Running head: CAPTIVITY: AN ORCAS NIGHTMARE 1

Captivity: An Orcas Nightmare Gilbert Velasquez California Baptist University

CAPTIVITY Abstract The purpose of this research is to examine the effects on cetaceans while in captivity.

Marine mammal captivity is a lucrative multi-billion dollar industry where dolphins and whales are taken from the ocean and placed into concrete tanks in order to educate the public and to entertain people. While this might seem that it is a good thing to do, it could not be further from the truth. When compared to those animals living in the wild, captive dolphins and whales exert the same emotional and physical stress as humans do. Results indicate that whales suffer from a large number of ailments ranging from depression, aggression towards other dolphins and trainers, illnesses, and a drastically shortened life span. The results show that dolphins and whales only show this type of behavior while in captivity.

CAPTIVITY Captivity: An Orcas Nightmare

Imagine a baby orca being born on a beautiful afternoon; naked and vulnerable, just a baby nursing and completely dependent on its mother and family for its survival. As the baby orca gets a little older, she begins to learn from the lessons its mother has taught her: what is acceptable behavior and what behavior is not acceptable. The babys love for its mother and family grows immensely. Curiosity eventually overcomes her and the baby orca begins to venture out into the world with its siblings and cousins, playing while pushing the limits of her new found freedom. She is learning everything about her family by distinguishing her mother, sister, brother, grandmother, and cousins from all the others, and knows who each one is just from their voice. Growing into her early teenage years, she begins to act like any normal teenager would. Wanting independence she begins to explore things on her own. She is already familiar with the sights and sounds of her surroundings and knows how to recognize danger and strangers. But then a loud, strange noise begins to be heard. Terrified she rushes to her mother and family for protection. Screams from distant relatives are heard and her fear turns to horror as the noise inches closer. She tries to escape, but is surrounded by something unknown that cannot be penetrated. Frantically she tries to escape and then something grabs her. She screams at the top of her lungs for help, but is met with only empty screams as she are ripped from her family forever by something unknown. Can you see her? Can you hear their screams? Now imagine those orcas are human beings. This may seem like something right out of a Hollywood horror movie, but is in fact part of everyday life for orcas that are taken from their families and into captivity. In fact orcas (orcinus orca), or killer whales, are highly social creatures that have developed tight bonds with other members of the group, or pod. The lives and socializations of wild orcas are completely the opposite of the orcas that are living in captivity. Placing these wild and intelligent animals in

CAPTIVITY captivity violates their basic animal nature that has been their right long before humans began to walk to earth. Review of the Literature Brief history

The topic of marine mammal captivity continues to be heavily debated. But as researchers have made amazing discoveries about the social structure, culture, family bonds, and intelligence of wild orcas, one must question the ethics behind keeping them captive. There are only few existing solutions for the problem: retire those that are old and place them into a sanctuary with a sea pen, and those that can be rehabilitated and then released should be. Those that cannot be released should be retired and left to live out their lives in the company of other whales. This has been an ongoing problem since the early seventies when dolphins were captured for the entertainment of people. This has turned into a multi-billion dollar a year industry. Review Research has shown that keeping cetaceans in captivity is detrimental to the health of the animal and places humans at risk of being injured and even killed. The animals suffer mainly stress in captivity and show the same symptoms as humans do under the same conditions such as aggression towards other animals, depression, unnatural illnesses such as ulcers, heartburn, infections, etc. Advocated have offered solutions to the problem and received the opportunity when Keiko, the star of the movie Free Willy, was given up by his owners at a marine park in Mexico City after the outcry of millions of children worldwide. It took scientists years to try and untrain and rehabilitate him to be able to be released from the wild. Scientists managed to release him and he was able to survive in the wild. He later died from a pneumonia infection. This shows that orcas are able to be rehabilitated. There are many orcas in captivity around the world that

CAPTIVITY scientists know what pod they came from and if the parks would allow them to be released they could successfully be released back into the wild. Keeping these intelligent animals captive does violate their basic animal instinct. It is almost impossible not to watch orcas in the wild and not be struck with awe. The relationship between man and whales goes back thousands of years. Orcas are part of the dolphin family and live and hunt in every ocean on our planet, but are native to the cooler waters of the North Pacific, Antarctica, and the North Atlantic oceans. They are the largest animals in the dolphin family and are the top apex predators of our oceans. Orcas live in complex, tight-knit

societies that are composed of communities, pods, and maternal groups. Orcas develop a complex culture because they live so long. Male [orcas] live for about fifty years [and] females can survive into their eighties, which explains why their society is matriarchal confirms Animal Planet. At the heart of the maternal group is the orca motherthe maternal group consists of her offspring and grandchildren. That maternal group or sub-pod may include ten to twenty members. The sub-pod makes up the larger main pod which may consist of up to two-hundred individuals. A pod will include grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters, brothers, and cousins. The pods are part of a larger group that makes up a community (Social, 2011). In the Pacific Northwest there are two well known communities of orcas knows as the northern residents and southern residents. These two communities have never been known to interact with each other. They are called residents because they live almost permanently in a particular area of the Northwest and the boundaries of the northern and southern comminutes do not overlapsimilar to our borders that divide us from our neighboring countries. Members of the pods are related by blood and remain together for life, and may travel as much as one-hundred miles in a day in search for food. Orcas from the same region share a common language and even more incredible every

