Death of Sea World trainer: Do 'killer whales' belong in theme parks?

[tsstranger]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100225/ts_csm/282809


Los Angeles – The death of a veteran Sea World trainer in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday has spotlighted the campaign of several major animal rights groups to keep marine mammals out of theme parks altogether.

Dawn Brancheau was killed when a 12,300-lb. male orca “killer whale” grabbed her in front of an audience at the Orlando theme park.

Now, animal rights activists say that many questions should be asked in the wake of Ms. Brancheau's death. Sea World has said that the very same orca is responsible for human deaths in 1991 and again in 1999. The Humane Society of the United States has long campaigned for marine mammals to be removed from theme parks.

“These behemoths are denied all of their natural, instinctual inclinations, and we humans tend to think, ‘Well, this is just a bad animal.’ But it is a wild animal, used to running free in an entire ocean, but now confined to a very small space,” says Joyce Tischler, founder of and general counsel for Animal Legal Defense Fund. She compares an orca’s life in captivity in a tank to keeping a human being in a bathtub for his entire life. She says most Americans have romanticized notions of sea life perpetuated by such TV series as “Flipper.” But even dolphins are known to aggressively run their teeth down the backs of humans in hundreds of incidents that are not reported outside the conservation community press, she says.

SeaWorld closed its Orlando park immediately after the tragedy, and suspended its orca show in San Diego. “We've initiated an investigation to determine, to the extent possible, what occurred,” SeaWorld President Dan Brown said in a brief statement to reporters. Ms. Brancheau had worked at the park since 1994. Mr. Brown said no SeaWorld park had ever before experienced a similar incident and pledged a thorough review of all of the park's standard operating procedures. “This is an extraordinarily difficult time for the SeaWorld parks and our team members. Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, guests, and the animals entrusted to our care," Brown said. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the trainer and will do everything possible to assist them in this difficult time.”

The orca is the largest member of the dolphin family and is known as a favorite at Sea World. Killer whales are a highly social species.

But “the vast majority of the orca whales in captivity would be far better off to be returned to the wild. Orcas are unbelievably ill-suited to life in theme parks and can be successfully returned to the wild. We know, because we have done it,” says David Phillips, director of the International Marine Mammal Project for the Earth Island Institute, who led the effort to rescue, rehabilitate, and release the killer whale Keiko, made famous in the movie “Free Willy.” “Orcas deserve a better fate than living in cramped pools.

Mr. Phillips recalls that Keiko went from languishing in small pool in Mexico City all the way to swimming with wild whales in his native waters in Iceland. He ended up swimming to Norway and living there in a bay with some human care until he died. Phillips says the public would be better served by seeing orcas in the wild and ensuring their protection there.

“This isn’t the first time that stressed-out orca whales have injured or killed people, and unfortunately, it is not likely to be the last,” says Phillips. “It is high time that the marine park industry get out of the captive orca business.”

Tisch takes on the argument most often given by defenders of such captivity: That it is educational and spotlights the need for conservation and protection of such creatures: “The people who run these theme parks are not interested in conservation or protection, they are interested in making money,” Tisch says. “I would be asking, ‘Why was this animal kept after the first death?’ ”

“This is a giant warning sign that society needs to rethink this question of holding large predators in captivity,” says Chris Palmer, author of “Shooting in the Wild,” a book about wild animals in captivity, who also teaches at American University. “Having a trainer killed this way can’t justify whatever benefits we get from conservation or protection.”

[Jennicut]

1. Like living in a bathub the rest of your life...very sad.

I think it is time to let these animals be free. It is unnatural for them.

[Coventina]

2. Absolutely not. But we have an obligation to ensure that their

natural habitat is preserved for them to live their lives in the wild.

We also have an obligation to those that, for whatever reason, cannot survive in the wild. But those unfortunate cases should not be forced to perform or even be put on display for entertainment, unless it can be done with no stress to the animal.

[Richard Steele]

3. +1

[1776Forever]

4. NO - Never! I have said that for years now. Many people seem to not question it.

Most people who go there never thought about the small areas these whales and other marine life live in. These are not trained dogs. Never went to Sea World and never will. I know they do some good things but the profit they make off these caged creatures is disgusting!

