Seaworld...

[curiousgeorgie]

If you're going to florida, does the controversy bother you? Will you be going?

No, never again. I went about 15 years ago, but I'm older and wiser now. I watched blackfish (I think that's the name of the documentary) I think these places need to be closed down.

I went to something similar in the south of France it it was horrible, cried through the hideous killer whale show. Barbaric.

I went when I was a child and again in my teens... I've seen it before.

I'm going to Florida this year with my children and its in the brochure, my DD wants to go, it's included in our tickets. But I did watch Blackfish and am a little torn.

Seaworld aren't all evil, they do some kind of conservation (don't know enough about it to write any details.) and actually they've changed a lot since the trainer died, but that's not included in the documentary of course.

Tillikum and other whales like him just can't be released into the wild, they would die, so boycotting Seaworld seems a little pointless as they rely on revenue to care for the animals they do have.

I would not go to these shows and would actively boycott them. Whilst I agree that Tilikum et al cannot be released into the wild, they could be held on very large sea pens which would give them a more natural environment and mean they don't have to do stupid tricks any more.

But who's going to pay for that?

Also, right or wrong, they crave human attention, Keiko did.

It's very sad but I'm in two minds about boycotting them because I don't see what good it will actually do.

I wouldn't go, not after watching Blackfish. That was terrible

Some animals cope well in captivity but the evidence is clear (having watched the documentary and ready Death at Seaworld) that orcas don't. They also aren't kept in anything that vaguely represents their natural habitat, or fed their natural food, or kept in reasonable family groups. All the evidence is that they are as intelligent and as emotional as humans, so it's the same as watching humans kept in a cage.

Yes, the orcas that are already in captivity probably won't be able to be released into the wild any longer; the one experiment with that went ok, not brilliantly, and cost an absolute fortune. But as harsh as this sounds, I would, very sadly, sacrifice the animals that are already in captivity in order to put an end to the practice as a whole.

That seems like an equal evil.

Just watched a YouTube video and there is a baby so they are obviously adding to their numbers. I would not go and see that, it's just sad.

It is an equal evil in the short-term. Ideally there would be a way to create sea pens for the ones still in captivity and give them a chance at a vaguely decent end to their life. But continuing to pay for SeaWorld means they will continue to breed.

We went but I felt guilty and hypocritical.

I would never go and I would harshly judge any friend who did.

Am off to Florida in two weeks and will not be going to SeaWorld. Have been before and felt very uncomfortable. SeaWorld can say what they like about conservation, but that has no bearing on them breeding orcas in captivity which is good for no-one.

California are currently trying to bring in legislation to ban captive orcas - let's hope Florida will do the same thing.