Humans are predators. In the ecosystem there must always be predators in order to keep the world balanced, but there is a difference between mandatory predatoring and attacking for enjoyment and profit. For instance, bears eat fish in order to live a healthy lifestyle, but humans capture and mistreat orcas to gain profit. Does this seem morally correct?

All around the world, marine parks gain income off of the suffering of intelligent life forms. These creatures, specifically orcas, are stripped from their natural habitats, and are compacted into exhibits just to keep this billion dollar industry alive. Taking away these animals’ rights just to showcase them is unethical.

In the late 1870s, aquariums and zoos in the Eastern United States and Europe began the process of capturing whales and dolphins to showcase them (PBS Par. 3). Due to this, these poor sea creatures have been denied access to their habitat and their families for many years. The saddest thing about this entire process is that displaying these animals is accepted and encouraged by society. Naturally, the youth is fascinated by these enormous animals, but unlike the adults running these businesses, they are clueless to the harm occurring behind the scenes. SeaWorld, and other marine parks, dedicate a lot of time advertising false information to the public. Since the public is fed this inaccurate information, they are accepting to the idea of marine parks, and continue supporting these abusive industries.

SeaWorld has been caught lying about the treatment of their animals an abundance of times. In order to put up a family-friendly facade, they advertise that the whales are rescued and treated in the best care possible, and that the element of family is well respected. Sadly, these claims are incorrect. In reality, performance whales are incredibly unhealthy. For example, even though SeaWorld advertises that collapsed dorsal fins are common, only one percent of male whales have this defect. Coincidently, almost every male performance orca has a collapsed dorsal fin. Also, SeaWorld proclaims that their orcas have a lifespan equivalent to orcas in the wild. In actuality, their orcas’ lifespan is shortened by about 70 years due to the lack of healthy treatment (Seaworld of Hurt Par. 1 and 6). Not only do they lie about the health of their animals, they fib about the age orcas separate from their pods. This is important because it is a necessity for these sea creatures to fully develop a mother-to-child relationship. SeaWorld claims that at four years old, orcas are adults and separate from their pods. In the wild, orcas actually remain in their family pods for their entire lives. Lying about this is the company’s attempt to justify their immoral actions of taking a mother orca away from its child. An abundance of lies are fed to the parents and children attending these shows. Withholding information about these neglected animals makes people assume that we as a public are helping the whales by putting them in these “protective facilities”, yet all we are doing is supporting animal abuse.

In general, our population as a whole is doing a terrible job in maintaining nature’s beauty. For our own enjoyment, we destroy these magnificent creatures’ lives, and alter the way nature must run. We need to put an end to our monstrous actions, and preserve what we have left. Orcas are just like us,yet we take advantage of our dominance over them. In order to start, our society must eliminate the mentality that it is okay for these businesses to continue. Since these marine parks are directly aimed to capture the attention of the youth, we must inform the younger generations on the downsides of these companies. Yes, children may still want to experience viewing these stunning creatures, but we must educate them in a different way. Rather than showing them that confining these animals is acceptable, we must allow children to see these animals in their natural habitat, or in a safe haven. We must show them how animals are truly supposed to act, and stop presenting the idea that they are solemnly forms of entertainment for humans. Orcas have feelings too, so we should begin taking those emotions into account and enforce rules against puppeting them. Instead of showcasing these captured animals in aquariums and parks, take children on fieldtrips to actual animal care facilities. This way the animals are not harmed, and the youth still gets the privilege of seeing these animals in a healthy environment. Watching these sea creatures jump through a plastic hoop will not further the knowledge of children, but having a professional inform them on accurate information about the orcas’ anatomy and what the natural lifestyle for an orca is will. It is time for the public to take action and restore nature to the way it used to be, before it is too late.