[n2doc]

5. Killer Whale Trainer Death Tied to Mating, Isolation

Tilikum, the male killer whale that fatally injured trainer Dawn Brancheau in front of a stunned audience at SeaWorld in Orlando on Wednesday, was a breeding "stud" often housed in isolation.

Experts believe he did not kill for food, but may have been acting out due to stress and raging hormones.

While some reports have been portraying Tilikum as a particularly aggressive orca, a nearly identical incident involving another killer whale male named Ky occurred in July 2004 at the San Antonio SeaWorld.

Trainer Steve Aibel, like Brancheau, was pulled underwater by the whale, which also attempted to bite, but Aibel walked away uninjured. He later blamed Ky's "adolescent hormones" for the episode.

Marine biologist Nancy Blake told Discovery News that Tilikum could have acted out for similar reasons.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/killer-whale-attack-explanation.html

[The2ndWheel]

6. No. Same with a zoo, etc

We do it to make ourselves feel better.

I find it funny how we'll complain about how banks or other large corporations privatize the profits, and socialize the costs, but not really take into account that our species has done the exact same thing with the entire planet.

[TwilightGardener]

7. It's just sad all around. Just because a wild animal is smart enough

to be trained and do tricks doesn't mean that it should be kept in captivity--its very intelligence means that it will become bored and frustrated very easily. You'd think we'd have progressed beyond wild animals as performance entertainment.

[TexasObserver]

8. NO

[pipi_k]

9. No. I have a big problem with animals being used to entertain people

Even when it's not a wild animal, but maybe a dog or cat that's been dressed up by its owner in some idiotic little suit and made to dance around or look stupid.

It's humiliating.


Unless a wild animal is injured or endangered in some way and can't survive on its own, it doesn't belong in a park or zoo.

[adigal]

10. What happened??? Duh...

“We've initiated an investigation to determine, to the extent possible, what occurred,” SeaWorld President Dan Brown said in a brief statement to reporters. Ms. Brancheau had worked at the park since 1994."

What occurred??? A big killer whale killed someone.

Simple. Why all the commotion???

Just ridiculous. You put a killer whale in a show, and he may do what he does: kill.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. No of course not.

Zoos in general are problematic and are at best justified when they act to preserve endangered species. Seaworld is not even remotely in this category, they are a commercial establishment exploiting animals and endangering their workers. We love Shamu, but really these beautiful creatures belong in their natural habitat, not living in a large bathtub.

[unblock]

12. are the more theme park animal training deaths than theme park ride deaths?

that doesn't answer the question but it does put it in perspective.

safety-wise, a theme park isn't a walk in the park. which, come to think of it, has its own risks as well....

[pipi_k]

15. I don't think it's a matter of safety...

I think it's a matter of the moral right to cage/confine wild animals and then blame the animals when they ACT like wild animals.

Or, that's how I understand it, anyway...

[unblock]

21. i see both as questioning mankind's ability to render scary/lethal things safe

i think a large part of the point of roller coasters is to evoke the feelings and sensations of danger in a way that your body and emotional brain can be scared but your rational brain can accept it as perfectly safe.

part of the reason people want to see killer whales is BECAUSE they're dangerous. that's why they call them "killer" whales.
part of the reason for going on the coaster with the biggest vertical drop in the world or whatever is BECAUSE it sounds and would feel scary.

coasters aren't PERFECTLY safe, but they're safe "enough". so the question is, is killer whale training similarly safe "enough"?

[Cetacea]

13. In the case of Orcas, no.

The oceanaria, or Theme Parks have served as a mighty educational tool for the general public , who's previous knowledge and impressions of whales and Orca-dolphins were largely shaped by Herman Melville. Untold millions of people have come away from these shows with a new found appreciation of the mammals' intelligence, agility, and the obvious extra care they take in not harming their trainers and other humans.

It can be argued that theme parks were and are a major factor in the worldwide effort to ban whaling and the dolphin slaughters in Japan and Denmark. And in that sense it may be a case of sacrificing a few to save the entire species...

