SeaWorld: Increase awareness about the violation of the Federal Animal Welfare Act

The Issue

After 51 years, SeaWorld Parks needs to be exposed for their horrendous treatment to their dolphins and orcas. This treatment has caused many dolphins multiple skin problems, destroyed dolphins immune systems, aggression among pods, psychological stress, self mutilation and illnesses.
Studies about dolphins in captivity have shown nothing but disturbing results. The average lifespan of a dolphin is 45 years, but a majority of the dolphins in captivity die within the first two years. The survivors last an average of five years. According to a study conducted by Robert Small and Douglas Demaster, the mortality rate for annual captive dolphins was two and a half times higher than that of wild cetaceans. Those dolphins that survive undergo extreme conditions. Every seven years, around half the dolphins in captivity die from illnesses such as ulcers, pneumonia, intestinal diseases, chlorine poisoning, and capture shock. In addition, the tanks of water containing the dolphins are full of chemicals and bacteria, which could potentially cause many health problems for dolphins including blindness. Other than diseases, dolphins in captivity face many other risks. Dolphins have brains larger than those of humans in terms of weight and volume, and as a result display psychotic behaviors, similar to symptoms of prison neurosis when in captivity. Some example behaviors include swimming in circles repetitively, lying motionless on the floor and establishing pecking orders. Furthermore, many dolphins in captivity possess many injuries caused by tank mates, which rarely happens in the wild. Moreover, dolphins in captivity tend to attempt suicide by flinging themselves outside of their tanks and have also been known to slam themselves against the sides of their tanks concrete walls, in attempts of self mutilation.
Specific to SeaWorld, there have been many observations by various veterinarians exposing the cruelty that the dolphins under captivity there undergo. Bullying and aggressive fights among dolphins were apparently commonplace. The dolphins are ramming, chasing, and flipping, and attempting to slap each other with their flukes. As seen in http://www.peta2.com/blog/veterinarian-visits-seaworld-san-diego, the dolphins at the time of Dr. Rally's visit (who is a veterinarian), had rare marks in stages of healing. As veterinarian Dr. Rally explains, this “means that aggression between cetaceans at SeaWorld is not only commonplace, it is also happening currently.” Next, the dolphins with skin conditions interacted with the public. As Dr. Rally explains, “The dolphins involved in human interaction activities had obvious skin lesions.” The dolphins had obvious rashes and pox-like lesions. Despite the obvious horrible lesions on the dolphins, the visitors were still allowed in the water, able to put their hands in the water and touch the dolphins unsupervised. Moreover, the dolphins in SeaWorld were obviously cramped and aren’t allowed the space that dolphins in the wild travel daily. Wild dolphins can swim 40 to 100 miles per day, and as a result, the SeaWorld tanks are almost like bathtubs. This means that the dolphins would need to swim 1,208 laps (around the perimeter of the tank) or 3,105 lengths (back and forth at the longest part of the tank) in the park’s largest tank to equal what they’d swim in the wild! In addition, many ex-SeaWorld trainers have explained the forced masturbation and pregnancy plans that the animals have gone through, in order to fill the tanks with animals. The animals are flipped on their back, and trainers then masturbate the animals to collect their sperm. The sperm is then artificially inseminated in females who are then forced to breed at a much younger age than they would in nature. An example of this is the orca, Katina. Katina was forced to breed when she was only 9 years old, 5 years older than an average orca in the wild. Lastly, in many cases, dolphins and other animals in SeaWorld may be forced away from their parents at a young age, and may be forced to be shipped across continents to other SeaWorld locations.
These injustices need to stop for the sake of the animals. As the awareness of the horrible things that the captive animals receive increases, the more we as humans can make a difference. Sign this petition to bring awareness to the U.S. Department of Agriculture of the numerous violations and actions that SeaWorld has done against the federal Animal Welfare Act.