Killer Whales In Captivity

Stuck in a cement container that’s only eight meters wide for 14 long hours a day, practically motionless. That’s how his circus life began. Tilkilim, also known as Tili, was torn from his mother at the age of only two (A Killer Whale Gone Very Bad). He would spend 14 long hours in an eight-meter-wide enclosure with two park female killer whales, who viciously bullied him (A Killer Whale Gone Very Bad). Now today, he spends most of his time alone, drifting lifelessly in a pool at Orlando’s Seaworld (A Killer Whale Gone Very Bad). Killer Whales in captivity at SeaWorld have not been getting research done on them and go under psychological stress so the killer whales are striking out on their trainers due to being treated inhumanly but SeaWorld

Although, Killer Whales in captivity go under psychological stress which creates psychotic behaviour. “Most small cetaceans are naturally active, playful and have a complex social structures. When tasked with entertaining tourists all day, with nowhere to escape, cetaceans often become bored, frustrated and aggressive” (Wild vs. Captivity). These wild animals are not meant to entertain humans and be locked in a closure. They need free range and not small enclosures. Killer whales have no choice but to perform all day. “In his first home, Sealand in British Columbia, he was trained with other whales using punishment: if he mess up a trick, they’d all have their food withheld” (Lewis Helen). Other killer whales began a strong dislike at this and would scratch them with their teeth so hard he would bleed. They are forced to do tricks for people and they get frustrated because there enclosures are nothing compared to the wild. The unnatural conditions stresses the killer whales out. The attacks on the trainers are due to stress in animals forced into miserable, unnatural conditions. These enclosure are nothing like the wild and the different sounds in the enclosures can affect the whales.”There concrete enclosures also reflect sounds, so a poorly designed enclosure can make artificial noises. Echolocation is rarely used, as a tank offers no novelties or challenges to explore” (Wild vs. Captivity). Killer Whales should swim up to 100 miles a day in the wild. But in their tanks, they would need to swim 1, 208 laps (3,105 lengths back and forth) to get that