Prarthana Shankar

Dr. Bruce
English 301
May 9th, 2014
Argumentative paper
Non-human Humans
I remember the only time I watched Shamu perform. As an innocent ten-year-old, I
watched in awe as he executed all his tricks with total confidence and invited countless claps
from the excited audience. It was at that moment that I knew that I wanted to be a dolphin trainer
and my dream of being a marine biologist seemed to finally have a specific goal. Fast forward
ten years and we have all come a long way in understanding killer whales and their lifestyles.
The killer whale or the orca, scientifically called Orcinus orca, is a species of cetacean from the
Family Delphinidae (Ilangakoon, 2009). This means that orcas are actually dolphins but not
whales. They are found in all of the worlds oceans but there are, unfortunately, fifty-three of
them held in captivity today, with thirty-four of them being captive-born (The Fate of Captive
Orcas, 2014). Today, I still aspire to be a marine biologist, but my career goal has taken a turn.
Although orca whales are held captive all over the world, they belong in the wild because they
are sentient animals whose emotional and physical health are negatively affected by captivity.
Sentience is an extremely important quality that is worth considering when talking about
animals rights. As defined in the Concise Medical Health and Allied Health Dictionary by
Stedman (1997), sentience is the capability of sensation. In a paper published by Louis-Jacques
van Bogaert (2004), professor of philosophy in the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, he
writes that sentient beings are capable of being aware of themselves and their surroundings, or in
other words, they are conscious. He recognizes that this means that they are capable of having
subjective experiences in the world and that these animals include humans, chimpanzees,
elephants, dolphins, and others. The big question then is why does this matter? According to the
website us.whales.org, sentient animals have extremely complex and social lives and they are
capable of experiencing complex emotions such as grief and empathy. (Sentient and Sapient
Whales, n.d., para 14). This means that orca whales among some other animals, are just like you
and me except without voices. However, it is important to point out that they are capable of
communicating, but it is difficult for us to record as most of it happens under water (Killer
Whale Communication, n.d.).
Due to the quality of being sentient, dolphins have been shown to be highly sociable and
intelligent animals. Many cetaceans, such as bottlenose dolphins, sperm whales, and killer
whales exhibit complex social patterns that include coalition formation, cooperation, cultural
transmission, and tool use (Hof, 2005). In a paper on multi-pod aggregations of killer whales, it
was concluded that aggregations of whales or pods, play the role of clubs, which is a way for
the whales to maintain social relationships (Filatova et al., 2009). It was suggested in the paper
that the whales could not only recognize other members of their community, but also members of
other pods, because many times, different pods come together to forage. This reiterates how
complicated their social relationships can be and it is safe to say that they are very similar to us.
Interestingly, killer whales are just like other mammals in that mothers care for their calves for
years and so, pods usually consist of whale families (Killer Whales, n.d.). This means that
capturing one wild orca can disrupt an entire killer whale pod. This also means, that the one
whale that is taken into captivity is going to face emotional ramifications because of being away
from its family. Think about the challenges that orphan children have to go through. Perhaps it is
not that different for the whales.
In addition to the many emotional difficulties that captive orcas face, a drastic and easily
noticeable physical change that can be seen in many of them is the dorsal fin collapse. The first
unpaired fin on the back, the dorsal fin, is supposed to be erect and upright in killer whales.
However, in many captive orca whales, it bends over and looks collapsed. In an interview with
David Kirby, author of the book Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whale
Captivity, he says that the dorsal fin collapse happens in only one percent of wild killer whales

