SeaWorld goes to some pretty incredible lengths to tell us their whales are happy, well adjusted creatures. They release cute little videos showing their whales jumping through hoops while kids clap and giggle. It’s “a learning experience”, says SeaWorld, while they’re padding their wallets with whale meat.
But in the last few years, people have been calling them on their bullshit. From Kelly Slater to Steve-O, it seems that more than a few people are waking up to the fact that whales do not live in tiny little pools, and to keep them there for our entertainment isn’t exactly a nice thing to do. But it is a complicated subject–whales born in captivity can’t just be released into the wild. Save from building larger sea-enclosures, it seems that SeaWorld’s orcas are doomed to a very, very depressing life, like the one you see above.
According to The Dodo, orcas can swim up to 100 miles in a single day. They’re rarely still–even when they’re asleep, they’re moving. Floating listless for hours on end simply doesn’t happen in the wild, although SeaWorld would have you believe differently. One of their trainers said that people “might see him at rest, because, you see, like all animals, killer whales do rest.”
Dr. Heather Rally, a vet with PETA, has a different take on it. She says the floating is “believed to be the result of chronic stress, boredom and inhibition of natural behaviors that occurs as a result of inadequate living conditions at places like SeaWorld,” she told the Dodo.
Whatever it is, it seems clear that this whale, an intelligent creature, is quite simply bored out of its mind… and the fact that we pay to watch it is pretty damn disturbing.
