More Deaths at SeaWorld Challenge Breeding Program

This time, the casualties are Taima, a 20-year-old orca, and her stillborn calf. Last week, Annie Hartnett wrote about SeaWorld’s announcement that two of its orcas were pregnant, and that Tilikum, the whale involved in the drowning of trainer Dawn Brancheau three months ago, was the father. This week, one of those whales is dead.

According to ABC News, “Park officials say Taima’s fetus was in an unusual position during the delivery. Park veterinarians attempted to assist but the complications were too severe.”

Taima herself was born at SeaWorld in 1990, and had given birth to three live calves previously. There’s no way to know what the outcome would have been had she been born and raised in the wild. Maybe she would have died giving birth to another calf. Maybe she would have died at 20 anyway. But maybe not.

I grew up in South Florida, home to the Miami Seaquarium, which makes SeaWorld’s facilities look like the Four Seasons to the Seaquarium’s Bates Motel. I grew up visiting Lolita, the oldest orca in captivity at 42-years-old, in her glorified goldfish bowl there. When I was too young to know any better, her performances entranced me. As an adult, the thought of her circling and bobbing in her tiny tank sickens me. And SeaWorld tanks, though larger, are still just fish tanks. An orca’s natural habitat is the ocean; their range is vast. There is no way to compensate for that great loss when sticking an animal only one generation removed from its wild ancestors into a fish tank. None.

However, there is also no denying that children enjoy marine parks. When you’re six, or eight, or eleven years old, watching these magnificent animals leap into the air balancing a human being on their noses is pure delight. I know, because I was one of those kids; watching animals perform tricks is fun. But it isn’t educational. And neither is it doing the orca population any favors by force-breeding Tilikum to as many females like Taima as possible under the guise of conservation.

After the killing of Dawn Brancheau, Ric O’Barry, the former dolphin trainer turned activist, was quoted as saying: “SeaWorld claims that if we display the dolphins, people will be sensitized to them, and then they’ll be there for the dolphins. But look at Japan to see the smoking gun. The country of Japan is the size of the state of California. There are fifty dolphinariums in Japan, yet the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world is happening in Japan. No one from the dolphinariums, or their 100 million customers a year, are in Taiji trying to stop the dolphin slaughter. There is no connection between dolphin shows and conservation. It’s a big lie.”

So, now that these whales exist in captivity, what can be done about it? I  don’t know. By most accounts, simply releasing them into the wild would be irresponsible. But it is possible for captive-bred whales to be integrated into ocean sanctuaries, where they would be able to enjoy a more natural habitat while still being protected. And at the very, very least, the breeding must stop. For the sake of Taima, for the sake of her stillborn calf, and for the sake of the wild orcas still in danger of being captured for our hunger for entertainment.

If you agree, sign this petition to let SeaWorld hear your voice. And if you have any other ideas, I’m all ears.

Photo credit: hyku