Figure 1: Image on the left showing the dorsal fin collapse in a captive whale and image on the right showing a
natural fin on a whale in the wild. (What Causes Dorsal Fin Collapses?)
(Bear, n.d.). In an article titled Whale Watching it was stated that dorsal fin collapse is
extremely common in captive orca whales (Hoyt, 2002). In support of this, Astrid van Ginneken,
co-principle investigator for Orca Survey, points out that dorsal fin collapse is not seen in any
other Cetacean species (Ventre, 2011). This clearly implies that the fin collapse is not something
that is natural in the wild. Freetilly.org, a website urging to set a SeaWorld-held whale, Tilikum,
lose into the wild, points out that scientists do not know exactly why this happens in captive orca
whales but lists some possible theories (Behind the Smile, n.d.). The article says that it could
be due to reduced blood pressure levels in the whales because of less activity, alterations in the
internal water balance due to different diets compared to in the wild or, due to the over-heating
of the fins structural protein, collagen. Granted, research has not been done long enough to
understand the long-term effects of this physical change. However, whatever the reason may be,
having a dorsal fin bent over does not seem like something that could in any way be beneficial to
whales.
The opening lines of the profile of Killer whales on the national geographic website state
that killer whales are massive animals, the largest dolphins and one of the worlds most
powerful predators (Killer whale, n.d., para 1). The website points out that orcas can weigh
up to six tons or 5,443 kilograms, and can be anywhere from twenty-three to thirty-two feet long!
These animals travel up to a hundred miles every single day, in addition to diving to depths of
about 200 feet (Orcas in Captivity, n.d.). It is then safe to wonder how these humongous
animals are expected to live in tanks that are on average, only 24 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 6
feet deep (Marine Animal, n.d., para 5). The space that is given to them is incredibly small in
comparison to the vast expanse of the ocean, but unfortunately, they do not really have a choice.
In an interview by CNN with Sea Worlds Vice President of Communications, Fred Jacobs, he
argues that swimming long distances is not something that is important to the health of whales
(SeaWorld responds, 2013). He adds that killer whales likely swim that far only as part of their
foraging behavior and the absence of is in no way detrimental to their well-being. However, one
of the most prominent impacts of the reduced space is the shortened life span of captive killer
whales. In the wild, killer whales are known to live up to their nineties, but in captivity, a lot of
them die in their teens (Granberry, 1993). This is a huge problem as it is not only detrimental to
the species, but it is also an incentive for marine parks to capture or breed more captive whales.
Killer whales, believe it or not, are not naturally predators of humans. On the other hand,
they are excellent hunters of a wide range of prey, including fish, seals, and big whales such as
the blue whales (Killer Whales, n.d.). In an interview for Mr. Kirbys book, marine biologist
Naomi Ross explained that there have been no reports of killer whales fatally attacking a human
or even seriously injuring one in the wild (Last, 2012). She added that no killer whale has been
known to have been killed in a fight with another whale. She finally pointed out that on the
contrary, all three of those things have happened in captivity (Last, 2012, para.2). In the last
twelve years, a number of trainers have been attacked by captive killer whales but this issue was
publicized prominently in 2010. An article in the New York Times titled Killer Whale, Captive
Whale outlined the details of that fateful day in February when Dawn Brancheau, a senior
trainer in at Sea World, Orlando was attacked and killed by a 12,000 pound orca named Tilikum
(Shattuck, 2014). Dawn, who loved working with orca whales had been interacting with the
whale from outside the water, when he dragged her into the deep pool, mutilated and drowned
her (Shattuck, 2014). Ironically, as the article points out, her death was not the first, but the third
human death by the same whale since 1991! What were trainers doing in the water with a whale
who was known to be aggressive? Why were the captive whales attacking humans, when they
never attacked us in the wild?
Chuck Tompkins, head of Animal Training in Sea World, argues that Tilikum and all of
Sea Worlds whales were always closely monitored and were never put on display if they
showed any signs of abnormal behavior (Cave, 2010). He also denied that the animals were ever
pushed to work hard and added that they were not stressed out (Cave, 2010). However, David
Phillips, who led the effort to rehabilitate and rescue the orca whale Keiko, made famous in the
movie, Free Willy, does not think so (Wood, 2010). The director of the International Marine
Mammal Project emphasizes that orca whales are not meant for captivity and since there is no
better way for them to vent out their anger, they attack us. He warns, It is high time that the
marine park industry get out of the captive orca business (p. 2).
Killer whales, the oceans majestic predators are from the ocean and they belong there.
However, there are many whales in captivity and more are continuously being caught from the
wild. It is easy to argue that the whales need to be released. On the other hand, it is important to
remember that the whales that are already held captive, especially the ones that are captive-born,
will not be able to cope in the wild as they have either spent very little or no time living without
human attention. Jean-Michael Cousteau, who was also directly involved with the release of
Keiko claims in his blog that,
One way or another, we are totally responsible for the care and wellbeing of all captive orcas
for the rest of their lives, especially those born into captivity (Cousteau, n.d., n.p.).
He backs it up by pointing out that Keiko had to be trained for years to learn to catch fish by
himself because he had always been fed by his trainers. The whale when released, swam 1000
miles from Iceland to Norway where he entered a fjord and chose to stay. There, he was taken
care of by humans and eventually died of a pneumonia-like disease (Cousteau, n.d.). Cousteau
suggests a possible solution for the captive-whales today; to take care of the whales in bigger
man-made pools, without allowing them to reproduce so that they can live their lives in
retirement. He adds that they should not have to perform and should get the best possible
treatment that we can give them until they die of old age. This is a good solution which will
inevitably reduce the number of confined whales, promise decent lives for the ones in captivity
today and most importantly, make us moral human beings sympathetic to the feelings and needs
of orca whales. Todays children have to go to Sea World without looking forward to seeing
Shamu, because they will know that he does not belong there.

References
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