A collapsed orca's dorsal fin in captivity.
Source: http://www.sittingsolution.com/shamu-can-teach-pain/
Orcas in captivity
Currently there are 59 orcas in captivity at water parks and aquariums all over the world. While some of them were born in captivity, there are others which were caught in the wild. Most of the captive orcas in the United States live at SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego, and San Antonio. Around a third of the world’s orcas in captivity are being kept in the United States.
The only captive orca living outside of any of the SeaWorld parks in the U.S. is a 54-year-old female named Lolita, who is also one of the few wild-born captive orcas that made it past 30. She was captured in 1970 in the waters near Washington State and lives alone at the Miami Seaquarium. Lolita is held in a pool with an open-top roof that’s less than twice the length of her body.
Orcas are highly intelligent and social animals, built to migrate and swim great distances every day. They need to do so to forage for their varied diets and to exercise. They dive 100 to 500 feet frequently, every day. Neither wild-born nor captivity-bred orcas can thrive in captivity because all of them have the same inborn drive to travel and forage for food.
Most whales held in captivity show some signs of suffering throughout their lives. Apart from their shortened lifespan, the orca’s most essential body part, its teeth, are severely compromised during captivity. Most captive orcas show a stress-induced behaviour in which they consistently grind their teeth on tank walls, often until the nerves are exposed. This habit results in ground-down spots which remain as open cavities. These are highly susceptible to infection even if taken care of regularly.
Because an orca’s brain is highly developed in the areas of social intelligence, self-awareness, and language, they are extremely social animals that usually live in family groups with individual and specific cultures. In captivity, most orcas are forced to live either alone or in artificial social groups, which, once again, causes stress. Since captive orcas cannot escape conflict with others or engage in natural swimming behaviours in an aquarium, family groups that are seen in the wild, cannot be formed.
The stress caused by social disruption can lead directly to orcas showing aggression, mostly towards trainers. In the past, there were multiple cases of orcas killing their trainers, for example, the attack on Alexis Martinez in Tenerife’s Loro Parque in 2009 or the most recent one in Orlando’s SeaWorld Park in 2020.
Wild-born orcas are severely traumatised by their capture which contributes to disordered behaviour. Wild-born orcas have been, so far, mostly caught at a much too young age, getting separated from their mothers and family members with nets.
Luckily, due to the effort of several campaigns and organisations such as PETA, in Canada, all captive cetacean displays—not just orcas, but all dolphins, porpoises, and whales, were banned in 2019.
The documentary film ‘Blackfish’ (2013), which connected the orcas’ aggression towards their trainers directly to the stress the whales experience during captivity, created a worldwide uproar and led to SeaWorld announcing that they would end its captive orca breeding. Therefore, the 20 orcas that currently live in SeaWorld parks in the U.S. will be the last generation to do so.
However, holding orcas and especially other cetaceans in captivity altogether has yet to be made illegal in several countries.
Because the current generation of captive orcas is used to being fed by humans, the animals cannot be released into the wild.
Shutting down captive facilities in the U.S., such as SeaWorld, would hence leave the issue of what to do with the remaining captive orcas.
Currently there are 59 orcas in captivity at water parks and aquariums all over the world. While some of them were born in captivity, there are others which were caught in the wild. Most of the captive orcas in the United States live at SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego, and San Antonio. Around a third of the world’s orcas in captivity are being kept in the United States.
The only captive orca living outside of any of the SeaWorld parks in the U.S. is a 54-year-old female named Lolita, who is also one of the few wild-born captive orcas that made it past 30. She was captured in 1970 in the waters near Washington State and lives alone at the Miami Seaquarium. Lolita is held in a pool with an open-top roof that’s less than twice the length of her body.
Orcas are highly intelligent and social animals, built to migrate and swim great distances every day. They need to do so to forage for their varied diets and to exercise. They dive 100 to 500 feet frequently, every day. Neither wild-born nor captivity-bred orcas can thrive in captivity because all of them have the same inborn drive to travel and forage for food.
Most whales held in captivity show some signs of suffering throughout their lives. Apart from their shortened lifespan, the orca’s most essential body part, its teeth, are severely compromised during captivity. Most captive orcas show a stress-induced behaviour in which they consistently grind their teeth on tank walls, often until the nerves are exposed. This habit results in ground-down spots which remain as open cavities. These are highly susceptible to infection even if taken care of regularly.
Because an orca’s brain is highly developed in the areas of social intelligence, self-awareness, and language, they are extremely social animals that usually live in family groups with individual and specific cultures. In captivity, most orcas are forced to live either alone or in artificial social groups, which, once again, causes stress. Since captive orcas cannot escape conflict with others or engage in natural swimming behaviours in an aquarium, family groups that are seen in the wild, cannot be formed.
The stress caused by social disruption can lead directly to orcas showing aggression, mostly towards trainers. In the past, there were multiple cases of orcas killing their trainers, for example, the attack on Alexis Martinez in Tenerife’s Loro Parque in 2009 or the most recent one in Orlando’s SeaWorld Park in 2020.
