It's a hard call on whether it's right to have the animals in captivity. Part of me feels sorry for them in such a small, unnatural habitat, but I remind myself that most of them were born there and don't know anything else, and they receive the best of care. You definitely have to love them and love your job to work there...DH was saying that one of the trainers has been there for something like 16 or 17 years. Apparently they work with one whale and bond with it. That has to be amazing.
I could criticize SW, but then I'd have to hang my head in shame for keeping a horse that is boarded on five acres and has to carry me around while his wild kin runs free. But if I ever released him, I guarantee you he'd be back at the barn door as soon as he realized that there's no sweet feed and treats out in the wild.
The fact that they have been in these tanks since birth does not alter the facts they haven't enough room, they are kept in clorinated fresh water when they are designed to be in salt water, their life span is HALVED in the wild family units stay together for life. There are growing number of attacks on other whales and trainers. But that doesn't matter as long as we are happy.
IN THE WILD . . . Female orca whales are thought to live 80 years, and male orcas about 50. Both beluga whales and dolphins can live 25 to 30 years.
IN CAPTIVITY . . . Whales and dolphins frequently live only a fraction of the time they would in the wild. Many die shortly after capture, often unexpectedly, but necropsies find most die from bacterial infections. According to records, over 24 cetaceans have died at the Vancouver Aquarium. Bjossa has lost 2 mates and 3 babies.
IN THE WILD . . . Whales and dolphins are intelligent, highly social mammals who live in small family groups called "pods". Orca offspring stay with their mothers for life.
IN CAPTIVITY . . . Unrelated whales and dolphins are often forced to live together in groups that are nothing like their families in the wild. At the Vancouver Aquarium, a baby beluga whale was separated for 6 months from her mother.
IN THE WILD . . . Orca whales may travel up to 100 miles a day, reach speeds of 30 miles per hour and dive hundreds of feet below the water's surface.
IN CAPTIVITY . . . Most captive whales and dolphins can swim for only a few seconds before reaching the sides of their tanks. Bjossa would have to swim around her tank 2500 times a day to get enough exercise.
IN THE WILD . . . Whales and dolphins live in a world of sound. Orca pods have unique "dialects" containing specific sound patterns. Whales and dolphins use echolocation to locate each other and to capture live prey.
IN CAPTIVITY . . . The Vancouver Aquarium, whale tanks are many times noisier than the ocean. The glass and concrete walls frequently inhibit the natural use of sound by whales and dolphins. The water and cooling pumps are heard underwater 24 hours a day.
IN THE WILD . . . Whales and dolphins have evolved for millions of years as part of a complex web of marine life. They belong in the ocean, surrounded by other sea animals, along with the tides, waves, storms, sea floors and coastlines of their natural homes.
IN CAPTIVITY . . . Nothing in their evolution has prepared whales or dolphins for life in captivity. Everything is foreign - from the size and shape of the tanks, to the artificial social environment, to the textures, colours, sounds and lighting they experience, to the water they live in, which is often artificial sea water, chemically treated with chlorine. Sadly, the results is often abnormal behaviour, aggression, injury, illness and premature death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM0Zct5Wlj0
http://www.aph.gov.au/SEnate/commit...e_ctte/dolphins_whales_in_captivity/06ch6.pdf