When will they Sea the World?
This Earth Day let’s remember our duty to nature, including protecting one of its most powerful and majestic creatures.
2013 was a powerful year for film; The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Ranked 19th in Empire’s 50 best films of 2013 was Blackfish, a gripping documentary highlighting the psychological toll of captivity on orcas. One Orlando-based company most notable for its marine features felt the true impact of the “Blackfish effect”; SeaWorld. Through the story of Tilikum, an orca that was the main attraction at SeaWorld, Orlando, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s challenged us to reflect on our relationship with nature and ignited a social movement.
As a child, I, like many others had the opportunity to visit Sea World in Orlando and it never failed to be a thrilling and wonderful experience. I don’t think anyone can deny that the spectacle of seeing a killer whale up close is truly breath-taking. Yet, it was the feelings of magic and adrenaline derived from such performances that masked the harsh reality of captivity for orcas. To even get an inkling of what life in captivity means for an orca, we must first understand their lives in their natural habitat: the ocean.
Orcas are a mammal of high contrast not only in their colours but in their reputation as well. As the largest member of the dolphin family, orcas are apex predators, adept at overwhelming almost anything in the ocean if they choose. It was ancient sailors who originally referred to them as “whale killer” after observing them hunting in groups to take down larger whales. This was then altered to “killer whale” and has unfortunately garnered orcas a reputation of being dangerous and unpredictable creatures to us. Whilst the orcas’ power and strength is discernible to many, it is the compassion, intellect, and complexity these mammals possess that many people are unaware of.
“They’re an animal that possesses great spiritual power and they’re not to be meddled with.” — Dave Duffus (OSHA Expert Witness, Whale Researcher)
According to Dr. Lori Marino, a biopsychologist at Emory University, the orca brain has something that humans do not have; a part of their brain is extended out adjacent to the paralimbic region; the system that is used to feel and process emotions such as compassion, self-awareness, and empathy. For humans, empathy is not a fixed trait but a skill we learn. Most people have to connect with a part of themselves that knows that feeling and acting accordingly can often be contrary to one’s self-interests. Such vulnerability in a competitive world has made empathy a skill that doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Yet, for orcas, it is wired into them evolutionarily. This then poses the question: Perhaps empathy not only makes orcas most like humans, but makes them more than human?
Ranging from the arctic ocean to the equator, orcas live in close-knit family pods usually consisting of 5 to 30 members. Orca societies are matriarchal; pods are led by females and are made up of related mothers and their descendants, who live together for almost their entire lives. Their complex social structures are likely both a product of and driver of their intellect. Together, they coordinate in hunts, share food freely and protect the young, the sick, and the injured.
For orcas, “You don’t have a house or a home that is your location,” but rather “the group is your home and your whole identity is with your group.” — Ken Balcomb (Marine Biologist)
What is possibly most fascinating is the sophistication of their dialect. Not only is the orca brain the second largest in the animal kingdom but they have also evolved to have a sixth sense: echolocation. They see not just with their eyes but also with sound waves and thus view the world in a way that we can only imagine. Each orca family can be differentiated by their cultures where their unique vocalisations used to communicate and hunt are passed down for generations. Dr. Lori Marino, affirms “orcas are the most acoustically sophisticated animal on the planet.”.
In the wild, orca often travel up to 100 miles a day and dive to depths of 100 to 500 feet at speeds of up to 56 km/h. The orca’s dorsal fin enhances their hydrodynamics, enabling them to slip through water more efficiently. In return, the water provides pressure to the fin, keeping the tissues inside healthy and straight. Therefore, LSI (loss of structural integrity) rarely occurs in the wild; less than 1% of wild orcas experience this. Conversely, dorsal fin collapse is evident in 100% of captive adult male orcas and many captive females. Removing orcas from the environmental richness of the sea and placing them in tiny, artificial enclosures with unnatural exposure to sunlight and water pressure has not only affected orcas physically but psychologically as well.
Orcas are not naturally violent towards humans or each other; there are no recorded cases of an orca killing a human in the wild and aggression between pod members almost never occurs in the wild. Yet, Blackfish documents a tale of dual tragedy — human and captive marine mammal. Shot through with emotional brutality, Blackfish chronicles the torrent of cases of orcas attacking each other and humans; in captivity, there have been 153 known incidents between humans and killer whales. Over his roughly 33 years in captivity, Tilikum, the largest killer whale in all SeaWorld parks, was involved in the deaths of three people. One of the most notable stories was Dawn Brancheau, one of SeaWorld’s most experienced and trusted trainers. The incident was covered extensively by the media and many called for Tilikum to be put down. However, many individuals, particularly marine mammal scientists not only sympathised with Tilikum but they blamed his keepers.
In 2017, Tilikum died of a bacterial infection at the age of 36. In the wild, male orcas can live up to 60 years, whilst females can live to 100 years. In a 2015 study, a team studied 201 captive orcas and concluded that the median survival rate for those in US facilities was just 12 years. These statistics in addition to Tilikum’s story sparked a debate about marine mammal captivity and whilst those opposed don’t expect parks to simply free all marine animals into the ocean, what is expected, is a conversation about the future of marine mammal captivity.