Wild-born orcas are severely traumatised by their capture which contributes to disordered behaviour. Wild-born orcas have been, so far, mostly caught at a much too young age, getting separated from their mothers and family members with nets.
Luckily, due to the effort of several campaigns and organisations such as PETA, in Canada, all captive cetacean displays—not just orcas, but all dolphins, porpoises, and whales, were banned in 2019.
The documentary film ‘Blackfish’ (2013), which connected the orcas’ aggression towards their trainers directly to the stress the whales experience during captivity, created a worldwide uproar and led to SeaWorld announcing that they would end its captive orca breeding. Therefore, the 20 orcas that currently live in SeaWorld parks in the U.S. will be the last generation to do so.
However, holding orcas and especially other cetaceans in captivity altogether has yet to be made illegal in several countries.
Because the current generation of captive orcas is used to being fed by humans, the animals cannot be released into the wild.
Shutting down captive facilities in the U.S., such as SeaWorld, would hence leave the issue of what to do with the remaining captive orcas.
- Video about cetaceans (dolphins) in captivity and what to do about it: https://youtu.be/T48DDsj4ogo
- Interview with a former orca trainer at SeaWorld: https://youtu.be/QOP5-7cwpDI
Example of the small pools dolphins are made to live in, in captivity.
Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur
Dolphins in captivity
Just like every other cetacean, dolphins are used to travelling long distances in their natural habitat daily. In captivity, their range of movement is severely limited because of the lack of space. Captive dolphins are not able to avoid conflicts with others, simply because they cannot swim away. This is why it often comes to clashes which leave wounds and scars. All over the world, more than 3,000 dolphins are held captive in aquariums and zoos. Compared to holding orcas in captivity, even fewer countries have banned displaying dolphins in captive facilities.
The inside of a dolphin tank is mostly sterile, and consists of bare concrete with little to no opportunity for mental stimulation. Like orcas, dolphins are highly intelligent and need stimulation to not fall ill. Many dolphins are treated with ulcer medication or antidepressants to balance the frustration of captivity.
Because confinement and lack of stimulation can directly lead to depression, some dolphins also show self-harming behaviours such as smashing their heads against a wall repeatedly. In confinement, whales and dolphins sometimes swim endlessly in circles or lie on the floor for hours, showing the same repetitive behaviour again and again.
Dolphins normally live in family groupings similar to those of orcas. In captivity, they are placed in unnatural social groups with members from different families or even species, resulting in little to no communication between the individuals. Due to the social disruption and miscommunication captive dolphins have to endure, bullying often occurs between tank companions.
Wild-captured dolphins must undergo a special training to adapt to captivity. Besides having to accept a new diet of dead fish, they need to endure multiple medical procedures and often have to be tube-fed. Even captive-born dolphins must learn how to interact with humans the way it is expected of them. Labelled as “positive reinforcement” or “operant conditioning”, dolphins are deprived of food so that they abide by their trainers.
Some of the physical consequences of captivity are sun exposure, leading to sunburns and blistering because of the limited depth of the tanks, lesions and open sores because of the insufficient water quality, and generally skin wounds from being touched by visitors or having to push them with their beaks. Gnawing at tank walls due to boredom or frustration leads to heavily damaged teeth.
In order to capture wild-born dolphins, members of SeaWorld, among others, are rumoured to take part in live captures of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Originally, the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji is held by fishermen who kill the dolphins to sell their meat.
Still, a few dolphins, usually the “best looking” ones, are selected for captivity and sold to dolphinariums all over the world. Most animals that are captured die within days out of shock and injury or during transport. Those who survive must live in captivity for the rest of their lives, already severely traumatized.
Because the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) banned the sale and transfer of captive dolphins from Taiji, Japan, most of the dolphins are sold to dolphinariums within Japan or to China, Taiwan and Egypt, but by no means all of them. On several occasions, members of the International Marine Animal Trainers Association (IMATA) have also been observed at the drive hunts in Japan.
Sadly, a single bottlenose dolphin sold to a marine park can generate tens of thousands of dollars for the dolphin hunters, unlike a slaughtered dolphin’s meat, which is only worth a few hundred dollars. The captured dolphin will earn hundreds of thousands for its owners during its lifetime with its performance in shows and appeal for tourists. Essentially, the hunts are driven by the desire to profit from the exploitation of natural resources. Without live captures, the hunts in Taiji would most likely be much smaller and much less profitable for the hunters, which might result in stopping the hunts altogether.
The annual dolphin hunt of Taiji is featured in the documentary "The Cove", which illustrates how the dolphins are herded to shore and then brutally slaughtered or captured. Watch here: https://watchdocumentaries.com/the-cove/
As for dolphins in captivity whose enclosures are soon to be shut down, there is still a chance for them to be released into the wild.
However, according to National Geographic, the procedure of returning them to the wild is a long and difficult one. The dolphins have to undergo a lot of physical training and a change of diets, learning how to hunt and forage for food and unlearning constant proximity to humans. Luckily, several cases confirmed that reintroducing captive dolphins to the wild has so far been successful.
