Previous posts are making comments that wild orcas live 80-90 years versus 15 in captivity. #1- We have no idea how long orcas live in the wild as we have only been studying them since the 1970s. We BELIEVE that a COUPLE MIGHT be in their 90s, but that's simply speculation. #2- The oldest orca in captivity is almost about 50 years. She lives in a much smaller pool than the whales at Sea World. Tillicum is over 30 years. The oldest whale at Sea World is 35 or 36. Yeah, you're right, that's only 15. Wait.....
The training they use is sometimes called the Affection Method by Hollywood trainers. It's operant conditioning using positive reinforcement. What that means is they only reinforce positive behaviors. They ignore negative behaviors or behaviors they didn't ask for. Saying the trainers were being too harsh with the whales and they retaliated is the greatest insult you can ever bestow on a trainer. Those folks get paid very little money to do what they LOVE. They LOVE those animals like their own children. They give them the best care they know how.
Most whales in captivity were born in captivity. It's the only life they know. Releasing them is not an option, as they have no "Wild Pod" to learn hunting skills, and behaviors necessary for survival, plus, they are way too desensitized to human interaction.
I know, I know- they should never have been captured in the first place, all those years ago. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn't, but the facts are this: Before orcas came into marine life parks, they were feared, hated, and hunted. Since they have been in facilities, humans have changed their tune, now love and adore them, and want for their well-being so bad they want them to even be free of captive environments. What else is true is this: even if we shouldn't have collected them, we did, and until someone invents a time-machine to change the decision to capture wild orcas in the 60s, that fact will remain so. What do we do? Keep them in solitary confinement away from each other so they don't breed? That can't happen, as they are social animals. Don't train them for exercise, husbandry, or enrichment? That would be inhumane as it would create incredibly unhealthy animals. It would be like us watching TV, eating potato chips all day everyday. Not too healthy for us, it's not so healthy for the animals to just be fed and left alone. So, we are breeding them and we are training them. Why can't the public see this? What makes the public watching a program inhumane? Why can't the public pay to see this? The whales aren't doing tricks, they are performing natural behaviors that are visible in the wild, only those behaviors are put on special cues and receive a treat when they do them. Yeah, it's a tough life to be oohed and aahed over by adoring fans all day, do a couple behaviors that you are naturally capable of doing anyways, and eat resturant quality seafood all day. It's gotta suck!
Think everything all the way through before you judge and make judgements.
Yeah PETA is such a "fantastic" organization whose life goal is to force all of us into becoming vegans and never have any pets (say goodbye to Fluffy and Fido 'cause they're going back to the wild where they "belong"), among other idiotic things they have cooked up. Granted they have made some headway in the past (making Gillette break down and stop testing on animals) but for the most part, they have done way more damage than good. It is unfortunate the HSUS has jumped on the bandwagon.
As for Sea World, I know nothing of their training practices so I can't comment on that specifically but I do know some of the whales are there because they would not survive in the wild due to various reasons. That's why they are there. Would they be better off being released into the wild where they would dye or remain at the park? Again, I don't know the training practices so I don't know.
I completely disagree! does the person writing this article know something about captivity? do you know a killer whale in freedom lives between 80 and 90 years and a killer whale in captivity lives no more than 15 years!!!!!!!!!! Tilikum the killer whale that kills the trainer at sea world was one of the only killer whales in captivity that has live that long 30 years!!!!!! before talking bullshit, read a little bit OK!
I disagree with a few of these comments, a-these animals are not in these parks solely for our entertainment, they are for education, as Karen Pryor, a well respected author and trainer noted; before these parks, orcas were used as target practice by the navy, dolphins were considered pests by fisherman and so on. b-PETA are not a fantastic organisation, some of the most recent stats show that 95.8% of the animals PETA took in in 2008 were killed by PETA, they even have a contract with a crematorium to dispose of all of the bodies. They kill more than any animal shelter in the area near their headquarters, don't listen to their blinded celebrity advocators, i implore you.
I both agree and disagree.
Yes, trainers in wetsuits do look like seals when thy are in water which might trigger something in the orca's brain to attack, or perhaps the trainer was too harsh when training so he sought revenge - which i know alot of animals do.
PETA are a fantastic organisation. I agree with them that no animal should be captured and trained for our amusement. If you had any idea how much time and effort PETA put in to shut down animal experiment labs and stopping various animal shows around the world then maybe you'd appreciate them a bit more. I guess they did over react with the whole 'orca attacks trainer' thing. Of course the orca will be depressed and annoyed at the fact he has to swim around an enclosure which is much too small for it - width and depth - so he might lash out. Its happened before but the trainer got away with minor injuries.
Good article. My question is: do we really need to keep whales (and other creatures) in captivity for our amusement? Just to clarify: I am NOT a PETA fan, I just think there are better ways to enterntain ourselves...
No this page is far from "GAY" It only speaks the truth about PETA. They are against anything and everything that has to do with animals.
No one can tell me that these animals are mistreated at Sea World. I have been there and seen these animals and the way the trainers work with them. Sea World makes millions off their parks and one of the reasons they do is cause of the whales. So any person with half a brain could figure out that hurting or being cruel to these whales would be stupid as the whales make money. Huh I would pay good money to see a whale bob that old hag that is the CEO of PETA. Now that would be funny. I could see the headlines now.
Shamu eats a whale twice his size...LOL
Anyone who has worked at these parks with these animals knows the truth of cruel their confinement is. If you were treated well while in solitude confinement would you be happy?
Kate 4 months ago
The killer whales at sea world might not get miss treated but the killer whales shouldnt be there in the first place. Be real how big is the sea and how big is the little pool they have at sea world. Killer whales swim for miles every day and catch there own food and love been around other whales. It's not right to have them in captivity simple as that.