CAPTIVITY individual clan has its own dialect explains Animal Planet. When thought about it is incredible. No other species on earth, besides humans, use a different language for the different cultures and

groups. The language is as different from one pod to another as language from the United States is as different from its neighboring countries. The language spoken by one pod is different from another and totally different from those in the other communities. This leads to the only explanation that orcas are highly intelligent animals. The brain of an orca is very large and can weigh up to thirteen pounds. They have a near identical brain structure to humans and while brain size may not be an adequate measure of intelligence, just the fact that it is structurally complex like that of a human makes it remarkable. Williams explains it in this way: The cerebral hemispheresthe area of the brain believed to deal with advance mental processes in humansare exceptionally well developed in orcas, and the cerebral cortex is highly convoluted. A further indicator is the brain weight to spinal cord ratio. In human, this ratio is around 50:1, in apes 8:1, and in horses about 3:1, and in Bottlenose dolphins (close cousins to orcas) compare favorably to Homo-sapiens with a ratio of 40:1. (Qtd. in Williams, p. 10) Dr. Marinos research has found that dolphins can recognize themselves in mirrors (2011). This is a stunning find since only other primates and humans share this common trait. As a result this close ratio in comparison with humans gives them the ability to think, problem-solve, and develop tight-knit communities where they develop tight bonds, communicate, and have their own dialects from other orca communities. In fact [c]ommunication lies at the core of orca social awareness. Family members are seldom out of hearing range[e]veryone knows where he or she is and where everyone else [is]. It is the glue that brings harmony to the orca community (Communication). They make several types vocalizations that range from clicks, whistles, grunts, squeaks, and harsh

CAPTIVITY calls which vary depending on the context. Like us, orcas, along with dolphins, are also the only other known species in nature that engage in sexual intercourse year round and not just during a

mating season determined by nature and continues to play into adulthood. Female orcas will often give birth to their first calf around the age of fourteen years old. Astonishingly killer whales [l]ike humans, but unlike most other mammals, stop bearing calves around the age of 40-55 and probably stop ovulating (Williams, 9). With so much research that has been done, making way to the discoveries that orcas, indeed, are very similar to us would make you wonder, why anyone would take them from their natural habitat. But that is a stark reality of the world we live in. The way that they are taken is equally cruel as holding them captive. Nets are strung across the harbors, effectively entrapping the unsuspecting orcas. Since orcas have an intense social bond to each other, none of the pod members will leave to provide emotional support for the others. Once entrapped the nets are pulled together bringing the orcas to the capturers allowing them to choose how many and which ones they will take without remorse. This is a very traumatizing even for them. Countless whales have drowned during capture, including calves, from the stress and the nets not allowing them to breath. Not only is this stressful for the animals, but incredibly [r]esearchers have recorded the intense vocalizations made by entrapped orcas, describing loud, strident screams (Williams, 18). The effect once out of the water is equally taxing on them as the capture itself. Compared to the long life span of orcas in the wild where males can live up to fifty years and females up to eighty. In captivity that life span is drastically cut. Males have an average life expectancy of twenty-nine years, while females have an average life span of nearly fifty years old. These estimates of life span are based upon more than a quarter centurys study of wild orcas off Vancouver Island, British Columbia (Williams, 40). Stress is a part of life for humans as well as

CAPTIVITY

animals, but excessive stress can lead to ulcers, breakdown of the immune system, and even death. The orcas in captivity are under tremendous stress and drugs are put in their fish to keep them healthy. These drugs include vitamins, anti-depressants, and medication for ulcers. Ulcers and anti-depressants are a common thing in the captive industry. The high level of expectation for these animals to perform is intense. This coupled with the fact that they are in a prison of sound creates a physical manifestation of the stressors that they are under, showing up as ulcers and/or depression. When depressed an orca will refuse to eat, or just lay motionless at the bottom of the tank. Socialization between these animals has taken a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn from the wild. Aggression between orcas of the same pod almost rarely happens, but aggression between orcas and trainers is a disturbing trend. Like humans when an orca is irritated or wants some time alone it can swim away and have a little privacy, but in captivity there is nowhere to go. In the wild clans will not socialize with other clans, and the northern resident orcas will not socialize with the southern residents orcas. Both of those groups will also not socialize with transient orcas as well. But captors do not pay attention to this. Orcas are captured and are mixed together in a tank and are expected to get along. That is the equivalent of placing gang members from rival gangs that speak different languages in a room together and expect them to get along. Pool size seems to increase this aggression between them. In 1987 at Sea World San Diego a female orca named Kandu rammed Corky, another female orca, in front of a stadium full of horrified spectators. Kandu fractured her jaw and ruptured an artery and died 45 minutes later (Jett, 2001). Orcas have been known to swim in fast circles and bang their heads against the tank walls, or ram the viewing windows of the tank. A key component to this aggression, stress, and near psychotic behavior is the tank itself. A concrete tank acts as a sound amplifier, amplifying the loud music, the screaming