Useful links for more information:
-https://www.dolphinproject.com/campaigns/captivity-industry/facts-about-captivity/
-https://uk.whales.org/our-4-goals/end-captivity/
-https://www.dolphinproject.com/campaigns/save-japan-dolphins/
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiji_dolphin_drive_hunt#Live_capture
-https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/captive-dolphins-marine-parks-wild-return
-https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/orcas-captivity-welfare
-www.waza.org/
Videos to watch:
-https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=whales+and+dolphins+in+captivity
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T48DDsj4ogo
Just like every other cetacean, dolphins are used to travelling long distances in their natural habitat daily. In captivity, their range of movement is severely limited because of the lack of space. Captive dolphins are not able to avoid conflicts with others, simply because they cannot swim away. This is why it often comes to clashes which leave wounds and scars. All over the world, more than 3,000 dolphins are held captive in aquariums and zoos. Compared to holding orcas in captivity, even fewer countries have banned displaying dolphins in captive facilities.
The inside of a dolphin tank is mostly sterile, and consists of bare concrete with little to no opportunity for mental stimulation. Like orcas, dolphins are highly intelligent and need stimulation to not fall ill. Many dolphins are treated with ulcer medication or antidepressants to balance the frustration of captivity.
Because confinement and lack of stimulation can directly lead to depression, some dolphins also show self-harming behaviours such as smashing their heads against a wall repeatedly. In confinement, whales and dolphins sometimes swim endlessly in circles or lie on the floor for hours, showing the same repetitive behaviour again and again.
Dolphins normally live in family groupings similar to those of orcas. In captivity, they are placed in unnatural social groups with members from different families or even species, resulting in little to no communication between the individuals. Due to the social disruption and miscommunication captive dolphins have to endure, bullying often occurs between tank companions.
Wild-captured dolphins must undergo a special training to adapt to captivity. Besides having to accept a new diet of dead fish, they need to endure multiple medical procedures and often have to be tube-fed. Even captive-born dolphins must learn how to interact with humans the way it is expected of them. Labelled as “positive reinforcement” or “operant conditioning”, dolphins are deprived of food so that they abide by their trainers.
Some of the physical consequences of captivity are sun exposure, leading to sunburns and blistering because of the limited depth of the tanks, lesions and open sores because of the insufficient water quality, and generally skin wounds from being touched by visitors or having to push them with their beaks. Gnawing at tank walls due to boredom or frustration leads to heavily damaged teeth.
In order to capture wild-born dolphins, members of SeaWorld, among others, are rumoured to take part in live captures of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. Originally, the annual dolphin hunt in Taiji is held by fishermen who kill the dolphins to sell their meat.
Still, a few dolphins, usually the “best looking” ones, are selected for captivity and sold to dolphinariums all over the world. Most animals that are captured die within days out of shock and injury or during transport. Those who survive must live in captivity for the rest of their lives, already severely traumatized.
Because the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) banned the sale and transfer of captive dolphins from Taiji, Japan, most of the dolphins are sold to dolphinariums within Japan or to China, Taiwan and Egypt, but by no means all of them. On several occasions, members of the International Marine Animal Trainers Association (IMATA) have also been observed at the drive hunts in Japan.
Sadly, a single bottlenose dolphin sold to a marine park can generate tens of thousands of dollars for the dolphin hunters, unlike a slaughtered dolphin’s meat, which is only worth a few hundred dollars. The captured dolphin will earn hundreds of thousands for its owners during its lifetime with its performance in shows and appeal for tourists. Essentially, the hunts are driven by the desire to profit from the exploitation of natural resources. Without live captures, the hunts in Taiji would most likely be much smaller and much less profitable for the hunters, which might result in stopping the hunts altogether.
The annual dolphin hunt of Taiji is featured in the documentary "The Cove", which illustrates how the dolphins are herded to shore and then brutally slaughtered or captured. Watch here: https://watchdocumentaries.com/the-cove/
As for dolphins in captivity whose enclosures are soon to be shut down, there is still a chance for them to be released into the wild.
However, according to National Geographic, the procedure of returning them to the wild is a long and difficult one. The dolphins have to undergo a lot of physical training and a change of diets, learning how to hunt and forage for food and unlearning constant proximity to humans. Luckily, several cases confirmed that reintroducing captive dolphins to the wild has so far been successful.
Useful links for more information:
-https://www.dolphinproject.com/campaigns/captivity-industry/facts-about-captivity/
-https://uk.whales.org/our-4-goals/end-captivity/
-https://www.dolphinproject.com/campaigns/save-japan-dolphins/
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiji_dolphin_drive_hunt#Live_capture
-https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/captive-dolphins-marine-parks-wild-return
-https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/orcas-captivity-welfare
-www.waza.org/
Videos to watch:
-https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=whales+and+dolphins+in+captivity
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T48DDsj4ogo