Captivity FAQs

What about rescued cetaceans? Shouldn't they be brought into captivity to save their lives? The answer; yes, of course they should. And they are. However, there is one captive orca living in the world today who was rescued from the wild. Her name is Morgan and she lives at Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain. There is one rescued beluga whale living in captivity today; Tyonek at SeaWorld San Antonio, San Antonio Texas, USA. There are more rescued dolphins, but successful cetacean rescue is less common than you'd think. SeaWorld and other organizations do rescue other animals, but they don't rescue orcas and belugas. Morgan and Tyonek are anomalies. The argument that marine parks rescue animals, and therefore, it's okay to visit them, just doesn't hold up to scrutiny. SeaWorld's rescue of seals, seabirds, and otters is admirable, but it doesn't cancel out the wrongs they have done toward their orcas and belugas.

Don't marine parks use their orcas and belugas for valuable scientific research we couldn't get in the wild? Not really. All of the scientific information SeaWorld has extracted from their endeavors is very baseline, eg, how much they eat, how much they weigh, how many teeth they have. This is all information we knew 50+ years ago. Some of their CO2 data is interesting, but still not exactly a breakthrough. So why was SeaWorld breeding and producing killer whales until 2017, and is still breeding belugas now? Furthermore, captive cetaceans are not the ideal research subject. In modern cetology, scientists are most interested in the animals' feeding habits, their vocalizations, and their relationships with each other. Captive orcas do not have these meaningful cultural markers, and thus make them unideal subjects for this type of research. Cetologists have done incredible work studying wild populations, all without disturbing them. Captivity is not necessary, or even a component of, modern cetology.

SeaWorld has produced some peer reviewed scientific research on cetaceans, but I'm not sure how valuable it really is. 

Why can't people just make their own choices about whether or not to go to marine parks? It's a personal choice. The thing is, your personal choice is the heart of this industry. Marine parks would not exist without paying customers. What you do has a direct effect on the lives of these animals. Under other circumstances, I'm all for personal choice, but this just isn't one of those times. Your dollar pays for breeding programs and for transports.