However, there seems to be a pattern developing with the larger dolphins (Orcas) that goes against their natural inclinations to ward humans, which, throughout history, has been one of benign curiosity and a reluctance to strike back when being hunted or otherwise harassed.

Besides, they are much too large relative to the pools they are held in.

Unless "reasonable accommodations" can be introduced, all cetaceans should be free of spending their unnaturally shortened lives in the human equivalent of four by six room. Perhaps something can be worked out whereas cetaceans captured are restricted to two or four years of service and then released.

I believe that this would be OK as most of the cetaceans APPEAR to enjoy the intellectual challenges of figuring out what the hell we want from them and executing them. But not for the remainders of their lives.
However, profit margins would most likely prohibit such a scenario from taking place.

In my opinion.

[AlienGirl]

14. Of course they don't! No park can provide enough territory.

These animals have HUGE ranges in the wild; even with enrichment and training they can't possibly get enough exercise, let alone cognitive and social stimulation, to replace the ocean. As a result their lives are shortened by captivity.

The only acceptable reason for long-term captivity of cetaceans is inability to be rehabilitated into the wild.

Theme parks, if they really want to have dolphin shows, should build on the shore and make tanks with passways to the ocean, then train wild cetaceans who are free to come and go as they please.

Tucker

[Cetacea]

17. "Free to come and go as they please"

This is a great solution and is in fact entirely doable. They do seem to enjoy the intellectual stimulation. But it shouldn't be MAN-datory.

[AlienGirl]

18. I know it can be done: there are dolphin research centers that do this with volunteer dolphins!

Anecdotally, I have occasionally trained free wild animals to do tricks for food rewards. For instance, deer are far less bright and far more wary of humans than cetaceans are, but I have trained adult wild deer to do silly things like grab a piece of bread from my mouth.

Tucker

[Cetacea]

20. Cool.

That must have been an incredible experience! Deer are so beautiful!

[mn9driver]

16. Undomesticated sentient animals

should never be confined and coerced merely to provide entertainment. In spite of our human desire to impose human emotion and reasoning on other species, the fact is that we have no idea what these animals think and feel. Indulging in this fantasy with big animals like orcas is an especially bad idea, as this incident reminds us.

[alarimer]

19. I would say no.

They serve no useful purpose there and it appears it is actually dangerous to the trainers there. This is not the first death.
I am not saying it is possible to release the ones currently in captivity (they would likely not survive in the wild) but once these die, no more should be captured to take their place. Eventually shut down these displays.

[niyad]

22. absolutely NO--agree with most of the posters here, these theme parks, circuses, etc., need to go.

we do not have a right to capture, and cage, and train, beings for our amusement (planet of the apes, anyone?) it is absolutely cruel, arrogant, and obscene.

I won't go to a them park, a zoo, or a circue to see animals performing for the audience. I don't train my animal companions to perform tricks to amuse me.

for what we want to learn about them--how about the marine biologists do life diane fossey and jane goodall? observe them in their own element, people.

[AngryOldDem]

23. Did anyone see the interview with the SeaWorld curator on Good Morning America?

He was actually alluding to these animals as **employees.** He said that -- and I quote -- in the "CAREER" of this whale that killed the trainer, they had never had a significant behavior problem with it. He disputed claims that the whale was depressed, aggressive, and unpreditable.

A "career"?????

Shut down these shows right now and return these creatures to their natural habitats -- the seas.

[flvegan]

24. Screw the whales. Humans deserve their entertainment.

Right?







Do I really need this? ----------> :sarcasm:

[TransitJohn]

25. They aren't 'theme parks.' Them parks have roller coasters.

They're overpriced circuses, where the animals are forced to perform, and the public pays a premium to see it. They're barbaric.

[dembotoz]

26. torn on this

What the question boils down to is does the Public interaction with the species promote better understanding and compassion for the species.

Are the tykes that sit thru the show more likely so support anti whaling organization when they get their own credit cards.

[canetoad]

27. SORRY

Hit the wrong (un)rec button.

Kick instead and thanks for posting.

[malaise]

28. Human beings are too fucking greedy

and thoughtless. Free the orcas. Free all the fugging animals.