SeaWorld Orca Captivity

I'd like to speak today concerning the captivity of the killer whales at SeaWorld. I've been hearing a lot of people claiming that captivity is bad for all animals because of the environment, the behaviors, and how they're treated, also the news reports of animal attacks. I'd like to share my feelings of animal captivity. I believe it is wrong to just grab an animal out of the wild and put them in captivity and away from their families, but I don't agree that animal captivity is inherently bad. Captivity should only be used in positive ways and there are a lot of zoos, wildlife parks and animal hospitals who do that.

It is horrible to hear what happened to the SeaWorld orca trainers and it's something to be mindful of, but the truth is, those were just accidents and we can't always assume that it was because of how the whales were liking captivity. There are numerous reasons those things happened, even ones that we don't understand or can't figure out.

I know there are few people who have been saying that all animals belong in the wild, especially the orcas. But, have they realized or thought of the animals that are disabled to survive in the wild due to amputated limbs, lack of smell or hearing or echolocation? These animals may have injuries, disabilities and poor health conditions that won't have a likely chance they'll survive in the wild if they're released. Think of Winter, the dolphin living at the Clearwater Marine Hospital and from the movie "Dolphin Tale." Her tail got caught in a crab trap, and it was too infected and badly damaged the veterinarians had to remove it. If they hadn't removed her tail, she wouldn't have lived. After it was amputated, she was given a prosthetic tail so she wouldn't have to swim like a fish or face a shocking death as a result of that.

If Winter were released in the wild with a prosthetic tail, she wouldn't have survived. It would've somehow fallen off, she would swim like a fish and die sooner than we think.

Since I was a little girl, I've had a passion for wildlife, and I came to a lot of animal parks where I had that wonderful and amazing feeling of being around nature. I didn't necessarily think captivity was bad, but I eventually learned that captivity can be used in good or bad ways. If there weren't any zoos, wildlife or marine parks, how else would I be able to get to experience the feeling of being around nature and animals?

I know some people are shocked and disappointed that Bindi Irwin, the daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter, signed up to do a project with SeaWorld, but she's not a bad person. She's someone who loves animals and has had experiences with them her whole life. Her purpose and goal of working with SeaWorld is to help other people be introduced to and have experiences with wildlife. SeaWorld is not just to entertain people, it's built to introduce wildlife to the people who go there and help them develop passions for and friendships with the animals.