Seaworld has stated that that they rescue injured or endangered sea mammals to rehabilitate them and then keep them to further study them and conserve them. If that is truly the case they should not be taking these animals and utilizing them for entertainment purposes. I do not think that orcas should be exhibited in marine parks and aquariums, because they are experiencing depression, social anxiety, and abuse from other foreign orcas.
The possible benefits to orcas being taken out of these exhibits is that these issues that they are facing will be absolved. The orcas would be kept in their natural habitats and with their natural family pods. The possible drawbacks from orcas being released from these exhibits would be that whatever profit is going to rehabilitating and researching these animals will no longer be obtained from this type of revenue. I feel that the need for these exhibits is more for the sport of entertaining the parks customers instead of to solely benefit the animal itself. The Article, “Scientific Studies of Captive and Free Living Killer Whales”, discusses the large difference in the information studied by Marine Biologists that study orcas in the wild, to the studies done by marine parks such as SeaWorld. SeaWorld bases its studies off of the orcas in their unatural habitat of the small tanks in Sea World, which are less than one ten-thousandth of one percent  of the smallest orca range. Were the other panelists study the orcas in their natural habitat and look at such things as their migration patterns, their natural diets, and their connection to their pods which they stay in for all of their lives. There also is the controversy with parks like SeaWorld making incorrect statements about the lifespan of the orcas, saying that they naturally live up to thirty to thirty-five years old. In reality male orcas life spans range as high as sixty years old, and female orcas’ life spans range from eighty to hundred years old. The fact that SeaWorld did not take notice of the natural orcas’ lifespan shows carelessness for a company that is suppose to be conserving and rehabilitating orca’s in need.

This also brings up other questionable things that SeaWorld does such as their choice in spending ten million dollars on advertisement and only one point five million dollars on conservation. Although it appears that SeaWorld is trying to improve on the care of the orcas which is discussed in the LA Times article, “SeaWorld may be Bouncing Back from ‘BlackFish’ Backlash”. SeaWorld intends to increase the actual size of the tanks that the orcas are kept in, and enhance the scientific research being done on the orcas. However to me that is not enough to consolidate for the abuse already done to the orcas in captivity. I feel with SeaWorld’s inaction towards the orca on orca violence, the parks should be penalized for allowing such bad events to occur. For example Nakai, who was an eleven year old killer whale that was severely injured in 2012 during a brawl that occurred during a show, with two other killer whales. A chunk of Nakai’s lower chin was severed off exposing his teeth and other bone and muscle tissue. Incidents like these occur because of the forced sharing of a small environment with opposing foreign orcas of different cultural backgrounds and from other places of the world.

Orcas should not be kept away from their natural habitat or their natural pod to be forced to be cramped in small tanks with foreign orcas that need to show their dominance through extreme violent attacks. I like the thought that author Naomi Rose mentions in her article, “A Win-Win Solution for Captive Orcas and Marine Theme Parks”, that orcas should be allowed the right to retire to a secluded cove or empty waters to ensure a hopefully reconnection with the ocean, their natural habitat. In an attempt to hopefully undo the abuse they sustained in captivity.                      


Works Cited
“A Win-Win Solution for Captive Orcas and Marine Theme Parks”, CNN, Naomi A. Rose, October 2013.
“Scientific Studies of Captive and Free Living Killer Whales”, Biennial Conference, A. Mel. Constino, December 2013.
“SeaWorld may be Bouncing Back from ‘Blackfish’ Backlash”, La Times, Hugo Martin, June 2015.
“SeaWorld Says it has to Keep Orcas in Captivity to Save Them”, Mother Jones, T. Raja, November-December 2014. 
“Nakai Photos and Backstory”. Tim Zimmerman. web, october 2012.