CAPTIVITY people, and any other noise. Since orcas are acoustic creatures, placing them in a concrete tank further increases their stress levels. They live in a world of sound where they cant even echolocate. Professor Hal Whitehead explains it in this way: High[ly] acoustic cetaceans, like orcas, living in a tank with acoustically reflective walls, to that of a visually oriented animal, like a human, living captive in a small

room covered with mirrors on all walls and on the floor. The experience is likely to be profoundly disturbing, especially over the long term. (Qtd. in Hoyt, p. 43) When thought about it in that manner it puts what the orca is continuously going through every day into perspective. The most disturbing trend is the aggression towards trainers and the rate of death of the captive orca. Attacks the orcas make on their trainers is become a frequent thing. With the most recent being the death of Sea World Orlando trainer who was drowned by Tilikum, a male orca. This is the third person he has killed in an obvious lashing out of frustration. According to Dr. Marino: In the wild there has never been a single instance of an orca killing or seriously injuring a person. Not because people dont swim with themresearchers swim with them all the time. There has never been a single instance of aggression in wild orcas. So what that tells you is that the behavior they are exhibiting in captivity is abnormal aggression. (Qtd. in Minasian, 2011) This is a prime example of the stress that they endure. This type of aggression is not normal, but attention by captive parks regarding this matter is not taken into consideration. There have been some instances where trainers have fallen into the pool and the orcas will use the trainer as a toy. Dragging the individual underwater for a prolonged period of time and not letting the trainer

CAPTIVITY escape until he/she drowns. Aside from the tragic death of trainers, the number of dead orca whales is even more remarkable. According to captive orca statistics, out of the 137 orcas that

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have been taken into captivity from the wild since 1961, 124 have died. That is a 91 percent death rate. 156 orcas have died in captivity, including 28 miscarried calves. Currently there are 42 orcas in captivity worldwide and Sea World has 19 in its three U.S. parks (Captive 2011). Their removal from their natural habitat may seem like a story right out of Hollywood horror movie, but the ending does not have to be like that. We can have a happy Hollywood type of ending where both whales and humans win. World renowned biologist Jean-Michel Cousteau said it best: Maybe we as a species have outgrown the need to keep such wild, enormous, complex, intelligent, and free roaming animals in captivity where their behavior is not only unnatural, it can become pathological. Maybe we have learned all we can from keeping them captive and asking them to perform for our pleasure and profit. We need to look at ourselves and decide the time has come to look at captivity of whales and dolphins as a part of our history, not a tragic part of our future. (Cousteau, 2010) Indeed, we do need to look deep down into ourselves and realize that we have outgrown this notion that we live in a planet where we can do or take anything without thinking of the repercussion of our actions; we have the knowledge and intelligence to make the right decision. Captive marine mammals have in the past lead to great discoveries about these creatures, however, eventually all pool of knowledge will dry up, as it already has. We now have the ability to end this by not taking any more dolphins from the wild, and rehabilitating those that can be rehabilitated and released back to their families and those that cannot be rehabilitated should be left to live their lives in

CAPTIVITY captivity with companions. Instead of capturing them, the show should be capturing injured

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dolphins and whales and rehabilitating them and releasing them. That is the show. We now know that they are to the oceans what we are to the land. So get up and instead of going to Sea World, go on a whale watching trip and see these magnificent animals in their natural habitat where they roam the vast open ocean and can approach the boat, and you can see them doing jumps and breaches on their own terms. You might just find something worth fighting for.

References Animal Planet. Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom: Orca Matriarch. A Man Among Orcas Season 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnNv2VsKPgc&feature=relmfu Captive Orca Statistics, WDCS. (2011) http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/captive_orca_statistics_march2011.pdf Communication, Orca. The Orca Lab. (2011). Spong, P. Ph. D.

CAPTIVITY http://www.orcalab.org/aboutorcas/information/communication/index.htm Hoyt, E. (1992). The Performing Orca Why the Show Must Stop. Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Retrieved from http://web.mac.com/erich.hoyt/iWeb/www.erichhoyt.com/More%20Info_files/The %20Performing%20Orca%20EH.pdf Cousteau, J. (2010). Jean-Michel Cousteaus Statement on Captive Orcas & the Trainer Killed, Ocean Futures Society on Youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=fp8MkPyBE5A Jett, J. and Ventre, J (2001). Keto and Tilikum Express the Stress of Orca Captivity. The Orca Project, Retrieved from http://theorcaproject.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/keto-tilikumexpress-stress-of-orca-captivity.pdf Marino, L. Ph. D. Personal Communication, August 19, 2011.

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Social Organization, Orca. The Orca Lab. (2011). Spong, P. Ph. D. http://www.orcalab.org/aboutorcas/information/social/index.htm Williams, V. (1996). Captive Orcas: Dying to Entertain You. A report for Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). Retrieved from: http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/orcareport.pdf Minasian, S. (Filmmaker/Producer). (2011). A Fall from Freedom [Film]. San Fransisco: EarthViews Productions.