California may ban "Orca Whale Shows" (transfer, food)

[bmw335xi]

I hope this gets a vote and passes!

[Snort]

I want to see the trained sea anemone. Something very exciting going on with those critters.

[DMenscha]

My daughter has a Masters degree in Marine Education and works at the Seattle Aquarium. You want to see a 20 something go completely berserk? Ask her about captive Orca.

BTW, she can also identify most of the individuals in the Orca pods in Puget Sound! Arcane information runs in the family.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

My daughter has a Masters degree in Marine Education and works at the Seattle Aquarium. You want to see a 20 something go completely berserk? Ask her about captive Orca.

BTW, she can also identify most of the individuals in the Orca pods in Puget Sound! Arcane information runs in the family.

Cool! Great profession she has. I wonder how humane the rest of those marine shows are. Are the dolphins really that happy? I love the Seattle aquarium.

[Gentoo]

I worked at SeaWorld for almost 20 years. I have no love lost for the place but I have to say that Blackfish was not entirely accurate.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Free the Orcas -- we need better roads.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

I worked at SeaWorld for almost 20 years. I have no love lost for the place but I have to say that Blackfish was not entirely accurate.

No? Tell us more...

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

No? Tell us more...

Ruth, the name Gentoo is after a species of penguin. I worked with the penguins briefly. I have known people in the curatorial departments for 20 years. While I haven't spent all my time in those departments, let me tell you this much; Blackfish claimed that SeaWorld mistreats its animals to the point of denying them food. This simply isn't true. The animals may not get that food immediately but they always get the food that's been measured out for them each day. Sea World is a member of the AZA, it has to meet certain guidelines. There are days when the animals simply east less as well. People eat less on some days too. I know a lot of the trainers personally and I can assure you that these people would just as soon lose their jobs than to do anything that they know would harms the animals. Remember, they spend more time withe the animals than they do with their own families.

This is my only issue with Blackfish. I defend the people who work with the animals after having done so myself. Beyond that, like I said, I've no love lost for SeaWorld as a company. I just wanted to clear that up.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Ruth, the name Gentoo is after a species of penguin. I worked with the penguins briefly. I have known people in the curatorial departments for 20 years. While I haven't spent all my time in those departments, let me tell you this much; Blackfish claimed that SeaWorld mistreats its animals to the point of denying them food. This simply isn't true. The animals may not get that food immediately but they always get the food that's been measured out for them each day. Sea World is a member of the AZA, it has to meet certain guidelines. There are days when the animals simply east less as well. People eat less on some days too. I know a lot of the trainers personally and I can assure you that these people would just as soon lose their jobs than to do anything that they know would harms the animals. Remember, they spend more time withe the animals than they do with their own families.

This is my only issue with Blackfish. I defend the people who work with the animals after having done so myself. Beyond that, like I said, I've no love lost for SeaWorld as a company. I just wanted to clear that up.

Thanks. I didn't see the entire film, so I didn't know there was a claim that they weren't feeding the whale properly. I thought its problem was more in the realm of psychological trauma from being confined , and I forget what other issues there were. Something about how he was caught and transferred, I forget.

[thecooler]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Thanks. I didn't see the entire film, so I didn't know there was a claim that they weren't feeding the whale properly. I thought its problem was more in the realm of psychological trauma from being confined , and I forget what other issues there were. Something about how he was caught and transferred, I forget.

Yeah, I watched the whole movie and my impression was not that the Orca are being starved or treated poorly, in fact the trainers sounded like they truly cared about the animals they worked with. There was one scene where a trainer didnt give a fish to the Orca due to miscommunication of a trick, but she wasnt starving it (I believe that was the woman whom Tilikum killed).

My impression of the primary reasons that Orca should not be in captivity is the social/emotional aspect, and captivity causing health problems and shortened life span. The scene that made me cry was the mother being separated from her baby and her crying/screaming for 2 days nonstop. What i didn't know about Orca before seeing the movie is that each pod has its own language-they cant talk to other pods and that the social center of their brain is much larger then ours and they have more social needs then humans. The parks just throw together orca from different parts of the world and so they can't communicate, and the footage of young Tilikum getting bitten and scratched by the older female orca who couldn't talk to him was heartbreaking.

Whether the ban gets approved or not, I will not be going to any park that has orca in captivity. if i want to see Orca, i will take a whale watching boat and see them in nature.