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Emily Millsaps

Mrs. Litle

ENG121001

17 April 2021

The Horrors of SeaWorld

SeaWorld opened its doors in 1964. It was originally going to be an underwater

restaurant but turned into an amusement park showcasing marine life. It became popular very

quickly, bringing in more than 40,000 people in the first year. Throughout the years there have

been ongoing arguments of whether it is humane and safe to stay open and running or not.

Tilikum was an orca that lived in captivity for more than 30 years and was responsible for the

killings of three people, one of those deaths including a trainer who was killed in front of a full

audience. A theory as to why he killed is that he was taken from his pod as a young whale and

kept in isolation for years, forced to entertain. People should avoid SeaWorld because giving

them money to watch their shows gives them more opportunity to keep operating and causing

harm to the ocean life that live at their parks.

SeaWorld claims to be the biggest global zoological organization that offers

entertainment to the public. They provide rehabilitation and release of the marine life back into

their homes. SeaWorld’s mission statement says that they aim “to help their guests, and the

world to explore the wonders around them and to inspire them to take action and help the wild

animals and places.” People might want to go visit the park so that they can see the animals and

watch the shows that are put on. They have a variety of live shows where orcas preform tricks

with a trainer, as well as shows with the dolphins. These are animals that people will rarely get to

see outside of captivity, so it makes the parks more intriguing for guests to visit.
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One of the troubles with SeaWorld is the change in behaviors in the animals. Their

behaviors change with their surroundings. Killer whales have never killed humans outside of

captivity but have killed three while in it. Tilikum was an orca captured on the coast of Iceland

when he was two years old. Orcas are very tightknit, and males rarely ever leave their mother’s

side. He was sold to Sealand a year after his capture where he was kept in an open pen with two

female orcas. To assert their dominance the two female orcas bullied Tilikum constantly. In 1991

a twenty-year-old trainer slipped and fell into the open pen and the three orcas ended up killing

her. After her death he was sold to SeaWorld. Tilikum has been connected to her killing and two

others. The second killing was in 1999 to a homeless man who snuck into the park at night and

was found mauled and deceased hanging over the back of Tilikum. The third death is what really

set the arguments for and against the park. In 2010 Dawn Brancheau had just finished up a show

with Tilikum and was lying in a couple inches of water patting him for a relationship session. He

was instructed to dive below the water and pose for pictures behind the glass with guests. Instead

of following orders he grabbed Dawn’s hair and pulled her under, killing her. These are

examples of how captivity can cause drastic changes in the behavior or the whales.

The tanks that are used to house the animals at SeaWorld are not nearly big enough for

them to thrive and live to their normal life expectancy. Orcas swim up to forty miles per day and

dive up to five hundred feet, making the tanks they live in at the park non suitable. They develop

stress induced behaviors such as grinding their teeth on the tank walls. This can cause major

infections that are difficult to treat. Where orcas in the wild are known to live between fifty and

eighty years of age are dying in their thirties. There has been no captive born orcas survive

either. Parks such as SeaWorld are just not equipped to give the animals the necessities that they

need to live a fully functional life.

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Even though there are supporters of SeaWorld, we should avoid going because gives the

park higher chances to capture more animals and cause more harm than good to them. Their

behaviors change, they become depressed, and we cannot adequately provide the right shelter for

them. There is no way for the animals to thrive and live like they would in the wild. There are

other ways to see the wild without going to see them in an enclosed space. If people would stop

going to the park, it might just put an end to the suffering of the innocent animals they house.

Works Cited

Daly, Natasha. “Orcas Don't Do Well in Captivity. Here's Why.” Animals, National Geographic,

10 Feb. 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/orcas-captivity-welfare.

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Pappas, Stephanie. “How Tilikum the Orca Changed the Conversation About Animals in

Captivity.” LiveScience, Purch, 7 Jan. 2017, www.livescience.com/57421-legacy-of-

tilikum-killer-whale.html.

Sylt, Christian. “The Other Side Of SeaWorld.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 Oct. 2018,

www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/2018/10/13/the-other-side-of-seaworld/?sh=264c03782e8f.

Zimmermann, Tim. “The Killer in the Pool.” Outside Online, 30 July 2010,

www.outsideonline.com/1924946/killer-pool?page=all.