What's your thought on Seaworld's decission?

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

Just kind of curious what everyone thinks.

Ever since the recent announcement my facebook feed has been torn. Most of the people who are into wildlife say it's a dumb move while as the people who aren't "knowledgeable" about wildlife but think they're cute and such think it's not enough.

Just wondering what the general populace thinks about the move?

[Minkness]

Uh....what about seaworld?

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

No longer breeding and are essentially phasing out Orcas in Sea World.

[PatrickT]

its stupid. out of sense, out of mind.

[Minkness]

Yeah, that sounds stupid to me. =/

I wonder if it's a cost thinv..I'm sure to maintain their pools and diet isn't cost effective if people aren't visiting like they used to.

Sad though..I loved sea world....

[bigsnakegirl785]

It's a great decision. Dolphins, whales, orcas. They have no place in captivity, the tanks they have aren't even 1/10th of the size the animals need to be healthy. They mutilate themselves, gore people (which they don't really normally do in the wild), and pace around bored out of their minds. They live half as long as they do in the wild. Kinda weird, huh?

I say good riddance to Sea World.

They also do no good for wild populations, so not sure why the wildlife people are upset by this? It's good for the wild populations if Sea World doesn't have orcas anymore.

[AwesomeGuy376]

What BSG said. Im glad theyre ending it. Those poor Orcas werent made to be in captivity. Its like some snakes, sometimes, they just dont do well in captivity.. Even though im sure they tried to take care of them, they just dont bear well. And their breeding program was out of hand, i mean, they took away their offspring from the mothers.. And Orcas are like us, they get hurt when they loose something valuble to them.. I feel they made the moral choice here. But hey, thats just my opinion

[sirtalis]

I think its great. I used to go to Sea World once a year and every time we would see the dolphins there was always a problem. Once a kid pushed his hand into the dolphins blowhole (is that the right word?) another time someone tried to feed the dolphins some random food, another time a kid crawled into the area where the trainers stand, etc. Also I feel that the enclosures are really really small. In all honesty most neighborhood pools are bigger than the dolphin enclosure (not as deep mind you) and the enclosures seem very empty which would probably be a ***ty life style for the animals. Just my opinion. Oh and who else remembers when the orca killed its trainer? or all the peta videos, I mean in general peta is pretty stupid/idiotic but some of the sea world vids are pretty realistic, its not like they can fake a orca throwing up

[Bandit]

I can't honestly say that I'm all that informed on the issue, but I naturally feel that this is a good thing (for the animals' sake). There is no way that those animals have the space or stimulation that they need to really be happy.

Also, I don't think I really understand why the wildlife people would dislike this decision. As far as I know, SeaWorld doesn't do anything for the wild populations, so why does it matter to them? Again, I don't know much about the issue, so if anyone has some insight on this I'd like to hear it.

[RAD House]

Yeah I don't know any wildlife people that would be for Sea World continuing the practice. I think it is great news and a huge win for the animals.

[Tiny Boidae]

I'm a little less sure this is a positive outcome, and may be more harmful to the bigger picture. All of their animals are bred through artificial insemination, since they can't get them to breed naturally in captivity and these dolphins are slightly homicidal (which would be an expensive loss if one mutilates the other). When the calf is born, it's separated from its mother pretty quickly and sent to another facility or aquatic park. While this does cause psychological harm, that one dolphin bred is two less that they capture out of the wild. Trappers (who aren't affiliated with Sea World) will get on boats and corral pods into areas where they can easily catch the young and let the adults go. This is the same thing as taking a captive baby from its mother mind you, although this time a good chunk of these dolphins die in transit or in their new habitats. Sea World wouldn't buy so many wild-caught dolphins if they were breeding their own. I didn't hear that they'd stop keeping dolphins, just that they would stop breeding them. This doesn't stop the problem of babies being cruelly separated from their mothers, or inhumane housing for the animals, and it hurts wild populations even further.

[smoothie4l]

Just watch the documentary "Black fish". I hope seaworld takes Ontario's 'Marineland' with it.

[chairman]

The captive orca program taught us that they weren't just big, dumb fish. They're at least as intelligent and trainable as dogs, maybe more so since they were able to work with people without co-evolving for thousands of years. I believe that this knowledge ultimately helped whales in the long run because the more intelligence a creature has the better humanity treats it.

I am, however, glad the program is ending as it did turn out that the orcas didn't do well in captivity. Am also looking forward to their plans for the expanded habitats once the orcas are gone. They must have something in mind to be investing as much as they are into new tanks knowing that the orca program is ending.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I'm a little less sure this is a positive outcome, and may be more harmful to the bigger picture. All of their animals are bred through artificial insemination, since they can't get them to breed naturally in captivity and these dolphins are slightly homicidal (which would be an expensive loss if one mutilates the other). When the calf is born, it's separated from its mother pretty quickly and sent to another facility or aquatic park. While this does cause psychological harm, that one dolphin bred is two less that they capture out of the wild. Trappers (who aren't affiliated with Sea World) will get on boats and corral pods into areas where they can easily catch the young and let the adults go. This is the same thing as taking a captive baby from its mother mind you, although this time a good chunk of these dolphins die in transit or in their new habitats. Sea World wouldn't buy so many wild-caught dolphins if they were breeding their own. I didn't hear that they'd stop keeping dolphins, just that they would stop breeding them. This doesn't stop the problem of babies being cruelly separated from their mothers, or inhumane housing for the animals, and it hurts wild populations even further.

The OP said they may be phasing them out completely. So this won't be happening. Sometimes things like this stay as small rumors, but we'll see how it ends up.

Just watch the documentary "Black fish". I hope seaworld takes Ontario's 'Marineland' with it.

Blackfish is Animal Rights propaganda. Although they touch on the issues that people have with Sea World, it's tinged with anthropomorphism. I still agree that no orcas is best, and if Sea World can't exist without its cetaceans then I won't be heartbroken to see them shut down. If they can find another existence, that's just as good. I just don't think they have any business keeping cetaceans period.

[Minkness]

I see alot of good from captive wild animals. Too bad their care requirements are more than feasible to provide.

[KrokadilyanGuy3]

I'm actually not sure what the deal is with the dolphins, can't really comment on that.

I think most the wildlife people are more worried about the fact that this will snowball downhill towards other wildlife and possibly their own animals.

I do agree with what's being said here. Never cared for SeaWorld, personally.