SeaWorld lost yet another orca to an early death.
On Monday, January 28th, Kayla, an orca that was born and spent her whole life in captivity, died in SeaWorld Orlando in Florida. Kayla was only 30 years old.
Female orcas in the wild can live as long as 80 to 90 years, so Kayla’s life was cut considerably short.
Now, SeaWorld’s inventory of captive orcas is down to 30 individuals. Thanks to work by the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute and other groups, SeaWorld announced three years ago that they would no longer breed orcas in captivity nor catch any more in the wild, leaving their current captives to be the last “generation” of orcas in SeaWorld parks in Orlando, Austin, and San Diego.
IMMP opposes the keeping of cetaceans like Kayla in captivity. These beings are too intelligent, too wide-ranging, and in the wild have strong family bonds that are disrupted in captivity. Combine small concrete tanks, highly chlorinated, with a draining daily program of doing repetitive tricks and “shows” for an audience based on food deprivation (orcas and dolphins need to be kept hungry all day, or they will not perform the tricks), these animals face terrible stress and boredom, leading to infections, other diseases, and an early death.
In fact, SeaWorld’s orcas and dolphins are heavily medicated in order to keep them somewhat healthy – antibiotics to treat chronic infections; antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs; antacids to combat stomach ulcers; and even drugs to speed up the breeding cycles so the cetaceans produce more young faster than is natural in the ocean. Orcas also suffer severe tooth breakage and infections due to chewing on the concrete tanks and metal gates between tanks.
Even an orca like Kayla, born in a small tank and spending her whole life in captivity, does not do well, having been programed through millions of years of evolution to be in the ocean, not a tank.
IMMP helped develop and is consulting on a major federal lawsuit against SeaWorld in California, contending that SeaWorld does not tell the public the truth about their orcas in captivity, thus violating consumer protection and fair business practices law. The case “Anderson v SeaWorld” is expected to go to trial in October. The lawsuit is being conducted by pro bono attorneys with Covington & Burling LLP in San Francisco.
IMMP has also filed a case with colleagues in federal court in Washington DC demanding SeaWorld necropsy reports on the orca Tilikum, who died after being involved in three people’s deaths, and other SeaWorld captive orcas that have died. We believe the necropsy reports will shed further light on how damaging captivity can be to orcas.
IMMP and other organizations are proposing that SeaWorld and other aquariums’ cetaceans be retired to seaside sanctuaries, where they would live in much bigger ocean sanctuaries, and receive food and vet care for the rest of their lives. Some cetaceans may qualify to be released back into the wild, after rehabilitation. IMMP’s Director, David Phillips, sits of the Board of Directors of the Whale Sanctuary Project, which is seeking build just such a seaside sanctuary where cetaceans in captivity can be retired (and no longer forced to perform tricks) and where stranded cetaceans can be rehabilitated and, hopefully, returned to the wild.