From the moment it debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Blackfish received widespread coverage. Roughly 21 million people tuned in to watch the film on CNN and it went on to become the third-highest grossing indie documentary of 2013. Blackfish was received tremendously well by critics, scoring a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and was shortlisted for a Best Documentary Academy Award nomination. After failing to secure a nomination, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite stated that her film may have been overlooked as it “wasn’t so much a work of art as it was art doing work.”
Blackfish became a catalyst for change. In the months following, artists including Willie Nelson and The Beach Boys cancelled upcoming performances at SeaWorld’s parks, numerous protests were inspired, and the hashtag #EmptyTheTanks took over social media. More than a year after the film’s release, SeaWorld had felt the financial ramifications of Blackfish; profits declined 28%, stock plunged 33%, and attendance was off by 8.3 million park visitors. After years of backlash, SeaWorld vowed to end its captive breeding programme in 2016 and phase out their entertainment shows altogether. More than 4 years later, SeaWorld Orlando announced it would replace its “One Ocean” orca show with a new “Orca Encounter”. Rather than spectacle, the show would focus on education, aiming to display more “natural orca behaviours”. Whilst the show claims to leave the audience with a deeper understanding of the natural world, the reality is that the orcas on display can convey nothing about life in the ocean.
With pandemic-related restrictions implemented amidst the busy summer season, promising attendance and revenue increases quickly turned to losses. During the third quarter of 2020, SeaWorld reported an 81% decline in attendance across its parks with total revenue falling by 77.6% to $106 million. As a result, public sentiment against the keeping of highly intelligent, far-ranging creatures in captivity has grown. Whilst the simplest solution may seem to return captive orcas to the ocean, for those born in captivity that have never experienced life in the ocean with their own family, survival is low. However, if they are returned to a social group, it may be possible for these whales to learn hunting and survival skills from other whales. What they first need is care in a natural setting, where the priority is not monetary gain, but conservation, welfare, and hopefully, their eventual return to the wild.
In February 2020, The Whale Sanctuary Project selected Port Hilford, Nova Scotia as the site for a sanctuary for whales retired from entertainment parks. Amongst the hundreds of locations researched, this seaside community on Canada’s east coast was chosen due to its mix of optimal physical and environmental characteristics (temperature ranges, water salinity, protection from extreme weather, room for facilities needed to care for the animals) as well as its community. President of the organisation, Lori Marino emphasises the importance of these combination of attributes; as North America’s first sanctuary for captive whales, Port Hilford can “provide a model of transparency that can help others facilitate the creation of these kinds of sanctuaries around the world”. The site has been envisioned to be at least 300 times larger than the largest tank in any marine park and has been designed to hold approximately eight beluga whales and perhaps two or three orcas. By collaborating with schools and museums as well as including plans for a visitor centre, nature trail and viewing spots, this initiative aims to engage as well as educate the local community.
What truly makes Port Hilford the perfect site, is its alignment with the vision of the Whale Sanctuary Project: to maximise the orca’s opportunity for autonomy, exploration, play, rest, and socialisation in an environment that is as close as possible to their natural habitat. Whilst sanctuaries may not be able to completely restore the orcas’ lost independence and competence, they will certainly restore a sense of freedom; the ability to live their lives according to their nature.
Located on California’s Central Coast, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is the largest protected ocean area in the continental United States. Here, a similar model to that of Port Hilford is reflected in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a non-profit aquarium solely dedicated to education with a mission to inspire conservation. Widely regarded as one of the best aquariums in the world, it has proven to be a viable business model and has achieved this without capturing cetaceans and forcing them to perform. Moreover, by reflecting reverence for nature through their own behaviours and practices, marine parks, aquariums and sanctuaries provide a greater service to future generations.
Today, there are at least 59 orcas held in captivity, 20 of which are at SeaWorld parks in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio. If we wish to survive on Earth, we need a new, more respectful relationship with wildlife and nature. If you’d like to get involved, I urge you to keep the conversation going on social media, with friends and family, at school, and in the workplace. Please see the links below to get involved! By doing so, we dignify not only them, but also ourselves.
Links to Resources:
· The Whale Sanctuary Project Subscription: https://whalesanctuaryproject.org/subscribe/
· Empty the Tanks, Sea World Petition:
https://www.change.org/p/seaworld-inc-humanely-release-the-orca-whale-known-as-tilikum-to-a-seapen-for-rehab
· Whale and Dolphin Conservation E-Newsletter Sign Up:
https://uk.whales.org/newsletter/?enl=referrer_fixed&ref=WM-WDCW-20-00-00-ENL
Additional Sources:
Greenfield, K. T. (2014, November 24–30). The whale stays in the picture: Facing the backlash over the treatment of its animals, SeaWorld reveals a plan to save itself. Bloomberg Businessweek, pp. 62–67.
Hargrove, J., Chua-Eoan, H. (2015). Beneath the surface: Killer whales, SeaWorld, and the truth beyond Blackfish. New York, NY: Palgrave/Macmillan.
