I just posted to my Facebook time line comments related to a recent
post below re: the Sea World ruling that Sewa World is a better judge of things Orca than are OSHA bureaucrats. In that post, I referred to a
"documentary" called "Blackfish" regarding Orcas and (by
extension) all animals bred or kept in captivity. A few facts are in order.
1: The film focuses a lot on Tillikum, and uses him and the
deaths of three persons associated with him, as a great deal of the justification for their thesis. Tillikum was
wild captured at the age of three, and treated poorly by his original
"owners" in California, never having been socialized by human contact
in the water and dominated by two older females. The death in California,
although largely attributed to Tillikum (the other two whales being dead, now)
was a joint effort by all three whales - note: all wild caught, all kept in
small enclosures and all unsocialized. The second death related to Tillikum was
essentially suicide by hypothermia. In this case a significantly
pharmaceutically impaired man hid in the park (Sea World , now) and got in the
tank, going over a three foot high barricade to do so. This imbecile had
previously been found swimming with the manatees!. The water temp (far lower
than expected) probably killed him, not the whale. If the whale had decided to maul him, he’d
have been unrecognizable after a night in the tank, which he wasn’t. Dawn Brancheau’s death , lamentably is squarely at the feet of the whale.
The
movie uses as the subtitle, “Never Capture
What you Can’t Control.” I suppose this
also means every animal in every zoo in America. PETA’s stamp is all over this
propaganda film. Here’s what’s grossly inaccurate about it. It uses Tillikum and several other wild adult
captured whales as examples, and, to a degree, the norm, when in fact, today, and
for the last 25 years, the vast majority of Orcas in captivity are captive bred
and born.
2: Marine parks around the world are now breeding in house,
and in some instances artificially, to minimize inbreeding. In fact, Tillikum
actually has sired 21 offspring, so there is something at which he excels! Wild
capture no longer is necessary, and/or considering the difficulties involved,
is financially daunting. These captive bred whales are socialized in a way wild
captures never have or could be. At
least one male was captured after an artificial, human induced “stranding” at age 5. Of course he’s pissed! Analogizing Tillikum and his wild capture
peers to captive bred Orcas is rather like comparing my Bassett Hound
to a wild wolf. Domestic dogs are different, as are most domestic animals when
compared to wild or wild capture counterparts.
3: There is some claim that Captive orcas live shorter
lifespans. The problem here is that there is a relatively small population in
captivity, all of which are known and meticulously tracked, , and a huge
undetermined number in the wild, most of whose lifespans are conjecture at
best. Statistically it is ridiculous to
note that one wild Orca allegedly living to an age of 90 (“Old Tom” seen for
decades off Australia) constitutes a standard of average lifespan. No one,
absolutely no one, has realistic data regarding stillbirths and other deaths in
the wild due to natural causes. Again, the movie (Blackfish) will mislead theatergoers regarding the life span
controversy without having either the numbers or the means of obtaining them,
and will have their own “experts” who make lofty pronouncements regarding captive
lifespan with no real or even reasonable means of comparison.
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