Orca's Behavior Change In Seaworld

SeaWorld is one of the most visited amusement parks in the United States where families are able to get together and see animals and their trainers perform incredible stunts. However, SeaWorld has been under the flame after the public opinion of SeaWorld drastically changed after the release of the movie Blackfish by Gabriela Cowperthwaite in 2012. The documentary Blackfish helped exposed people to the reality of what was really going on behind the scenes at SeaWorld, with everything including their trainers to the overall well-being of the orca whales. Not only has Blackfish exposed how SeaWorld has shortened the lifespan of orcas in captivity, but it shined some light on how the orcas were living, how the orca’s behavior changed, how trainers

“Tilikum” SeaWorld 's largest orca, is responsible for the deaths of three trainers, which all three deaths could have been prevented if SeaWorld would have recognized the behavior change in Tilikum. The most recent death to occur was Dawn Brancheau, where Tilikum “scalped and dismembered Dawn as well as breaking bones throughout her body before drowning her.” (Prothero) Since Tilikum was the biggest orca in captivity, he need the most space which led to SeaWorld isolating Tilikum into his own tank. This may have looked like a great idea on paper but because of his isolation Tilikum was literally going psychotic. “Stress of captivity drives Tilikum to exhibit abnormal repetitive behavior, including chewing on metal gates and the concrete sides of his tank—so much so that the most of his teeth are completely worn down.” (Prothero) This stress caused Tilikum to exert aggression to other orcas when let out but also toward trainers. Because SeaWorld failed to recognize the abnormal behavior in Tilikum which ultimately led to the death of Dawn Brancheau and many

Jim Atchison who served as the CEO and president of SeaWorld since 2009 stepped down after the release of the documentary. Another effect was that Blackfish was it got many people to stop from going to SeaWorld parks. “Attendance to the company’s 11 parks between October and December fell 2.2 percent to 4.4 million from 4.5 million in the same period a year ago.” (Blackfish Effect) Not only did the CEO step down and the number of visitors decreased but, SeaWorld took a $24.5 million dollar drop in profit because of decreasing attendance at their