O is for Orca!

Yes

A total change of direction here 

For as long as I can remember

I have been fascinated by whales

All animals really

But especially whales

It started when I did a project on them in primary school

And the fascination has never left me

There is something so magical about them 

Their sheer size alone is mind boggling

Last night on BBC

There was a documentary on about zoos

Presented by Liz Bonin

That asked the questions

Should we keep animals in captivity?

What are the costs and the benefits?

I wasn't going to watch said documentary

As in the trailer 

It said there were some upsetting scenes

And nothing upsets me more than seeing animals in distress 

I decided to watch it though

As even though it is really upsetting 

I want to be aware of what is happening 

The documentary itself was brilliant

It asked some really tough questions 

About why we keep animals in captivity

Their habitat in captivity 

Their behaviour in captivity as opposed to the wild 

Apparently an elephants life span is cut in half in captivity

They also experience other problems such as obesity 

Rotten teeth 

And foot problems 

All because they have been kept in the wrong sort of conditions 

The documentary also questions about extinction

In the case of the northern white rhino

There are none left in the wild at all

And only five exist in captivity

So

Is it better to keep a species in captivity to keep it alive?

Or should we allow these beautiful animals to die out?

It's a tricky one

But back to whales 

The documentary spoke about the movie Black Fish

The film that focuses on the events that led up to the death of 40 year old Seaworld trainer Dawn Branchaeu in 2010

I haven't seen the movie

As I think it would send me over the edge and traumatise me for life

The name of the whale that killed Dawn Brancheau is called Tilikum

Dawn was rubbing Tilikum as part of a post show routine when the orca grabbed her by her left arm and hair

And dragged her to the bottom of the enclosure

Tilikum scalped her

Broke her bones 

Dismembered her

She drowned 

The third person to have been killed by Tilikum since his capture over 30 years ago

Seaworld declined to take part in the film Black Fish 

But they did agree to an interview for the BBC documentary last night 

We got to meet Tilikum

Who still resides in Sea World

The head vet there 

Argued that Dawn Brancheaus death was a tragic accident 

And not a deliberate attack on her life 

Let's rewind here a little 

So I can give you some history of Tilikum

Tilikum is the largest orca in captivity

Weighing in at 12, 500 pounds

And over 22 feet in length

Tilikum was captured near Iceland

In November 1983

Two years old

He was ripped away from his family and ocean home 

He was covered in lanolin

An oil extracted from sheeps wool which is applied to the orcas whole body to prepare them for a long transport without water

Tilikum has been bought and sold like a commodity since his capture

Held in small holding tanks 

All he could do was swim in small circles and float aimlessly at the surface of the water 

In the wild an orca can cover an area of up to 100 miles a day 

So you can see how disturbing it must be to the whale

In captivity 

Food was held from Tilikum as a training technique

He was forced to perform every hour on the hour 

8 times a day 

7 days a week

On February 21 1991 Sealand trainer Keltie Byrne fell in to a pool containing three orcas including Tilikum

She was pulled to the bottom of the enclosure 

Tossed around among the three orcas

And ultimately drowned 

She was the first of three people to have been killed due to Tilikums stress, confinement and frustration

After the death of Keltie 

Sealand closed its doors for good

And Tilikum was sold to Seaworld

Over the course of Tilikums life at there

He has been involved in multiple acts of aggression 

The stress of captivity also drives him to exhibit abnormal repetitive behaviour

Such as on metal gates and the concrete sides of his tank 

The stress of captivity also drove Tilikum to kill a young trainer called Daniel P Dukes in 1999

Following Dawns tragic death in 2010

Tilikum was kept in a tiny enclosure

After a year of isolation

He returned to performing 

Aggression towards humans by orcas is almost non existent in nature

But the constant stress of living in incompatible social groupings inside minuscule tAnks at Seaworld causes them to lash out

Posing a threat of danger to other whales and employees alike

Having researched this topic today 

And some of the information here was taken directly from Seaworld of Hurts website 

I feel a sense of despair for these animals 

It really upsets me 

In fact cruelty to animals upsets me a lot more than cruelty to people 

I asked myself today

What I can do to help these poor creatures 

And I guess by raising awareness here on my blog is at least something 

I find myself with little pity for those that Tilikum killed

I mean these are wild animals 

Being kept in unsatisfactory conditions 

I'm actually surprised that more people haven't been killed

So I guess we need to ask ourselves some difficult questions

In order to solve this problem 

In my opinion

Seaworld and similar places should be illegal 

No more than dancing bears

Donkey rides

And any other activity that exploits animals for money 

As humans 

We do not own this planet 

Animals have every right to life in the wild  

As it seems keeping them in captivity does not work 

With all that said 

I was wondering about you

What do you think about places like Seaworld?

Have you ever been?

And also what do you think about zoos?

I know a lot of you out there are animal lovers like me

So I am interested to hear what you think...