Blackfish and SeaWorld

 SeaWorld is known for its captive orcas, but they don't have the best animal welfare for their orcas as the tanks the orcas have been kept in have been barren and almost no source of enrichment for the orcas is provided, or at least that's what it looked like the last time I went to SeaWorld. Since the realese of the documentary Blackfish which talked about a enormous captive killer whale at SeaWorld named Tilikum and the three deathes that were caused by the orca, SeaWorld attendence had dropped by one million vistors (Walter & Verissimo, 2023).

 Tilikum had had a history of aggression and stereotypical behaviors which orcas don't show in the wild, only in captivity. this was brought on from post tramatic stress dissorder from spend almost all his life in captivity (Walter & Verissimo, 2023). Three years after the realese of Blackfish, SeaWorld ended its orca breeding program in 2016 (Walter & Verissimo, 2023). 

Recently SeaWorld has announced plans to redesign the orca habitats, and they called it The Blue World Project (Awesome Ocean, 2015). In conclusion I think that if SeaWorld wants to keep its orcas they need to make major changes to their enclousres and welfare.

Walters, L. T., & Veríssimo, D. (2023, March 14). Blackfish: How captive killer whale documentary ended SeaWorld’s Orca Breeding Programme. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/blackfish-how-captive-killer-whale-documentary-ended-seaworlds-orca-breeding-programme-161775#:~:text=In%20the%20year%20following%20Blackfish's,share%20price%20drop%20by%2033%25.

Awesome Ocean. (2015a, November 1). Breaking: SeaWorld announces Blue World Project. Awesome Ocean. http://awesomeocean.com/top-stories/breaking-seaworld-announces-blue-world-project/ 

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