Persuasive Speech On Captive Orca Animals

How would the watching world react if humans were kept imprisoned in tight, inhumane enclosures and forced to perform in front of hundreds of people each day? This is the tragic yet vividly-true reality of orca whales, one of many sea creatures set on display in aquariums worldwide. In 1961, the first orca was captured off California’s coast, and to this day, there are at least fifty-five still imprisoned in various marine parks across the globe. While it may be entertaining for the audience to witness these formidable whales flip and spin, this cruelty is only accepted because orcas are viewed as animals without feelings, entrapped for the enjoyment and amusement of the human race. If these orcas ever lash out at their human captors, the media

It is very common to see collapsed dorsal fins in captive orca males, caused by them being unable to swim in straight lines as they’re imprisoned in an enclosure equivalent to the size of a bathtub to them. Contrary to the lengthy lifespans of wild orcas, the toxic combination of boredom, mistreatment, and stress that captive orcas face leads to early deaths, often by pneumonia. Orcas who gnaw in frustration on the walls or bars of their enclosures face dental issues and possible infections. In 1968, a young male orca was caught in the wild and sent to the Miami Seaquarium, where he was given the name Hugo. Never adjusting to life in his claustrophobic tank, Hugo would routinely and intentionally slam his head into the walls of his tank, even going as far as smashing into the viewing windows. After twelve years of self-imposed injuries to his head, Hugo died of a brain aneurysm; his remains were dumped in a landfill and no memorial was created for him. His companion, a female orca called Lolita, is still alive today but suffering a respiratory condition whilst living in the same, undersized tank for the past fifty years. She has not seen another orca since Hugo’s death in 1980. These painful health complications, caused by captivity, should never hold orcas responsible for aggression in any shape, way, or

Unlike in the wild, where orcas tend to avoid human interaction, there have been dozens of fatal and non-fatal incidents involving captive orcas and humans. The most famous example of this features the largest captive orca in history, Tilikum, who was initially owned by Sealand in Victoria, B.C, before being sold to SeaWorld for their breeding program. Over the course of his life, he directly caused the deaths of three humans: two trainers, Keltie Byrne and Dawn Brancheau, and one trespassing man, Daniel P. Dukes. The most well-known of the three deaths, Dawn Brancheau, was witnessed by a live audience during a SeaWorld Orlando show in 2010, during which she had been suddenly yanked into the water by Tillikum, who not only scalped her and tore off her arm, but also refused to release her body for nearly an hour. Years of abuse and mistreatment had accumulated to anger and exhaustion in the orca, and eventually, he snapped and lunged towards the closest human, who unfortunately happened to be Dawn. Seaworld’s response to this tragedy was that Dawn’s long ponytail had attracted Tilikum’s attention, and that when he pulled her in, he had been in the mood to play with Dawn but had underestimated the capacities of her human body. Instead of acknowledging the dire living conditions that led to Tilikum attacking Dawn, Seaworld had concocted a tale that portrayed Tilikum as more