Free the Whales
By Maria Coppola

      We can all agree that taking someone away from their home, family, and then kenneling them for amusement is wrong. Unfortunately, this is what happens with highly intelligent mammals,killer whales, so people can see them at places like Seaworld. The facts are the facts. Keeping killer whales in captivity is not okay because it affects their emotional health, physical health, and has an impact on humans.

       Keeping killer whales in captivity affects their emotional health. Just like humans, killer whales are highly social and family oriented. Their pods can consist of  50  individuals and each pod has it’s own culture with different personalities, behaviors, diets, and hunting tactics. These pods of intelligent whales work together and protect the young, ill, and injured whales. The mothers maintain lifelong bonds with their offspring for a calf never leaves it’s mothers side. Financial decisions made by companies like Seaworld break apart these family bonds. Killer whales don’t have pods in captivity and at some point the calf is separated from the mother, leaving both of them with severe emotional trauma that will scar them for life. Do to stress and boredom, the whales often bite on metal gates, float for hours on the waters surface, and bang their heads on walls when they are held captive. They become bored in tanks that aren’t even close to comparable to the ocean. An orca at Seaworld would have to swim the circumference of the main pool more than 1,400 times to match the equivalent distance traveled in one day in the wild. There is no way to recreate the ocean for these mammals who are so intelligently challenged with a brain four times the size of a human brain. Killer whales even have a part of the brain humans don’t have. A creature so smart and emotionally affected should not have to live this way in captivity.

       Captive killer whales have very poor physical health. Whales in captivity have a 100% chance of their dorsal fin collapsing. Scientists believe that lack of exercise, overall poor health, warm temperatures, and dehydration causes this to happen. Animals with collapsed fins are usually close to death or injured. In the wild , killer whale dorsal fins stand tall and straight. Collapsed dorsal fins occur in less than 1% of the wild population. Since captive killer whales are unhappy with little space to swim and are so close together, this leads to aggression towards others. Captive killer whales are often seen with rakes (teeth scraping) and open wounds. Also, caused by biting on metal, captive whales have poor dental health. It is common for these orcas to require teeth drilling and daily freshwater flushing to prevent infection. Orcas in captivity live in chlorinated tanks in warm outdoor temperatures and eat fish that are dried and filled with medication to prevent ulcers (sores) and infections caused by stress. Wild orcas live in cold salt water and hunt for fish, marine animals, squid, etc. Killer whales eat an average  of 500 Lbs. per day but whales in captivity are taught to beg for food that isn’t even a wild orcas diet so they can perform shows. It isn’t normal for killer whales to have so many physical health problems but it explains why 92% of Seaworld's orcas don’t live past 25 when the life expectancy of a male and female killer whale is 50-60 and 80-90 years old. The yearly death rate of a killer whale is more than 2.5 times higher in captivity.

        The impact killer whales in captivity has on humans is sad. It is not normal for killer whales to be held in captivity and yet children are growing up thinking that it is normal likely because schools like Zaharis are supporting companies like Seaworld. Orcas are meant to be wild, free animals and the fact that people see them as amusement is disturbing. These majestic animals deserve better from us. Our humanity should compel us to treat our companions on this earth with greater compassion.

       Obviously you can see that killer whales should not be held in captivity. It is not right for such huge, smart, family oriented animals to live their lives in such poor condition. Keeping killer whales in captivity is not okay because it affects their emotional health, physical health, and has an impact on humans. These amazing, beautiful creatures will never be freed if we keep supporting amusement parks- abusement parks-like Seaworld. Keeping captive dolphins should be a part of our history not a tragic part of our future. Help me free the whales.

My story:

I’m a twelve year old girl who absolutely loves animals. I watched the movie Blackfish with my family. It was very disturbing and led me to do a ton of research about killer whales and the effect captivity has on them.  It is horrible. They shouldn’t have to live their lives in swimming pools, away from their family and pods. I can’t grasp why anyone like Sea World would keep on breeding these whales for our amusement. It’s all about the money for them. There’s no good reason to keep killer whales captive.

My old school, Zaharis Elementary, goes on a field trip to Sea World every year. Last year (my last year at Zaharis), I talked to my teachers and principal, had them read the essay I wrote, showed them the video I put together, and tried very hard to get them to stop going to Sea World. I got a group of people to wear t-shirts to Sea World that said “It is NOT okay.” on the front and “Whales need oceans. NOT swimming pools.” on the back. We made the Sea World staff very uncomfortable. The night we got there, we were asked by the staff to take the shirts off and put the yellow Sea World shirts on while the staff was in charge of the students. After a lot of arguing, we wore the yellow shirts inside out, not completely giving in. The Sea World staff said that the shirts helped them keep track of all of us. Such a fat lie since everyone was wearing jackets. The next day during breakfast with shamu when the staff was no longer “in charge of us”, my mom and I were pulled aside by a security officer and asked once again (after the ten other times) to take our shirts off. The manager said that our shirts saying that whales belong in the ocean, not in swimming pools was against their policies. Hey, the truth speaks the truth. Sea World made such a huge scene about our shirts. They actually made the situation worse for them. Causing a big scene because of our shirts is exactly what we wanted. To avoid becoming even more heated, my mom and I eventually took the shirts off even though we’re so passionate about this cause. I was in tears by the end of this whole scene. Humans are just not as understanding and emotional as orcas. Seeing the orcas at Sea World for myself helped give me an even better understanding of what it’s like for them. It was so sickening every second I saw these amazing creatures begging for food in their tanks. The excitement of watching killer whales perform for OUR AMUSEMENT shouldn’t be brought on by getting splashed in the splash zone.  The education part if the field trip was weak, anyways (I know from experience). The main thing the kids care about is the roller coasters. Wearing our shirts to Sea World got a lot of people’s attention.

I made my teachers think a lot deeper about this cause and am a reminder to them because of the dedication I showed. However, the sad fact is that Zaharis is going to continue to support Sea World because they’re going back to Sea World doing more good than bad. So would you say that kidnapping some kids and then donating their clothes to a charity is okay? It’s NOT. Please help me raise awareness for these majestic, intelligent creatures. They deserve freedom.

I’m going to meet with the Mesa Public Schools district and am determined to get all Mesa Public Schools that still go to Sea World to STOP. Please help me prove to the district that it is inhumane to keep killer whales in captivity. The more community help I can get, the more likely it is for all Mesa Public Schools to stop supporting Sea World. All the money (thousands and thousands of dollars) that would stop supporting Sea World would make a HUGE difference.

Help me free the whales.  We are their voices.