My Account
By Christine Rose
Images of orca dying and dead on New Zealand’s beautiful beaches, stir heartache in many of us. Orca are physically stunning, intelligent, ruthless, and epitomise all that’s wild. It’s sad enough when they live wild but strand and die in public view. But photos of the captive orca Tilikum in American SeaWorld’s aquarium, in terminal decline, show insidious aspects of the ‘entertainment’ industry and humanity itself. Tilikum was the unfortunate star of the movie Blackfish which highlighted the obscene conditions and psychological and physical torture inflicted upon wild animals in tiny tanks.
Tilikum was taken from the wild at age two and has been kept in captivity (aka prison) for over 32 years. Clearly seriously traumatised and disturbed by confinement and exploitation, Tilikum has killed two of his trainers and a trespasser. He’s a pitiful sight, his huge dorsal fin flopped over, in a pool not much bigger than he is.
New Zealand’s ‘Orca lady’ Ingrid Visser works with free living orca all around our coast, and like many others, has repeated interactions (associations) with individuals she knows by name. Ingrid has defended the right to freedom of captive orca, including Lolita, kept in a tiny tank for 46 years, in international courts. There are strong moral and legal arguments against keeping orca and other animals in captivity.
SeaWorld finally bowed to international pressure tlast month by announcing they would phase out keeping wild orca and end artificial insemination breeding of orca in their facilities. They promised they would move away from animals on show performing tricks, put their efforts into rescue and rehabilitation of injured marine mammals, and focus on education about animals in their natural habitat and what they need to flourish. Their new-found humanity goes even further though, as they have also committed to phase out factory-farmed eggs and meat in their cafeteria and restaurants.
So far this looks so good. On the bright side, some say this is the sign of a more ‘humane economy’; capitalism with a paternalistic moral goodness that’s fundamentally good for business. Indeed, after considerable economic losses from the exposure of Blackfish, SeaWorld’s share values are apparently once again on the rise. But 28 orca will remain in captivity in SeaWorld aquaria across the US until the end of their (un)natural lives. In the future, rescued animals that SeaWorld deems can’t be rehabilitated will be retained as the new stars of the show. Deft rebranding is allowing SeaWorld to reinvent itself while still making money from peoples’ fascination with cetaceans.
In New Zealand, our orca swim free. Between 150-200 resident orca troll our coastlines, and transients visit from Antarctica in journeys of thousands of kilometres which they can complete in only a few weeks. Orca can live for more than 100 years in the wild, in matrilineal societies and each population has its own culture. Safely, unrestrained, in oceans is where they all should roam.
