In 1973 SeaWorld opened its doors, but little did we know 41 years later it would make 1.377 billion dollars off the brutalization of the animals that they use for show. SeaWorld’s continued abuse of not only orcas but all of the other captive animals has resulted in psychological damage to them and from that deaths and injuries to the trainers and personnel which could have been prevented.
Tilikum is one of the most famous whales and the most dangerous in the SeaWorld fleet, at 12500 pounds and 22 feet long Tilikum is the largest orcas held in captivity. We can trace the physiological behavior of Tilikum back to when he was captured in 1983 at two years old. From a 1976 court ruling SeaWorld could no longer use their previous orca capture …show more content…
“The main show was bad chasing the orca kept chasing each other and we couldn’t get the whales under control”(Blackfish), says Samantha Berg in her recollection of the events,” Dawn was pressured to do a good show with Tilikum because of the failed main show, it started out good, but towards the end he was not on his game. He was aggravated with a missed cue and the food reinforcements getting smaller and smaller and when Dawn walked around the perimeter for quiet time with the whales Tilikum followed her” (Blackfish). Tilikum grabbed Dawns forearm and dragged her into the pool, he proceeded to swallow her arm, and hold her body captive, it took hours to retrieve. John Jett a former one of Tilikum 's main trainers comments, “It may have started as play but escalated to very violent behavior that I think was anything but play”(Blackfish). First reports argued that she slipped and fell into the pool and then drowned, but it was only after eyewitnesses disputed those claims that the official SeaWorld spin off was that she was grabbed by her ponytail, a subtle way of placing the blame on Dawn’s shoulders. “When she was pulled off the ledge it wasn’t necessarily aggressive behavior by the whale” (Blackfish), said SeaWorld executives, so they could continue to deny the aggressiveness of Tilikum in order to fund their breeding …show more content…
They continue to deny that Tilikum is aggressive, they also about how trainers were given all available information of Tilikum which we know is a line from a former testimony. The OSHA, occupational safety and health administration, has brought serious charges against SeaWorld demanding that its trainers stay behind barrier during shows. On May 30th, 2012 Judge Ken Welsch issued a ruling on the case, during shows, SeaWorld trainers must now remain behind barriers, separated from the orcas, SeaWorld has appealed. As for the whales, they might be seeing new water, but only in new tanks the 100 million dollar project to expand SeaWorld’s tanks in California have brought a new ultimatum, with the approval of the tanks the California Coastal Commission, has said SeaWorld can no longer breed its eleven whales in captivity. SeaWorld states they are carefully considering their options and have not decided on what to do just yet, with their stock plummeting SeaWorld is doing what it can to reclaim its
Tilikum is one of the most famous whales and the most dangerous in the SeaWorld fleet, at 12500 pounds and 22 feet long Tilikum is the largest orcas held in captivity. We can trace the physiological behavior of Tilikum back to when he was captured in 1983 at two years old. From a 1976 court ruling SeaWorld could no longer use their previous orca capture …show more content…
“The main show was bad chasing the orca kept chasing each other and we couldn’t get the whales under control”(Blackfish), says Samantha Berg in her recollection of the events,” Dawn was pressured to do a good show with Tilikum because of the failed main show, it started out good, but towards the end he was not on his game. He was aggravated with a missed cue and the food reinforcements getting smaller and smaller and when Dawn walked around the perimeter for quiet time with the whales Tilikum followed her” (Blackfish). Tilikum grabbed Dawns forearm and dragged her into the pool, he proceeded to swallow her arm, and hold her body captive, it took hours to retrieve. John Jett a former one of Tilikum 's main trainers comments, “It may have started as play but escalated to very violent behavior that I think was anything but play”(Blackfish). First reports argued that she slipped and fell into the pool and then drowned, but it was only after eyewitnesses disputed those claims that the official SeaWorld spin off was that she was grabbed by her ponytail, a subtle way of placing the blame on Dawn’s shoulders. “When she was pulled off the ledge it wasn’t necessarily aggressive behavior by the whale” (Blackfish), said SeaWorld executives, so they could continue to deny the aggressiveness of Tilikum in order to fund their breeding …show more content…
They continue to deny that Tilikum is aggressive, they also about how trainers were given all available information of Tilikum which we know is a line from a former testimony. The OSHA, occupational safety and health administration, has brought serious charges against SeaWorld demanding that its trainers stay behind barrier during shows. On May 30th, 2012 Judge Ken Welsch issued a ruling on the case, during shows, SeaWorld trainers must now remain behind barriers, separated from the orcas, SeaWorld has appealed. As for the whales, they might be seeing new water, but only in new tanks the 100 million dollar project to expand SeaWorld’s tanks in California have brought a new ultimatum, with the approval of the tanks the California Coastal Commission, has said SeaWorld can no longer breed its eleven whales in captivity. SeaWorld states they are carefully considering their options and have not decided on what to do just yet, with their stock plummeting SeaWorld is doing what it can to reclaim its